Majora's Mask 3-Heart Challenge

[Hero of Winds]

I am starting my first 3-Heart challenge ever in Majora's Mask today and was wondering about a few things.

1. What should the restrictions be?
Obviously no extra Heart Containers or Pieces, but what else should be limited? Should I not get Quiver/Bomb bag upgrades? Should I only get necessary masks?

2. How hard is Majora with only three hearts?
I have honestly never beaten the game without the Fierce Diety's Mask so beating it with normal Link would be hard in and of itself, nevermind with only 3 Hearts.

3. Is it possible to get the Fierce Diety's Mask without getting a Heart Piece?
I probably won't end up getting it because I will most likely limit the masks I get to the ABSOLUTLEY necessary ones, but I just want to know.

4. What masks are necessary?
I need to know this if I limit the masks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[The Triforce]

the only restrictions on a three heart challenge are only having three hearts...if you limit yourself further you'd have a MEGA THREE HEART CHALLENGE.

 

[bds1110]

1. Well, that's your choice. I don't ever really restrict myself with THCs.

2. He not that hard without Fierce Deity. I beat my first game without it and beat him on my first try. But I myself am only in Stone Tower on my THC, so I really connot say. I imagine it is pretty tough, though. You should be OK if you bring in max faeries, but that depends if you want to limit yourself or not.

3. I think there may be one or two, but as long as you don't get four, it really doesn't matter. Heck, on my Minish Cap THC I have three heart pieces. As long as you don't get four.

4. Hmmm.. I'll have to think on that one. Well, the obvious transformation masks, the garo mask, captain's hat, giant's mask, and gibdo mask (You'll get it whether you like it or not, but I don't think you need to use it). I think that's it! Good luck on your THC!

 

[Deity]

1. Like everyone else said, you're not really limited to anything besides having no more than 3 hearts. Personally I don't get bottles except for the one you have to get in southern swamp. And even then I don't use it.

2. It can be difficult at first. I died during Wrath a lot, but only because I took damage from the first stage. Shoot down the masks right away. In the second and third stages just be patient, as charging at him will probably result in you getting hit a lot.

3. You can get the Fierce Deity's mask without getting any of the heart pieces.

4. Deku Scrub mask, Zora mask, Goron mask, Giant's mask, Gibdo's mask (you need to use it in the well in order to get the mirror shield), Garo mask, and Captain's hat.

This is definitely one of my favorite Zelda games, have fun with your thc.

 

[Kybyrian]

It really depends on how hard you want to make the challenge. You don't want to make it too hard to where you almost can't complete it, but you obviously want to restrict yourself somewhat to make it harder from what you've said. If I were doing the challenge myself, I would restrict myself down to maybe one bottle; or if I was really confident in myself I would take it down further and go with no bottles. I would of course use only the masks that are necessary for completion, which would go along with what I'm about to say. I wouldn't get the Fierce Deity's mask to make it a bit harder. Anything else is completely up to your decision.

 

[blubb]

Like everyone else already said, it's completely up to you if you want to go with further restrictions or not. 3 heart challenge means exactly what it says, completing the game with 3 heart containers. I'd suggest you do that first, and if it still was too easy for you, then you can go with further limitations.
I recently completed my 3HC (further restrictions: I didn't get all masks and thus no FDM, no arrow/bomb upgrades and "only" 5 bottles because I was too lazy for the Anju/Kafei SQ). It's not really that hard. It was my 3rd/4th time through the game and I didn't die once (note that I'm a mediocre gamer at best), beacuse if you know all the (necessary) puzzles out of your head then you should be good as the game isn't really hard if looking at physical difficulty. 50 arrows (30+20 from the bottle) are more than enough for Majora, because I only used them in the 2nd and 3rd parts of the battle (used maybe ~15 arrows). In the first part, charging a spin attack and letting it go when MM spins around towards you is much better and more effective anyways. I got both the gilded sword (for spin attacks) and the Great Fairy Sword (to jump-attack when Majora is stunned - it does 8x damage compared to a normal Kokiri sword slash!) and I also got the double defense upgrade as well as Château Romani milk, and after all I lost 1,5 hearts during the battle (had to use none of the fairies). But without any sword, life, magic and bottle upgrades it will be extremely tough, ~3 hits from Majora throughout the whole battle and you're done for, I'd probably have to practise for weeks to accomplish that.

Mask that are necessary for game completion (that is, without glitching):
- Deku Mask
- Goron Mask
- Zora Mask
- Gibdo Mask
- Garo Mask

Masks that I strongly recommend getting:
- Stone Mask: To make things easier at the Gerudo Fortress and to hinder most enemies from attacking you (very convenient in some parts of Stone Tower Temple)
- Great Fairy Mask: I'm not 100% sure but I think you need it to get some of the stray fairies (if you want the upgrades)
- Bunny Hood: Makes you run faster, which is very convenient especially in the final battle
- Bremen Mask: To get the bunny hood
- Romani Mask: To get Chateau Romani (very useful against Majora)
- Giant's Mask: Makes the fight against Twinmold a lot easier and doesn't require more extra work than opening a treasure chest on your way (you have to fight that eye thing anyways).

Other useful masks:
- Blast mask: Makes getting bombs completely useless 95% of the time, and you won't get hurt if you press R before exploding
- Captain's Hat: With this, you can get the 4th bottle before getting the hookshot. This is very nice, because there are exactly 4 Zora eggs in the Gerudo Fortress and with 4 bottles you don't have to go there twice

 

[SavageWizzrobe]

1. The minimum restriction for a 3 heart run is to have three hearts when you beat the game. You can't collect any heart containers, but you may collect up to 3 heart pieces. You can get any other items you want unless you choose to restrict yourself further.
2. Majora's Wrath is very hard without the FD Mask, so I recommend that you bring as much Milk or Fairies as you can.
3. You can get the FD Mask without getting any Heart Pieces.
4. Only the Deku Mask, Goron Mask, Zora Mask, Garo Mask, Gibdo Mask, and Captain Hat are required without glitching. With glitching you can skip the last three I've listed.