After defeating Ganondorf and sealing him in the Sacred Realm, Link - once again a child - has been wandering Hyrule searching for Navi, his old friend and travelling companion. During a ride through a misty forest he is knocked unconscious by a Skullkid wearing a mysterious mask. He wakes up to find his attacker stealing his horse and his Ocarina, and he gives chase to a strange old tree. Link steps inside and falls through a strange warp into an alternate world.
Using evil magic, the Skullkid transforms Link into a Deku Scrub and escapes once again. Upon reaching the surface, Link discovers a world bound to a devastating fate - the mask worn by the Skullkid will bring about a great cataclysm to the world of Termina in just three days. Link must awaken four sleeping Giants to stop the moon crashing into Termina, but if he is to do this in just three days he will need to somehow stop time - by facing Skullkid and retrieving his Ocarina.
The second Legend of Zelda game on the N64 is possibly the darkest Zelda adventure. Link's first task is to get his Ocarina back from the Skullkid - only then can he be returned to human form and start his adventure. He has to find the four dungeons in Termina where the Four Giants rest. To make matters more interesting, he must use his Ocarina to relive the same three days over and over again. By finding items or save points, he can continue to progress through his adventure. A day in the game is about an hour long, but this can be lengthened or shortened with special songs from the Ocarina.
Along the way Link can collect items that will help him across Termina and through the dungeons. He can also collect masks. All of the masks give Link abilities that he would not have normally, but certain special masks contain spirits of the dead, and allow Link to transform into a different species at will. This gives him additional benefits - becoming a Goron makes him heavy, becoming a Zora gives him unlimited swimming potential, and so on.
After receiving a notebook early in the game, you can help the various people of Termina with their day-to-day problems, the reward often being items or masks. Everyone lives through a three-day rota, and you must learn their path and find ways to fix their individual problems.
Mask Salesman's Mario Mask
Once you meet the Mask Salesman inside the Clock Tower, check out the masks attached to his backpack. One of the masks is a Mario mask.
The working title for the GameCube was the "Dolphin", and Nintendo slipped many references to the name into their games.
Dolphin Picture
Gain access to the Observatory just outside of Clock Town and head into the basement (where the scarecrow can be found). Smash some of the jars to find a rough sketch of a dolphin on the floor.
Dolphin Jump
When you are Zora Link, the swimming move you perform when pulling up and leaping out of the water is named the "Dolphin Jump". This may simply be a reference to its similarity to a real dolphin's jump.
In Ocarina of Time, the Keaton Mask was a cameo of Pikachu from Pokémon, but now it's a whole new character. Help out Anju and Kafei and you will receive the mask eventually. Slash moving grass while wearing the mask and the ghost fox Keaton will appear. It still looks like Pikachu from the neck up, but it is based on the Japanese ghost fox, the Kitsune. Incidentally, the Kitsune was also the inspiration for a different Pokémon, Vulpix and Ninetales.
Head to the great Zora Hall before the third dungeon where the members of the Zora band, the Indigo-gos, are jamming in their rooms. All of their riffs are from the dungeons and caves from The Legend of Zelda (NES) and A Link to the Past (SNES).
You also get a chance to play the Ballad of the Wind Fish from Link's Awakening in the Clock Town milk bar when you have all the masks.
The Bowser pendants worn by Malon and Talon on Lon Lon Ranch in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time reappear in Majora's Mask, this time worn by Romani and Cremia, the two girls who run Romani's Ranch.
Four Swords Series
