The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is my favorite game of all time, ever (and I'm still saddened by the death of my N64, since now I have to play it on a shitty emulator).
What can I say about? Its the first game that I had experienced that I now regard as a work of art. The story is fantastic, the side quests are great, and the emphasis on side questing gets you to care about the world of Termina. There are some great theories about the game that endear it even more to me.
And you know what? The time system was amazing. It organically added tension to the game; one of my favorite memories was frantically scrambling around the Stone Tower, trying desperately to conquer the dungeon, while the clock read merely 2 hours left before the final countdown. Same thing happened in the Great Bay Temple, but that was probably just me being cocky, thinking that I didn't need to start a new cycle after completing the Pirate Fortress. Boy, was I wrong.
The story itself manages to both hit the Zelda formula, and be wholly unique on its own. Its a fantastic sequel that surpasses Ocarina of Time in every single aspect, and I will take that statement all the way to the grave if I have to.
Link's story is fantastic. It raises a significant question; after being billed as the Destined Hero, and then fulfilling that destiny at a young age, what are you supposed to do for the rest of your life? Link in Majora's Mask is just a guy; there's no talk about being the chosen one, he doesn't have to collect some mystical sword to smite all evil (you can finish the game with the sword you start with, upgrading it is just a side quest), and he isn't in possession of the Triforce of Courage anymore. At the beginning of the game, he gets mugged by Skull Kid. He then pursues Skull Kid into his little cave... and is defeated and is turned into a deku scrub. He then tracks Skull Kid down to the top of Clock Tower, only to horrifyingly realize he can do absolutely nothing to stop him.
Do you see what the game is getting at in its opening moments? Link, the great hero of time who stopped the greatest evil Hyrule had ever known, was easily defeated three times in quick secession. Wow.
This raises the serious question; did Link defeat Ganondorf because he was simply stronger than him, or because he was the hero time and also in position of the triforce of courage? If so, how is he supposed to live the rest of his life, if the one thing he was going to be known for was something that destiny had already preordained was going to happen anyway?
The above is the realization I had about Majora's Mask that catapulted it from merely being in my top ten, and directly into the top spot (there's a veritable ocean of space between #1 and #2, as well).
I'm going to stop here, since anymore discussion about it would endanger this post of turning into a novel. I could talk about Majora's Mask and all its intricacies and the theories that surround it for months on end, and if Nintendo gets off their fat asses and remakes it like they've been hinting at for over a goddamn year now, then I probably will post several articles talking about the game. This game is both an integral part of my childhood (because, being the youngest, I was the only sibling who was skilled and patient enough to beat it first), as well as my adulthood. Its the kind of game that impacted me in a life-altering way. So many lessons were taught to me through that game that I owe Nintendo so very much. And David Cage? You and your polygons to go fuck themselves, because Majora's Mask was a very emotional game, packed full of happiness, quirkiness, and sadness...
