Did Majora's Mask Need More Dungeons?

[Shnappy]

There are five dungeons in Majora's Mask if you include The Ancient Castle of Ikana and exclude The Moon. This is not very many compared to the other Zelda games. OoT and ALttP are generally considered the two best Zelda games made, and they are two that have many dungeons.

Also - Compare it to every other game in the series, not just OoT and ALttP.
-LoZ - 9 dungeons
-AoL - 7 dungeons
-ALttP - 12 dungeons
-LA - 8 dungeons
-OoT - 9 dungeons
-OoA - 10 dungeons
-OoS - 10 dungeons
-TWW - 7 dungeons
-FSA - 8(?) dungeons
-TMC - 6 dungeons
-TP - 9 dungeons
-PH - 8 dungeons

-MM - Only 5 (4 or 6, depending on what you count as a dungeon) dungeons?


I, being a fan of MM, do not mind this, for the most part. There was a lot going on in between dungeons compared to OoT and ALttP, ALttP especially. The first dungeon seemed to take forever to finally reach. I remember the time in between the Snowhead Temple and the Great Bay Temple taking significantly longer than the two dungeons combined, as you had to collect all seven of the Zora eggs. The plethora of items and other collectibles in the game, such as Masks and Stray Fairies, also made the game take as long to play to its full extent compared to other games with more dungeons. If you wanted to defeat Majora without it being a living nightmare, you had to take the time to collect every one of those masks.

Majora's Mask as it is now is my favorite Zelda game. Would I want it to have more dungeons, sure, why not? Just as long as they don't use them to replace other content in the game, it would make the game even better than it is right now.

What are your thoughts about this subject?

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

I suppose I am somewhat indifferent on the subject of adding dungeons.
Majora's Mask is a favourite of mine, and I am fine with the way it is, although I wouldn't mind too much if there were more dungeons; so long as they didn't feel horribly out-of-place. However, I rather that there are only four dungeons.
Firstly, there are four dungeons, four Giants, four directions, and if you look at some of the designs - namely in Clocktown - there are four symmetrical parts, or at least four parts. I feel adding in any more (major) dungeons would offset this sort of 'balance', so to speak.
I actually liked the way the dungeons were in Majora's Mask, and as you said, there were a plethora of masks and items to be collected. Further, I quite enjoyed the sidequests, I feel they enriched the game.

So, all in all, I'd rather not have more dungeons, but if they were done correctly (fit in which certains areas well, etc.) then I wouldn't mind too much.

 

[Shnappy]

However, I rather that there are only four dungeons.
Firstly, there are four dungeons, four Giants, four directions, and if you look at some of the designs - namely in Clocktown - there are four symmetrical parts, or at least four parts. I feel adding in any more (major) dungeons would offset this sort of 'balance', so to speak.

This is very true. There being four main dungeons has to do with each cardinal direction, therefore it wouldn't exactly fit if they had more. But they were able to fit The Ancient Castle of Ikana. I would not be able to figure out a way to implement another dungeon into the game. The Ancient Castle of Ikana was kind of a dungeon that added on to the Stone Tower Temple in the east. It might be interesting to see an extra dungeon in the other three directions that is related to The Ancient Caste of Ikana.

 

[MrMosley]

Majora's Mask had a lot going on other than dungeons that made up for its lack of dungeons. Ocarina of Time, filled with side-quests and few dungeons, would have probably failed. But MM actually made you connect with a lot of the otherwise useless characters had they been in another Zelda title.

Plus, MM being a sequel to OoT, I view it as sort of a continuation. Sort of how Sonic and Knuckles was supposed to be apart of Sonic 3, but because of space limitations they had to separate the games. However, the increase in difficulty as you got higher in the levels stayed the same. So, whereas Mushroom Hill as the first level in S&K would normally be pretty easy, it was actually harder than Launch Base in Sonic 3.

Of course, they didn't have to separate OoT and MM in this manner, but it still has the same kinda concept to me. The first dungeon is more difficult, or just as difficult, to say, the Fire Temple in OoT, because most people who played MM would be those who had already beaten OoT.

 

[Hero0fTimeLink]

Hey ! I thought OoT only has 9 temples
Deku Tree
Dodongo's Cavern
Inside Jabu Jabu
Forest Temple
Fire Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Ganon's Castle

 

[Shnappy]

Hey ! I thought OoT only has 9 temples
Deku Tree
Dodongo's Cavern
Inside Jabu Jabu
Forest Temple
Fire Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Ganon's Castle

Woops, you're right, I'll change that. Sorry about the mistake.

 

[ChargewithSword]

Majora had at least 5 temples when you involve the Moon and I find that enough, the thing with MM is that it had enough extra things that made up more than the dungeons.
Let's compare this game to MC. MC had 5 dungeons yet it felt much shorter than MM because of how fast you went to dungeons. In MM however you must go through a lot before you enter dungeons to make these dungeons accessible.
Then there are the sidequests that are more interactive than the dungeons, you want to play those sidequests again often rather than go through the dungeon again. I'd rather play the invasion than go through Woodfall a second time.

Hey ! I thought OoT only has 9 temples
Deku Tree
Dodongo's Cavern
Inside Jabu Jabu
Forest Temple
Fire Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Ganon's Castle

Consider the Ice Dungeon and the Kakarico Well

 

[DeletedUser9]

Well, when I originally played it, I was disappointed at the number of dungeons. Later on, though I had no problem with it.

Overall, I don't think it really needs more dungeons. As others have said, it had a lot of other stuff going on, such as character development, sidequests, etc.

I suppose more dungeons couldn't hurt, but it would probably have to be something like the Ancient Castle of Ikana, a sort of prerequisite dungeon before entering a main dungeon (like one of the four temples.)

But then again, with the way the game is designed, more dungeons couldn't really work too well.

 

[Hero0fTimeLink]

Majora had at least 5 temples when you involve the Moon and I find that enough, the thing with MM is that it had enough extra things that made up more than the dungeons.
Let's compare this game to MC. MC had 5 dungeons yet it felt much shorter than MM because of how fast you went to dungeons. In MM however you must go through a lot before you enter dungeons to make these dungeons accessible.
Then there are the sidequests that are more interactive than the dungeons, you want to play those sidequests again often rather than go through the dungeon again. I'd rather play the invasion than go through Woodfall a second time.

I agree,like when you are goin to Ikana you need to get the mask from the Gorman Brothers.And also the sidequests were great such as mini dungeons,collecting masks,and finding items/melodys.Though it took me atleast 2 weeks to beat I can say i loved this game and the 5 temples were acceptible with the sidequests.

 

[Emma]

I would have preferred to have more. The game felt way too brief too me. I was disappointed to find that there wasn't more. Many games have more than one goal for dungeons. In A Link to the Past, the first three dungeons were one story arc. Then things changed and the next eight dungeons had a completely different goal. That theme was repeated in Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Phantom Hourglass. So why couldn't they have done that in Majora's Mask? It is the only 3D Zelda game that did not follow that theme. Why not have some other set of dungeons to complete after freeing the Four Giants. A set with another goal. The shortness of the game made it feel rushed.

 

[ChargewithSword]

I would have preferred to have more. The game felt way too brief too me. I was disappointed to find that there wasn't more. Many games have more than one goal for dungeons. In A Link to the Past, the first three dungeons were one story arc. Then things changed and the next eight dungeons had a completely different goal. That theme was repeated in Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Phantom Hourglass. So why couldn't they have done that in Majora's Mask? It is the only 3D Zelda game that did not follow that theme. Why not have some other set of dungeons to complete after freeing the Four Giants. A set with another goal. The shortness of the game made it feel rushed.

It was rushed because Nintendo wanted a quickly made sequel to OOT before the N64 would die.

 

[Steve]

I certainly agree, the game WAS rushed, but one thing I liked about MM compared to most of the other games was it focused more on the overworld, missions, and storyline. It also, without a doubt, makes up for the lack of dungeons with its mood and deep meanings (intentional or not). So yes, I'd definitely love to have more dungeons, but the game is great nonetheless.

 

[Caleb, Of Asui]

Majora's Mask was one of the better games to have fewer dungeons, since there was so much aside from the dungeons. There was a lot to do to get to each dungeon in the first place, then the game's chock-full of side quests that you definitely want to do if you hope to beat Majora at the end without breaking your back.

EDIT: By the way, Shnappy, what's that fifth dungeon you're talking about? There was only one real dungeon in the Ikana Canyon area, as far as I can remember. It has been a while, though...
Oh, and there were 11-12 in OoT, 13 in LttP, 9 in each Oracle game, and 8 in TWW. 9 might be more accurate for FSA.

 

[Y2K3]

I prefre that there were only 4 (5?) dungeons in MM. Like pretty much everyone has said, there was enough going on outside of the dungeons to make up for the low number. Some of the sidequests (Anju/Kafei) were pretty much just as important as the dungeons (at least in my opinion). As well, I found the dungeons to be some of the hardest in any of the Zelda's I've played. If there had been more, I probably never would have beaten the game.

 

[Link367]

I think there should've been atleast 2 more dungeons in MM. To make it a solid game. Add more hearts, bosses, and storyline.