A week has passed by, and I noticed no comments about last week's game, which likely means it really is unknown like I thought. Go figure. For this week I am presenting a game that is better known, but sometimes is either overlooked, or dismissed merely because of the high critical acclaim and success of it's predecessor. So without further ado...

GAME OF THE WEEK

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

What?! But it's a Zelda game. All Zelda games are popular right? And everybody loves Zelda right? WRONG. I've noticed through a lot of interaction on online forums, interaction from work and interactions with friends this game ends up living in Ocarina of Time's shadow. Don't get me wrong, I love the Zelda series to death and have managed to enjoy every game in the series (except Phantom Hourglass and Four Swords Adventure), but the problem I have noticed with the series is that each game basically repeats what the last game did and upgrades it a little.

Now, granted, Ocarina of Time was quite a change in the way that Super Mario 64 was a change. It brought the series to 3D with extreme success, but as far as overall gameplay mechanics and puzzle-solving go, it was still nothing more than a rehash of A Link to the Past.

Then Nintendo went along and made Majora's Mask, which was quite the departure. First off, the game had NOTHING to do with Zelda herself, it had nothing to do with Hyrule even (where the series takes place), and it was much darker than the rest of the series. It took on a bunch of different themes and also was a lot more focused on individual character development and interaction. Not to mention it did not contain a ton of 'proper' (I say that because a lot of the side quests lead you through situations that are essentially like dungeons, they just don't follow the same classic setup as dungeons), only having 4.

Majora's Mask had it's own unique charm that retained what made Zelda so fun, but twisted it into a creature that we would never have expected to see out of the series. The best part is that it was done SUCCESSFULLY. The game has a large focus on sidequests, and in fact in order to get the full story and enjoyment out of the game you need to do the sidequests, which is not the case for most other Zelda games (where sidequests usually are just for upgrades and really have nothing to do with anything).

So the point stands that many people dismiss Majora's Mask because it is different and also came out after Ocarina of Time, but people refuse to see that this was actually just as much a masterpiece as Ocarina of Time was, even more so (in my opinion) because of the high level of originality that Ocarina of Time lacked. Though that is merely my opinion, I still stand by the game being fantastic and that regardless of your experience with the Zelda series, this is one game you do not want to miss out on. It also helps for it to be my favorite Zelda game in the series.

It is available through Virtual Console on the Wii, through the Zelda Collector's Edition disc for the Gamecube and of course as a cartridge on the Nintendo 64. Try it, enjoy it.

NOTE: Gamespot and I both have reviews on it, so go ahead and read up on it a little more if you are skeptical.