Given one year and old, borrowed parts, they made a world with only three days left to live.
After Ocarina of Time, Miyamoto handed Eiji Aonuma a daunting challenge: make a whole new Zelda in a single year, using the old game's engine and models. Aonuma asked Yoshiaki Koizumi for help, and together — inspired in part by the film Run Lola Run — they built a world that lives the same three days over and over before the moon falls. They had wanted a seven-day cycle, but time forced them down to three; the limit they had resented became the heart of the game. Everything in it is borrowed and racing a clock, and somehow that is exactly what the story is about — a place where the hours are counted, where every person has something they are trying to finish before the end. Made with reused parts and almost no time to spare, it turned its own shortage of time into its subject. Maybe that is why it still aches: it knows, better than most games, that three days can be both nothing and everything.
— inspired by Eiji Aonuma
About this game
Released in Japan on April 27, 2000, Majora's Mask was built on the engine of Ocarina of Time in just under 18 months — yet it emerged as one of the most psychologically complex games Nintendo ever made. A repeating three-day countdown, a moon falling toward destruction, and dozens of characters each living out their final hours create an atmosphere of existential urgency unlike anything else in the Zelda series. It divided audiences on release and is now considered a landmark of experimental game design.
Key Features
The game's core mechanic — resetting time with the Ocarina of Time and replaying the same 72 hours — forces players to experience the same events from multiple angles. Twenty-four transformation masks and the three-day cycle create an intricate web of side quests that each tell a miniature tragedy. Saving is tied to starting a new cycle, making every session feel weighty and deliberate.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Majora's Mask arrived at the tail end of the Nintendo 64's commercial life, overshadowed by the looming PlayStation 2 launch. Its compressed development timeline — a deliberate creative constraint imposed by producer Shigeru Miyamoto — forced director Eiji Aonuma and the team to build something radically different from Ocarina of Time rather than simply repeat its formula. The result was a game that anticipated themes of grief, impermanence, and community that indie games would later explore extensively.
Tricks & Tales
Majora's Mask was developed in approximately 18 months — an astonishingly short period for a Zelda game. The team recycled assets from Ocarina of Time as a foundation, then radically redesigned the world and systems around the time-loop concept. The game's haunting moon face became one of gaming's most iconic images, and the 'Elegy of Emptiness' statue — an eerie hollow duplicate of Link — spawned one of the internet's earliest gaming creepypastas.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The N64 uses a mechanical region lock rather than a software one: Japanese and North American cartridges share the same NTSC signal, but the physical shape of the cartridge's back shell and the console's slot are different, so a Japanese cartridge will not slide fully into a North American console without modification, and vice versa. The simplest fix is removing the two plastic tabs inside the console's cartridge slot, or swapping the cartridge's back shell — neither requires any electronic modification. PAL (European) cartridges and consoles are a separate case: 50Hz vs 60Hz incompatibility means simple physical modifications are not enough, and a frequency mod is also required.
Maintenance Tips
The N64 cartridge connector is the most common failure point — clean the edge contacts with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab every 6 to 12 months, and avoid blowing into the cartridge slot as moisture accelerates pin corrosion. The original analog stick is made with a plastic-on-plastic gear mechanism that wears into a gritty, loose feel over decades of use; check for smooth snap-back to center before buying, and know that replacement sticks are widely available but none have fully matched the original feel. Store cartridges in a cool, dry place and handle them by the plastic shell, not the gold contacts.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask copies regularly.
Will this Japanese Nintendo 64 cartridge work on a North American or European N64?
No, not without modification. The Nintendo 64 uses a regional CIC lockout chip, and Japanese N64 cartridges have a different physical shape from North American cartridges. Running Japanese software on a Western N64 requires both a cartridge adapter to bridge the shape difference and a method to bypass the CIC chip. A Japanese Nintendo 64 console is the simplest way to play Japanese N64 software.
How should I clean a Nintendo 64 cartridge?
Apply 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol to a cotton swab and wipe the gold-plated edge contacts on the base of the cartridge. The N64 connector slot is deep — a longer swab or folded swab helps reach all contacts. Never blow into the cartridge. N64 cartridges use 3.8mm security game bit screws if the shell needs to be opened. Most N64 boot failures trace to oxidized contacts; cleaning both the cartridge edge and the console slot is usually the complete fix.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
A short checklist for buying a used Nintendo 64 cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
-
Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
-
Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese N64 cartridge. The N64 is region-locked by shape and lockout, so a Japanese cart needs a Japanese console or an adapter.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
-
If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
-
Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
-
Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
See what we have in stock →Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
Share your memory ↑