Last weekend, we reported that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D would feature an updated Bombers’ Notebook to help players better keep track of the game’s various sidequests and secret events. Now, we have information on even more changes to the game, including updated gameplay mechanics, restructured game spaces and some completely new features.
First off is a gameplay video of Zelda director, Eiji Aonuma, showing off some of the updates made to the game’s central hub, Clock Town:
While, for the most part, the town is much the same as it was in the Nintendo 64 version, the first thing fans will notice is that the game’s clock, originally an artistic, but slightly confusing, analog design, has been replaced with a bar timer on the bottom of the screen, giving a much more accurate reading of the time of day. The starting area, South Clock Town, is also slightly larger than it was originally. It isn’t clear if this will factor into any new gameplay features, but it is nice to get a little extra breathing room. Probably the biggest change, however, is that the Bank, originally located in West Clock Town, has been moved to the back side of the Clock Tower, across from the Owl Statue. This will certainly help in expediting things when players warp into town and need to pick up or deposit a few Rupees.
The Bombers’ Notebook has also been explained a bit more. In addition to keeping track of the schedules of various NPCs, players will now be able to monitor current quests, as well as see a list of completed ones. They will also be able to set alarms to remind them when certain events will be taking place. Plus, Link can speak to members of the Bombers, who will tell him about rumors, which will then be recorded in the notebook.
Owl Statues, which were used to save files in the original game, seem to serve the same purpose as before, but they now sport a bright light to let players know which ones have already been activated. Additionally, more statues will be present in the remake, allowing players to more easily get around without traversing dangerous terrain as much.
The Song of Double Time, a “secret” Ocarina melody that would allow players to jump forward to specific times of the day, has also been updated. Now, once players perform this song, they will be able to jump forward to any hour of any day, greatly cutting down on the sometimes tedious task of playing the song over and over to get to a specific time frame.
Completely new to the game is the inclusion of not one, but two different fishing holes where Link can spend his downtime, if one can say he has any. It isn’t clear where these mini-games will be located, but there will apparently be 10 different types of fish for Link to catch between the two of them, adding a nice bit of variety, especially compared to the Ocarina of Time variant.
Finally, a compilation video on Nintendo’s Japanese site shows that changes have been made to some of the bosses that Link will be taking on. The game’s first boss, Odolwa, has a pretty glaring new weakness in the form of a large eye that appears on top of his head. Hitting this eye seems to be of the utmost importance, as Odolwa now blocks all melee and ranged attacks. It seems that the only way to open the boss up to any damage is to use the flowers dotting the arena to fly Deku Link above him and drop Deku Nuts directly on his noggin.
Majora’s Mask’s second boss, Goht, appears unchanged, tasking Link with using the Goron Mask to chase and ram the metallic beast around a circular track.
Gyorg, the giant fish boss of the game’s third dungeon, appears to have gone through the biggest change. We only saw a few seconds of footage for this fight, but it seems that Gyorg spends much more time on the surface of the pool surrounding arena. This allows Link to hit the boss with multiple Ice Arrows from relative safety while it swims around.
Majora’s Mask 3D seems to be shaping up quite nicely, and, with less than a month to go before its release, my excitement is only growing. The game is set for release on February 13, the same day as the New 3DS. However, MM3D will also work on regular 3DS systems, so don’t feel pressured to get the new system if you aren’t yet prepared to take the plunge.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D is available for pre-order on Amazon:
