Time Management Review - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was originally released in 2000 on the Nintendo 64, and has been re-released several times. For this review, I played the Nintendo Switch version.

Players take on the role of Link, who is tasked with saving Clock Town from impending doom. In 3 days, the moon will crash into Clock Town. Within these three days, Link must gather strength and complete goals to prevent the end of the world. At the end of the first cycle Link realizes he is unable to stop the moon crash, and so he recalls the Song of Time, which allows him to rewind time to the beginning of the first day, so that he may try again.

The catch: the changes to Clock Town and the surrounding wilderness are reset back to their original state when Link plays the song. However, Link retains his knowledge of the world, along with any key items and abilities he has acquired through his quest. As he relives the same 3-day cycle over and over, Link completes once difficult tasks with ease as he builds his power.

Time limitations

Time is always advancing, except for when the player pauses the game or interacts with NPCs. The game makes the player constantly aware of the flow of time, through the on-screen timer.

A clock on the bottom of the screen shows the 72 hour countdown. A small sun icon rotates around the center, each rotation is one hour. The center says 1st, 2nd, or Final depending on the day. The outer semi-circle shows which hour of the day it is.

Each hour is equivalent to one real-life minute. At the end of countdown, the moon crashes into Clock Town, and the game is over. Primary goals, like the game’s major dungeons, must be completed in one cycle.

Outside of the primary goal, secondary quests follow a schedule within the 3-day span, and must be resolved in one run. Progress on primary and secondary goals is reset with each cycle.

Skills and Resources

The Ocarina of Time. The player can reset the cycle back to the morning of the first day at any time, losing all money and consumable items as well as progress on objectives. The player can speed up and slow down time using the ocarina. The ability to slow down time is especially crucial for completing the game’s major goals.

Teleport Points. Link can play a song on his ocarina to teleport to specific points on the map if he has discovered the corresponding teleport point.

Bombers’ Notebook. The player is given a notebook that keeps track of 20 people in the village that Link can help for rewards. This notebook shows blocks of time throughout the 3-day period that each of these people have an important event where Link can intervene and move their story forward. It also keeps track of which stories have been completed.

Masks. Link gains the ability to shapeshift into different fantasy creatures throughout the quest, and these abilities are retained between cycles. His different forms have advantages for traversing the environment, which can save the player a lot of time.

Tatl. Link has a fairy companion who provides guidance for his main quest and information about the world and its inhabitants.

Weapons and Items. Link gains equipment as he overcomes obstacles in the game, which in turn make it possible to approach new challenges. Weapons gained also dispatch enemies faster, costing less time.

Alternative Time Factors

In battle, the player may be pressured by enemies to make quick decisions. Link’s different weapons and items are effective at fighting different enemies, so using these tools efficiently increases the chance of victory.

Difficulty and engagement level

The game is moderately difficult, and should provide adequate challenge to keep players motivated to continue. Some players responded poorly to this game when it was released, because the time limit and onscreen timer were stressful elements. However, the player is given the freedom to restart the cycle at any time.

It is also worth noting that this game came out over 20 years ago, and may seem dated to younger gamers. The story has a dark tone, and may be challenging for younger audiences.

Rewards

Smaller rewards include items like arrows, healing hearts, and rupees (in-game currency). Larger rewards include permanent upgrades like new weapons, increased health, and new abilities.

The game uses musical cues and animations to make accomplishments feel special. Picking up smaller rewards is accompanied by a simple melody as well.

Characters in the game’s story react positively and encouragingly to the player when they complete a goal. The game is fun and rewarding to play.

Accessibility

This game is available on the Nintendo Switch, as part of their online membership. It costs $50 a year.

The game lacks accessibility options. Dialogue takes place in text boxes, there is no voice acting aside from simple vocal sound effects when entering conversation. No options for impaired vision.

When compared to Breath of the Wild, the latest Zelda game, the controls in Majora’s Mask feel clunky.

Analysis

In Majora’s Mask, time management is an ever present component. The onscreen timer is constantly ticking down toward the doom of the player and the world they are tasked with saving. It is no wonder that many players did not stick with the game, especially after the open-ended design of Ocarina of Time, which was a mega-hit 3 years prior.

The constancy of the timer is stress-inducing and distracting for many players. I remember the timer being a particular stressor for me as a young player, and many players I have talked to about the game cited the same issue. Sullivan-Carr’s (2016) study showed that kids with ADHD find on screen timers stressful in educational games (though the sample size was small). I would like to investigate other methods of limiting time without including a timer on screen. One option would be a timer the player could check at will but isn’t always visible, which would be more comparable to real-life situations, since the current time is not always in our view when completing daily tasks. Another option would be to only show time by the position of the sun and moon, which may encourage the player’s awareness of their environment.

In Majora’s Mask, players chip away at the long term goal of stopping the disaster with each cycle. If players can allocate time toward tasks efficiently so that each cycle returns maximum progress, they can reach the end goal in fewer cycles. It is possible to beat this game in 2-3 cycles (though very difficult). However, there is no additional reward for doing so, and this kind of challenge is self-imposed. Since players have the freedom to take as long as they want on the main goal, Majora’s Mask really only teaches short-term time management skills (i.e. managing time effectively within each cycle). However, it does show the player that working iteratively and persistently toward a larger goal is worthwhile and rewarding. If the player completes all 20 villager requests they can earn the Fierce Deity mask, which makes them essentially godlike in their combat strength, and they can plow through the ultimate goal with ease.

Majora’s Mask has design elements that could be effective in a game designed to help with time management skills. The Bombers’ Notebook in particular is a very useful and reality-based method to organize goals along a timeline. In a game designed to improve cognition, this kind of notebook would be a great asset, and could teach players to manage a real-life notebook for their goals. The drawback is that the game fills the notebook for you; ideally a game designed to improve time management skills would teach you how to fill it out yourself.

Tatl is also helpful in reinforcing goals and establishing concepts; she is a sort of teacher. A character like Tatl could be utilized to help players maintain a grasp on their ultimate goal while focusing on a given task. It could also help them develop time management skills, such as filling out their Bombers’ Notebook, or whatever the equivalent may be.

Link’s other skills and abilities do not necessarily have real-life counterparts, but can be metaphorical examples of how to play to your strengths to accomplish tasks. The pressure in battle demands that the player utilizes their skills and equipment carefully to dispatch enemies, and also preserve resources for future encounters. In real-life, this might mean not burning out by giving all your energy to one homework assignment, when you have multiple due the next day. I will think more on how to incorporate an idea like that into a design directed toward that goal.

The game rewards players for hitting short and long-term goals. In reality, rewards often only come from long-term goals. It will be a challenge to design a game that gives the player realistic expectations. We can expect short-term encouragement in real-life, from our peers, co-workers, and teachers, but this is not always the case. If a game was designed for classroom use specifically, short-term reinforcement and encouragement would be a good thing, to the end of helping them complete coursework. As far as daily-life skills go, this would likely be less effective.

Majora’s Mask is an example of a game that may give you a better cognitive sense of how to manage time, but it does not explicitly teach those skills. Two design elements; the Bombers’ Notebook and Tatl the fairy guide, are good takeaways.

References

[1] Sullivan-Carr, M. (2016). Game-Based Learning and Children with ADHD (p. xi, 113 pages) [Drexel University]. https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-6890