This is probably no surprise if you know me in real life (since you probably hear me gush about it all the time) and also to those who read
my last blog post, but it has to be said again: Majora's Mask is fucking amazing.
While I do have a much greater appreciation for the series now that I've played more Zelda titles, I still don't know that I'm a huge fan of it in the most traditional sense. Sure, the "young hero saving the princess" trope is kind of what Zelda is all about, but personally, I find that the best adventures Link has are the ones that don't take place in Hyrule. Link's Awakening, the Oracle games, and Majora's Mask are easily my favorites, and each of them take place in fancy new lands with unique objectives (though the Oracle games do come back to saving the princess at the end of the linked game).
Now, maybe most people like Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past better, and that's fine, but I hope those people are still giving games like Majora's Mask a chance. It's a little weird and not very Zelda-like in a lot of ways, but that certainly doesn't make it any less phenomenal.
I'm not going to rant and rave about it again, because I already did that once at work this week, but like I said, I wrote a whole damn post about how much I love it if you need any convincing. I desperately hope that the 3DS remake happens, because I can't wait to experience it all over again. There are very few long, story-driven games I've liked enough to play more than once (Earthbound is the only one that currently comes to mind and I want to play Mother 3 again), but Majora's Mask is undoubtedly one of those games. It's really that good.
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All in all, it's been a pretty bitchin' year. Was it the same for you? Did you play some awesome games, old or new? What are your picks for each category?