LO1 Game Analysis: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

LO1 Game Analysis: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

In this analysis I will be looking at The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D in terms of genre, narrative, production process, characterisation, gameplay, target audience and platform. I will be commenting about their use to create the overall game experience.

This game is a three-dimensional, open-world game for all ages over 12. Its genre is action-adventure coupled with puzzle. This game shows conventions in the way that it has a hero who is trying to save the day from evil. The game also doesn’t guide you by the hand; hints are given at what to do and you must use your own intelligence to solve the puzzle and progress through the game. In comparison to other titles in the genre, such as Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed, it is less gritty, but arguably more thought-out and a higher quality of game. Other games in the genre also don’t combine with puzzle too much, but a main feature of Zelda games is how you have to solve puzzles as you progress through the story, which is engrossing.

The story being told in the game is that a pesky child, who goes by the name of “Skull Kid”, has stolen a mask with great evil power. This pesky child causes a lot of mischief with the mask, before eventually causing the moon to crush the Earth after a period of 3 days. Link, the hero, must use his wits and a spot of time travel to undo the many wrongdoings that Skull Kid put on the land, and eventually stop the moon from crushing the Earth. The game operates entirely within a period of 3 days. Think Groundhog Day in video game form. This affects the gameplay in the way that the time is constantly showing on the screen, and you must travel back to the start of the first day every so often while making progress during the 3 days. You want your character to save the world so you try to complete your tasks quickly and stop the world from ending. You feel sympathy for the character, Link, who has his horse taken from him at the beginning by the Skull Kid, and you want him to be alright at the end of it all. This connects to the target audience of anyone over 12, really, as it provides an engrossing and entertaining game that requires some thinking.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D is both developed and published by Nintendo. Since it is a remastering of an N64 game, Nintendo had to go through that game and re-render everything for the 3DS (and add the 3D element). The graphics have also been improved, so all of these things enhance gameplay on the new system. During the game, Link can collect masks from enemies which he can use to change into a different form, depending on the mask. This is developed to enhance gameplay because it is a unique feature that cleverly allows the player to use more characters. The physics engine is largely based on reality. Link can jump to a normal height in his regular form and if he falls too far then he will take damage.

Link is a character who is relevant to a non-gritty audience of all ages. This is because he is someone who tries to do good in all situations and usually his goal is to prevent disaster. At the beginning of the game (and in most Zelda games) something bad happens to him - in MM3D’s case, it is his horse being taken from him by the Skull Kid. Also, the fact that we never hear him speak a word in the games adds to the sense of intrigue around him. So since he has experienced misfortune and he is a do-gooder, this usually makes him appeal to the game’s audience. This matches character conventions of the action-adventure genre, as these types of game usually have a heroic main character who we feel we want to help out. In terms of strength, Link himself isn’t the brawniest, but with the help of some of the masks he can do things he otherwise couldn’t - for example, with the Goron mask, he gains the strength to move anything and can also roll very quickly when curled into a ball. Link’s lack of physical strength also adds to the puzzle aspect of the game, as you have to think around problems that can’t be solved by strength alone.

The challenge in the game is that you have a time limit to save the world. Of course, you can time travel back to the beginning, but you still have to do a certain amount in the three days before you go back to actually progress - many things are reset when you travel back. Also, many obstacles and puzzles in the game make it difficult to just go wherever you want and complete the game easily. Since the game is open-world, there are a variety of locations and biomes which engage the player, and the freedom the player is given to figure out what to do next feels liberating and fun. The controls feel very smooth and the simple yet rewarding “hack-and-slash” style of combat are key to the game’s success. Also, the masks mechanic and how easy it is to switch between forms feels really good. The control system is intuitive and this is very important for the game’s success. Gameplay engages with the narrative in the way that you are reminded of your aim occasionally if you aren’t working towards it at that time. Gameplay consistently evolves in the way that there are always side-quests sprouting up from different people which give you more than one goal to pursue. Also, once you have completed one main objective, it leads to another, so there is never nothing to do. As the story progresses, Link passes through a variety of biomes and this keeps up interest as locations are always different and there are new things to do in each environment.

The target audience is gamers of all ages over 12, who are probably looking for fun and a less violent and less gritty title. The indicators for this are the fact that there is no gore or blood spurting out everywhere, while the art style is colourful and not too realistic. There is obviously fighting, but this is part of the hack-and-slash combat and doesn’t involve other humans, or blood. The game appeals to the audience in this way as it isn’t dull and depressing, while the frantic combat, intriguing story and thought-inducing puzzles make for a fun experience. This game has a very large target audience. Anyone over 12 would enjoy this game, as the game isn’t “childish” and adults would enjoy the amount of thinking required to progress, as well as the game in general. I’d say that other games targeting an audience this large would have to contain similar elements too - not too “childish”, not too violent, and something that makes the game interesting for all ages.

This game, Majora’s Mask 3D, is only available on Nintendo 3DS, but the original, Majora’s Mask, was only available on N64. Since MM3D was only made for 3DS, everything is optimised for it, so it feels very nice to play and the controls are smooth and responsive. The game is suited for 3DS in the way that it can use two Circle Pads, one for movement and one for camera, the graphics are optimised, the button layout is intuitive and of course it has the 3D effect which is only available on 3DS.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D uses one of Nintendo's own in-house engines - it doesn't have a name of its own, and information on it is not publicly shared. Nintendo does this for many of its games, each one often having its own unique engine to optimise it.