In the most recent Nintendo Direct, a 3DS remake of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was announced for the 3DS, which will expectedly use the same engine as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. You might recall that Ocarina of Time 3D was more or less the same as the N64 original. Aside from the improved graphics, there really weren’t that many changes. They added a boss rush mode, but that’s about it. However, it’s been confirmed by series producer Eiji Aonuma in the latest issue of Famitsu that this won’t be the case for the upcoming Majora’s Mask remake. According to Aonuma:
After releasing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for Nintendo 3DS, we were thinking about the next developments when Shigeru Miyamoto said that if we were to make a portable Majora’s Mask, it would be easier to play than the original version, especially since you could put it in sleep mode.
However, personally speaking, I have some really troublesome memories from originally developing Majora’s Mask, and there were many things I would have liked to change if we were to ever do a remake, so at first I said ‘no!’
He put some more thought into it though and changed his mind. He then went back and played the original to get a better idea of what he wanted to do differently this time around, and after speaking with co-developers of Ocarina of Time 3D Grezzo, he was able to start the project.
Aonuma also suggested that, since Ocarina of Time 3D was meant to be a launch game, he felt that development was very rushed. Thus, since Majora’s Mask doesn’t have to be out in time for a launch, they can take more time for this one.
When asked about what changes he’d like to make, Aonuma replied the main thing he would like to work on would be changing the things that weren’t adequately explained in the original game. He’s also worked on tweaking the parts of the game that required a good deal of trial and error, specifying:
We didn’t make the game easier, there aren’t any extra hints thrown at you when you’re not sure what to do, but there are all kinds of other mechanisms in the system that I think you’ll notice.
It was also mentioned that a specific boss fight was changed, although which one wasn’t specified:
While I can’t say much about it… one thing— a boss fight has been changed. Upon trying a boss fight on the original version for the first time in a while after playing the remake, it’s like, ‘how do I beat this guy again?’ it’s that type of content.
Like Ocarina of Time 3D, it was confirmed that this game will utilize the 3DSs gyroscope functions. Likewise, it was hinted that things learned from A Link Between Worlds‘ touch screen functions will be incorporated into the game as well.
One interesting tidbit that was shared is that, although there won’t be any graphical differences for users playing on the New 3DS compared to those simply playing on the 3DS, there will be certain features that will only be available if the game is being played on a New 3DS. This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo has rewarded players for playing a Zelda game on a newer system as the Game Boy Color Oracle Zelda games did something similar with the Advance Shop, which would appear if they were played using a Game Boy Advance.
The final, and possibly most interesting change though, will be that they’re adding a fishing mini-game into the game. According to Aonuma:
You’ll get to fish! Although… it makes you wonder whether you’ll have that free time to fish in the world of Majora’s Mask,” Aonuma says with a laugh. “So we’ve added fishing ponds. Two of them, too. There might be something monstrous you could fish out, so please look forward to it.
Famitsu was sure to point out how the idea of fishing as the moon is about to fall was rather humorous, to which Aonuma replied:
Exactly. ‘I know that the world is about to end, but here I am fishing. awesome!’ are just some of the feelings you can get from it.
So far, this remake sounds like it’s going to be really good. The game is set for release in Spring of 2015. What do you guys think though? Do these changes sound interesting? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
