For a long time, I would loudly proclaim that the greatest game ever made, and thus my favorite game of all time, was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But through the years, as I replayed it again and again, it started to feel a bit less wondrous, and a bit more tedious, and I started to think "Hey, I haven't played Majora's Mask since it released, I should probably replay that. I remembered it being darker, weirder, depressing, a bit more existential...you know, things I've come to seek out in video games as I've gotten older. But I was worried about how much I would actually enjoy playing it, since my most recent replays of Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess have left me with the idea that maybe I just don't like the older 3D Zelda games anymore in a world where Breath of the Wild exists.
I'm happy to report that I actually really enjoyed playing the game, found almost no tedium or frustration, and was able to soak in that atmosphere, which is even darker and a bit closer to home now as we live through a deadly pandemic where people choose to react to the world around them in such different ways, just like the NPCs in Majora's Mask.
Joining me for episode 32 of Tales from the Backlog is Alan Nichols, my [A Top 3 Podcast](www.atop3podcast.fireside.fm) co-host and longtime friend, who I most certainly played Majora's Mask with all the way back in the year 2000. We had a good time discussing both comparing a modern replay against our memories from 20 years ago and approaching it as a game in the year 2022. In the episode, we discuss our personal histories, our worries about the time mechanics, mask collecting, the classic zelda dungeon puzzle solving, and of course, that sweet sweet darkness. We hope you give the episode a try!
You can listen to episode 32 (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask) of Tales from the Backlog in the player below, or you can follow the links to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or search "Tales from the Backlog" in your favorite podcast app!