The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The 3DS version changed some things around from the N64 original. Some were good changes, but some were bad,
Excuse the lack of screenshots for this post, I don't currently have a way of capturing 3DS footage.
Sometimes I find it easier to post blog posts more often if I don't have to gather so many screenshots to do so. I may edit these imageless posts to add them later on.
Majora's Mask was released on N64 in 2000, with a remade version for 3DS released in 2015.
They made a number of changes. Most notably the graphics and framerate were improved, but there were also a large number of gameplay changes.
Majora's Mask is one of my personal top favourite games, so I have some personal attachment to this game and that may influence my opinions about the changes.
Some changes were made to the game in order to streamline it better. For example, the boss portal in front of each dungeon used to have required you beat the boss in order to activate - but now they merely need you to have seen the boss. This allows an inexperienced player to reach a boss more quickly after dying - and it doesn't affect an experienced player at all, since they're likely to defeat the bos the first time anyway. This is an example of a good change.
There was an overhaul to the Bomber's Notebook, making it hold a lot more information about the world, and keeping track of it all in a much nicer-looking interface. I like this overhaul a lot, it looks nice and functions great.
One notorious aspect of the original game was the saving system - you could only save when going back in time, which was always a pain, especially if you were playing the GameCube version, which had an unfortunate tendency to crash unexpectedly.
It seems that the tradition of saving at bird statues as seen in Skyward Sword and A Link Between Worlds continues here, and so the game's Owl Statues have been repurposed as fully-fledged save points. I actually speculated that this would be the case way before the game released - it makes sense and works perfectly.
Some other changes include the relocation of various elements: The Song of Soaring is given to Link at the entrance to the Swamp rather than just before Woodfall. Not too big a change - I guess giving the player a fundamental ability slightly earlier is not a bad thing.
They relocated the bank, too. It used to be in West Clock Town alongside all the other shops, but now it's by itself in South Clock Town. I never understood this, but it doesn't really affect anything. It just means I have to remember the new location. Perhaps they moved it to be more prominent - it is one of the more important services in Clock Town after all.
They did some other miscelleneous changes - all with the purpose of making the early game easier. They swapped the rewards acquired from Dampé's graveyard and the witch's target practice: Dampé now gives a Heart Piece, and the witch now gives a Bottle. (on N64 it was the other way round). This is to give you a chance to have an extra bottle earlier. They also put in a brand new seventh bottle in a new sidequest involving the Circus Leader's Mask - which I like, since it actually gives that mask a purpose.
The Great Fairies of Power and Wisdom have swapped places - so now Link gets double magic earlier if he finds all the Stray Fairies in Woodfall, rather than getting it at Snowhead as was the case on N64. This doesn't make too much of a difference to me, but I guess Nintendo felt the need to adjust things like this here and there. Maybe this change actually has benefitted new players - it's hard to say.
They changed a few things that make the game harder in ways, too: They changed Shiro (the invisible guard)'s location to be inside the Pirate Fortress rather than just in the field - You can't get the Stone Mask until you meet him, so you now have to complete part of the fortress without it. (and the Stone Mask is quite handy in there, as well)
They also redesigned the four main boss fights to make them harder:
Odolwa used to be relatively simple: just deal damage to him until you're done. But now he requires Link to use the Deku Flower to drop nuts on him.
Goht has changed the least - now you need to knock him down and deal damage to a weak point, rather than just hitting him. But it's largely the same fight.
Gyorg now has an entire second phase, taking place entirely underwater.
Twinmold has changed the most - a new second phase involving the Giant's Mask was added. This fight is quite the spectacle now!
The changes make the fights more interesting visually and thematically, but it actually makes the fights more a of a fixed sequence of events, reducing the amount of emergent strategies possible.
Since this game does allow you to re-fight the bosses, being able to do so with different strategies was always an option on N64, but on 3DS, the fights are largely going to go the same way each time.
I don't think the new fights are bad. They're certainly more impressive, but I feel that they're just a bit more restrictive in gameplay terms.
There were changes to the time manipulation songs - the Inverse Song now makes time move only half as quickly rather than a third as quickly - I like this change, since I felt the original Inverse Song was too powerful. It means you have to plan your day with a bit more care, which can make for interesting descision-making.
The Song of Double Time was changed to allow more versitility - it now allows you to select the very hour you travel to, rather than just moving you straight to the next night / dawn. I don't know what to think about this. ...the new song has more utility, but the old one required more planning of how you spend your time. I guess it's an example of streamlining the game, but it could also be seen as dumbing it down. It's not really good or bad, it's just different.
The biggest negative changes come with the changes to Link's abilities.
Abilities:
On N64, Zora Link could swim fast by holding A. And that was it. It was fast and fluent, and it felt fun.
On 3DS, Zora Link has a new "slow" swim from holding A, and to swim fast you need to hold the R button as well, which uses up magic. Once out of magic, it's back to slow swimming.
I personally don't understand why they would change this. Not only do you now have to keep two buttons held at once to just swim properly, but it also wastes magic as well.
If the R button was just a toggle to turn the fast swimming on and off (even with the magic usage), I wouldn't be as upset with this setup as I currently am - it's just so awkward to keep two buttons held down for extended periods - especially during long swimming sections like the Beaver Race.
This necessity to keep two buttons held is strange, seeming as they changed Goron rolling to no longer require a button to be held down at all. It seems like a huge oversight and it makes this aspect of the game a whole lot worse for me. I would even say that this change to Zora Swimming is the one reason I think this game is not as fun as the N64 original.
The other major change is to the Deku - now the spin is slow. It's really slow. Deku is now almost useless at hopping across any substantial amount of water because he can't build up speed in tight spaces as easily as before. It's disappointing, but it doesn't affect too much of the game.
The last objectionable change is to Ice Arrows. Instead of freezing ANY body of water, it now just freezes specific points, as denoted by magical sparkles in the water.
I find this change very disappointing. In games like this, I always love it when finding a new items is like adding a new tool to your arsenal, allowing you to perform more feats. ...rather than an item that is just a key, used to get through a specific lock.
This change is an example of an item being changed from a tool into a key. I don't like it.
You can't use your Ice Arrows ANYWHERE other than the designated places, and to me, that's just removing potential for players to come up with clever solutions to problems.
Here's an example: You can no longer cleverly use your Ice Arrows to travel across the surface of Great Bay to reach the island-hopping minigame without the need for the boat. This was possible in N64, but the ice arrows just...don't work on 3DS.
And not only that, but now the sparkles themselves are just spelling out the solution to the puzzles too plainly when the solution is to use ice arrows. If you see the sparkles, use Ice Arows. That's it. No more figuring it out. This means that using them in their designated spots isn't even interesting any more.
Overall, I recommend Majora;s Mask on both N64 AND 3DS - pick whichever version is handier to you, and go have fun. It's one of my favourite games no matter the version. The bad changes don't make the overall experience any less amazing, just a bit more annoying and disappointing.
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