Parent's Guide: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

What is The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D?

Taking place after the events of Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D continues the story of the young adventurer Link, as he searches for his friend Navi. Instead of a friendly reunion, however, Link finds himself in the alternate world of Termina, a land fated for destruction in just 3 days. When that time runs out, the moon will come crashing to the ground, destroying everything in sight. What's caused this to happen? Only a young delinquent known as Skull Kid, who's in possession of an evil artefact known as Majora's Mask and has succumbed to its corrupting nature. With just three days left, it's up to Link to save the world - literally.

How do you play The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D?

To do this, you'll have to set off on an adventure across the weird land, defeat enemies, complete quests and conquering brain-teasing, puzzle based dungeons as you go. It's a system that'll be familiar to anyone who's played a Zelda game before, but one that's also pretty easy to pick up for yourself.

However, there's a twist. The 3 days of in game time you have left to save the world equate to 1 real world hour - and once those three days have gone, it's game over. Of course, if the game ended in just over an hour, it wouldn't be much of a game - and so, there's a time travelling idea at play here. as Link can use his trusty Ocarina of Time slow down time, or return to the dawn of the first day, groundhog day style. While most things will reset around you, any major changes become permanent. The aim here is to make the necessary changes, and acquire all the skills you need to stop the moon from falling.

How easy is The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D to pick up and play?

As an updated version of an N64 game, Majora's Mask 3D is from a time where games were a little bit trickier, in general, than they are now. There isn't as much handy signposting or hand holding going on here as in modern games - but thankfully, the "Sheikah stone" hint system has returned from Ocarina of Time 3D, which will always point you in the right direction of what you have to do next. All you need to do is find said stone, and give it a whack, to get a hint about what to do next.

In general, though, the game is fairly complex. The famous Zelda dungeons in particular offer challenging puzzles to solve, and equally challenging enemies to defeat, testing your brain, and your reactions equally. Things are made trickier still, as the amount of health you have is directly related to how much time you've spent exploring the rest of the game - finding the all important pieces of hearts, which increase your total health by one heart when you collect four, will make the game a lot easier. The time travel system, equally, gives the game a rather foreboding atmosphere, and a really tight deadline to work to, adding an extra layer of complexity - although you do soon learn a song that slows time in game, giving you roughly three hours before the world ends. Still, that's not too much time to work with if you're in the middle of a dungeon as the time starts counting down, as, should the time run out, you'll have to do it all over again.

For the youngest of players, there's also a lot of reading to be done here, as there's nothing in the way of voice overs. All story information and quest related dialogue is relayed entirely through text, so you'll need to be a confident reader.

With a bit of a different tone to the other Zelda games, this is a more "mature", and at times darker take on Zelda. There are some pretty depressing overtones in some sections, dealing with life and loss, but these will likely just fly over most younger players heads. Still, in terms of absolute content, it remains free of sexual content and bad language, and features only very mild violence, as you bash stylised monsters and enemies with swords, with no blood or realistic impacts on display.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS