The Spirit of Gaming and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
With Majora's Mask 3D's release still fresh in the minds of the gaming populous, it has become extremely easy to be a bandwagon hopper and hail it as the greatest game ever conceptualized. Such adulation is to be expected and is at least a little warranted if one considers the less than excellent response gamers and games media unfairly gave the original Nintendo 64 version back in 2000. This isn't a knock against MM 3D though, just a way to illustrate that it's relevance will likely be brief with the main stream crowd. Majora's Mask is a masterwork though and deserves to be discussed.
Some will dismiss what I’m about to discuss as nostalgia but I didn't really play that much of Majora's Mask on the N64. The little nostalgia I have for this game is mostly through my younger brother who I saw playing it now and again. Now having played a great deal of the 3DS version I am confident in something I've been thinking for a while now: the spirit of gaming has been forgotten.
I am going to spoil one of the side-quests so that I can most effectively explain what MM did that cemented this idea for me. *SPOILER WARNING* During the final hours of the 1st in game day I was exploring Termina feild around the entrance to snowhead when I heard something strange. An ominous, slightly Arabic sounding tune began to intertwine with the overworld's music as I approached a particular area. The closer I got the louder the music became and eventually a lone figure came clearly into focus on top of one of the many peaks that populates this area. The level of mystery is already at maximum levels by the time you talk to figure and he reveals himself to be the ghost of Kamaro. A master dancer who died in Termina feilds and now exists as a spirit filled with constant regret because he couldn't pass on his knowledge in life. Using the song of healing, Link can help relieve Kamaro of his burden and teach the dance to others around Termina as was his final wishes.
What makes this part so special? For starters it's a pretty emotional scenario Kamaro's plight is one that many if not all people can identify with to some degree, the setting makes it even more impactful; drowned in shadow the only light coming from the falling moon and the ghostly glow of Kamaro. Most importantly though this isn't a directly prompted event. You have to just be at the right place at the right time It's such a surprise and so mysterious that one cannot help but be completely mystified. MM didn’t force this side quest onto me, I had to take the initiative and discover it by the seat of my own pants. Majora is filled with this kind of stuff and it makes playing it a thrill unparalleled. That feeling is what gaming should be all about and it's what gamers are most receptive to. It's the same reason why gaming glitches are so popular and interesting to people.
It seems like today (especially where big name developers are concerned) this desire to make something that's exciting in an actual way has been forgotten and replaced with these 2D cutouts of what non-gamers think the best part of games are. Quicktime events, movie length story, a "message", all of these things have replaced the spaces formally occupied by wonder. I can't help but feel that the proliferation of strategy guides and FAQ's has contributed to devs being less motivated in crafting secrets like Kamaro but I wish that they would. Some people like me still relish the feeling of adventure that games like MM provide and maybe if we can have a return to form others might too.
I plan to review Majora's Mask eventually and I'll discuss this more then but for now this is simply my appeal to game devs to start making truly visceral gaming greatness once more.
