Update: Nintendo have now officially announced Majora's Mask exclusively on the 3DS!

Majora’s Mask is an odd game to describe fan reactions, you either love it or you hate it. The game differs from the usual Zelda formula, focusing on the idea of ‘beating the clock’ before the apocalypse takes place all thanks to the antagonist Skull Kid brining destruction to an alternate land of the usual Hyrule, Termia. I’ve always favoured it, finding it the most interesting game since Ocarina of Time as it’s the only one that doesn’t fully mimic its predecessor, despite sharing the same graphical assets.

Fans have been begging for Majora’s Mask to get the re-release treatments which Ocarina of Time regularly gets, with the 2011 Ocarina of Time 3D remake becoming a notable opportunity to use the remakes assets to release a Majora’s Mask 3DS game. 

Should it be remade?

Simple answer, yes. Majora’s Mask is practically the silent dog in the Zelda series, people mainly skipped Majora’s Mask due to people still hyping Ocarina of Time and also it being released in the era of a new console generation starting. The opportunity for gamers to rekindle with Majora’s Mask arose with the Wii virtual console, but not that many people would have purchased it as the console was primarily used for retail disk games, and not downloading games. Therefore I could only imagine with the right advertising, Majora’s Mask could sell brilliantly and would appear to be a brand new game to some gamers!

The idea of shapeshifting between different forms of characters, each with different abilities was absolutely exciting! This isn’t your melodramatic Link/Wolf Link in Twilight Princess, these masks which you transform to are used as equipment like how hook-shots, arrows and more would be used in normal Zelda games. These masks were necessary for certain dungeons and certain puzzles, making the whole game feel worthwhile.

Then there’s the eerie storyline which offers exactly the dark toned Zelda game which some fans are begging for! The entire game has an apocalyptic theme, with the characters such as the creepy Happy Mask salesman, Skull Kids disastrous origin story and more creating a really different game compared to the rest of the series – and it’s wonderful!

On which console though?

The recent statistics of the Nintendo sales doesn’t provide an optimistic view. The often successful 3DS is beginning to have a decline, whilst the Wii U only managed to sell Mario Kart 8 well to existing Wii U owners, and not attracting a large amount of new users. Therefore both could benefit from a worthwhile game such as a Majora’s Mask remake in order to pull sales.

It would make the most sense on the 3DS, of course. The assets from the critically appraised Ocarina of Time remake are just waiting there to be implemented in Majora’s Mask. Perhaps the colour palette of the game should be at a slightly darker tone, but most of the character and object models in Ocarina of Time do feature in Majora’s Mask, therefore making a easier development process. In addition to that, the gameplay just makes more sense. This is a game in which you can delve literal hours per day just exploring Termia or restarting the ‘three days countdown’ and watch the cycle of time repeat all over again. A game like this would be perfect for the 3DS, a handheld which is always accessible so you don’t even have to be at home to play through the massive game.

That being said, I’ve always wanted to see Majora’s Mask in full HD. The Wii U will soon have two official Zelda games (Wind Waker and the E3 announced game) as well as Hyrule Warriors, all of which have a light hearted attribute to the art designs. Firstly, I adore these designs and I’m not complaining what so ever; but I do know that many people who do wrongfully prioritise graphics and art designs, and a few are feeling a sour taste from the E3 tech demo in comparison to the actual styles Zelda has received on the Wii U.  Majora’s Mask could be the Zelda game to appeal to those who wanted slightly more darker art styles.

But there’s more important matters as to why it should be on the Wii U, the original game was on the N64 – it only has the right to be remade on a modern home console, one which will be much easier to add any additional features or stages compared to the underpowered 3DS. Majora’s Mask suffered in popularity due to it being released late in the N64 life cycle and there’s chances that Nintendo have a reason to replace the 3DS with something new too (although I personally hope they don’t JUST yet).

So what do you think?

Would you ever like to see Nintendo remake Majora’s Mask, and if so on which platform? The game has been hinted and rumoured many times in being remade, but we still have yet to see the day; but there’s always an open chance that we could see one soon.