Though its time in the spotlight has long since passed, the 3DS is still a great place to play some incredible ?games. It was a particularly strong console if you loved RPGs and puzzle games. But the 3DS did a great job of bringing 3D action games into? the portable realm. Overall, it's an incredible little system with a killer library to enjoy.

Some of the games will be harder to get your hands on, especially those only purchasable from the now defunct eShop. But if you can get some time with?? these games, it'll be absolutely worth the hassle. To avoid any ranking issues, these games ar?e in alphabetical order. We've also included some honorable mentions at the end for remakes and ports.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Not only is it one of the best 3DS games, Animal Crossing: New Leaf easily has the most hours spent on a 3DS game for a lot of people. It was a tremendous showing for the series when it launched in 2012. Becoming the mayor of your town and having a lot more control over how it looked really resonated with players. While nobody was really backing the amiibo part of the Welcome Amiibo! update, the massive boost in content helped cement this game as a must-have for all 3DS owners. Many people consider this the definitive Animal Crossing to this day.

Attack of the Friday Monsters!

One of the 3DS's strengths was being home for a lot of great, smaller games. The eShop allowed for digital distribution and cheaper price points, which attracted a lot of more niche projects. One such game was the Level 5 published Attack of the Friday Monsters! It's a very cutesy tale of kaiju attacking a small Japanese town. Its very Ghibli-esque in the presentation of this fantastic journey. The charming presentation proves?? that quality and scale are matters of perspective.

Azure Striker Gunvolt

One of the biggest breakout stars of the 3DS was the studio Inti Creates Co. They managed to bring a lot of unique twists to retro ideas for truly engaging games. One of their best was the Azure Striker Gunvolt series. The name is a bit of a mouthful, but the gameplay is as smooth as it gets. It's like a juiced up Mega Man X style platformer with some unique mechanics. Fortunately??, the series isn't bound to the 3DS anymore, so you can enjoy these games on o??ther places like Steam.

Bravely Second

Sometimes, it's easy to go with the flow. You don't always have to reinvent the wheel when making a game, especially RPGs. Bravely Default, and it's sequel, established that there's still plenty of room to explore the JRPG genre. Turn based combat has rarely felt this fun and engaging. The Job System allows characters to switch classes with a snap. It lets you build the party how you want. If you've ever enjoyed a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, you owe it to yourself to check this? series out.

Etrian Odyssey Nexus

We picked Etrian Odyssey Nexus because it's sort of a 'best of' for the series. It's the most recent, and probably one of the most feature complete. If you've only got time for one of these massive dungeon-crawling RPGs, this is probably your best bet. However, the general series lacks a lot of typical storytelling. There's more of a focus on the party customization and mapping features. If you're into games with a more direct story, we would recommend one of the Etrian Odyssey Untold games. These are remakes of the first two titles, originally on DS, that add more of a through-line narr?ative. These games can be as tough as JRPGs get, though later entries allow for plenty of difficulty customization. Frankly, there's not a bad game in the series. The original 3 DS games were remade for Switch and Steam recently if you want another avenue to check these games out. But top notch visuals and fully orchestrated music on 3DS are hard to beat. Plus, making your own maps on the 3D??S screen is just fun!

Fire Emblem Awakening

The Fire Emblem series always felt like a fairly niche one, not even making it stateside until the Game Boy Advance. Even then, it wasn't terribly common to find people who knew about them. That all changed with Fire Emblem Awakening. The game found a hell of a stride with its gameplay, storytelling, presentation, and mechanics. The amount of customization over your roster and the interactions with party members gave players something more to invest in. The newly added difficulty settings probably also helped the game find a broader audience. Several other Fire Emblem games came out for 3DS, and while they're good, none of them are quite as great as Awakening. That said, check out Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Velentia for a cool, different take on the series.

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Kirby started on handheld and always felt a bit more at home there than on consoles. But, the pink puff put in the work on 3DS. Kirby: Triple Deluxe was great, and there are a ton of fun spin-off games. However, nothing compares to the platforming perfection of Planet Robobot. Even now, this might be Kirby's best 2D platforming game. It's almost upsetting that they decided to remake Return to Dreamland for Sw?itch before this. But, in any case, it's ?a delightful game with one of the best soundtracks.

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

When Nintendo stated they were toying around with remaking A Link to the Past in 3D, it was exciting. That's one of the best video games ever, at least to a lot of people. Then, they suddenly announced that it had grown into a new game. It was hard to tell just how effective the new wall-merging mechanic would be at first. Once you got your hands on the game, however, it all became clear. This wasn't just a silly, slapped-on gimmick. The wall-merging was a truly awesome ability that played with the perspective of the traditionally 2D game in fun, new ways. On top of that, A Link Between Worlds was a solid Zelda ad??venture. It featured a more open-ended approach to world design that let pla?yers pick and choose their destinations, which would become a series staple for the next decade.

Mario Kart 7

It didn't feel quite as exciting as when Mario Kart DS came out, but the 3DS title proved to be a new standard for the series. It introduced the concept of customizable karts to the series, allowing players to fine-tune their playstyle. It looked great, played better, and would only by surpassed by the unbelievably awesome Mario Kart 8.

Metroid: Samus Returns

Yes, Metroid: Samus Returns is technically a remake of the original Metroid 2 GameBoy Game. But it's such a vast reimagining, and such an incredible game, that it deserves to be on the main list anyway. It was an incredible return to a long dormant franchise. The innovations to combat featuring a more melee-focused counter system helped to create engaging new layers for the standard Metroid combat. If not for Samus Returns, we wouldn't have seen the eventual realization of Metroid Dread.

Persona Q 2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Nintendo fans may not have been used to Persona games, so bringing spin-offs to 3DS seemed weird. But any Persona fan can tell you that the Q games are fantastic. They're similar in structure to the Etrian Odyssey games, featuring a focus on dungeon crawling. However, they have all the customizable combat and killer music you'd expect from the Persona franchise. The Persona Q2 specifically has the rosters of Persona 3, 4, and 5 mixed together. These ??games are simpl??y too good to pass by.

Picross 3D Round Two

Puzzle fans may have fallen in love with the Picross series at some point, but the Picross 3D games on DS and 3DS are incredible. If you're into any kind of number puzzle games like Sudoku, we highly recommend checking this one out. You use numbers and logic to break away at a large block until you form a 3D object. It's fun, immensely satisfying, and a great game for the pick up/put down nature of the 3DS. If you're into more 2D Picross games, check out the Picross e series by Jupi?ter, they're all great. T?here's a ton of them on Switch, too.

Pocket Card Jockey

Horse racing has never been so engaging! Who knew that all it was missing was some solitaire! It may sound ridiculous, but it's immensely engaging. Not until Balatro would there be a card game that ??steals so much of our sleep away from us.

Project X Zone 2

Namco, Sega, Capcom, and Nintendo characters all mashed into one tactics game. What more could anybody possibly want? These two great games, developed by Monolith Soft, feature a massive collection of characters from all sorts of your favorite franchises dueling together on a grid. Project X Zone's tile-based combat is engaging, even if the story is a little... nonsensical. Still, it's another great strategy game with a fun cast to work with. We never knew how badly we wanted to see KOS-MOS, Jill Valentine, and Tron Bonne team up before these games. And, in Project X Zone 2, Fire Emblem characters join in for an even crazier mash-up.

Pushmo

Sure, this game isn't going to revolutionize the way you think about video games as an artform. But sometimes, all you need is a great puzzle game. Pushmo is all about moving around blocks to create platf?orms to climb to the top of the structure you're on. It sounds simple, but it can be a real head scratcher at times. The charming presentation makes this a wonderful little package overall.

Shin Megami Tensei IV

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a standalone game, you don't need to have played the previous games to understand it. It's basically a perfect game RPG. It might not be reinventing the genre like Bravely Default, but it proves that you can still make a hell of a great game with a "standard" formula. The atmosphere, story, and gameplay are some of the all-time best of any Japanese RPGs. The sequel, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, might be off-putting for some due to its much stranger story and more punishing mechanics. But if that doesn't sound bad to yo?u, then we whole-heartedly recommend that as well.

Shovel Knight

While this has certainly appeared on every platform under the sun, it's original release on 3DS was a monumental success. In some ways, that's still the best version of the game. It made a strong case for the 3D slider with it's strong presentation. Shovel Knight is a pixel perfect platformer that combines the best ideas of the NES generation into a solid, modern game. There has since been a ton of new campaigns and content added to it, as we??ll as a few spinoffs, but it's hard to beat that original game.

Super Mario 3D Land

We're still amazed how easy it is to go back and pick this game up and have fun. It never fails. There's a ton of brilliant levels that seem to combine design elements of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Galaxy into one of the best 3D platformers out there. It was eventually followed up by Super Mario 3D World on Wii U and Switch, but there's still som?ething charming about the scope of the 3DS ?title. It's easily one of Mario's best 3D games.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

This game kind of came out of nowhere. It feels like a Tom Clancy game in name only. It's actually a tactical RPG like Advance Wars. In fact, since Advance Wars never touched the 3DS, this is the best way for you to scratch that itch. It's? an incredibly well designed tactics game, even if you're not normally someone who's very into the "Clancy-verse." The story leans very hard into more science-fiction territory, imagining future tools of war like camouflage cloaks and crazy weapons.

VVVVVV

This oddly-named indie title is a tough-as-spikes platformer that will have you screaming "I've got this!" over and over until you're pulling yo??ur hair out. Then you'll actually make the impossible series of jumps?, and find something even more insane on the next screen. It's tough, but satisfying gameplay will be off-putting for some, but we think a lot of people will find this game an absolute blast. Fortunately, it's not just locked to the 3DS these days.

Honorable Mentions for Remakes and Ports

• Digital Devil Survivor 1 and 2: Originally, these were both DS games. Atlus gave them a fresh update for the 3DS, adding new content and improved mechanics. They're a unique mixture of the Shin Megami Tensei formula with grid-based tactics gameplay. The results are highly enjoyable, replayable RPGs about the surviving the end of the world.
• Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn: A port of the Wii game, this is an excellent platformer with a deceptively cute exterior. While it's a game where you can't die, the real trick is finding all the secrets and making it to the end of the level with all your collected gems. This approach of easy-to-play, difficult-to-master design makes for a game that is as engaging as it is ruthlessly adorable.

• Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D: It's Majora's Mask with improved features and graphics. Of course we also recommend Ocarina of Time 3D as well. Some of us have a stronger fondness for the weirder, offbeat tones of the sequel, though.
• Poochy &Yoshi's Wooly World: While it lost some of the charm of Wooly World's visuals on Wii U, the gameplay is still top notch. If you're a fan of Yoshi's Island, this is easily the best anyone has come to replicating that, and maybe even improving it.
• Rhythm Heaven Megamix: It's a crime we haven't had a new Rhythm Heaven in so long, because it's a great series. Even this was more of a "Best of" compilation of re-made songs and games. If you've never played one of these whacky rhythm games, you should absolutely seek this out.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux: Another DS game that Atlus gave a huge update for the 3DS. It's another dungeon crawler, like Etrian Odyssey, but focuses more on puzzle solving than mapping. The sci-fi trappings are also a unique touch for the standard demon-hunting series. The combat can be punishing, so this is not a game for the feint of heart.
• WarioWare Gold: Similar to Rhythm Heaven Megamix, this was a best-of collection of the micro-game series. And just like Rhythem Heaven Megamix, you absolutely should have this game in your collection.

The post The 20 Best Nintendo 3DS Games appeared first on Destructoid.

Ma??yb?e the real friends were the friends we made along the way!

[Destructoid reader TheBlondeBass has once again gathered folks from the community together for this edition of Destructoid Draws, which focuses on their favorite sidekicks in video games! �strong>Kevin]

So, I've been having a good time playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon these past few days. Great time, even, with the game having excellent characters, writing, minigames, the works. ?But, it took a little time to get there. Like many JRPGs, the game starts with a fairly slow opening with a party of one. And, you know what? It made me appreciat??e just how important a strong supporting cast is.

This time around for Destructoid Draws, members of the community were asked to draw their favorite sidekicks and allies. Because the rea?l stars of the show are often just to the side of the spotlight, right?

It's time to ??finally give these sidekicks the respect they truly deserve, I? say!

DeScruff
Cremia from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

"Cremia is a very minor character, but she gives you one thing that I never thought I would ever want outside of a dating sim. A warm heartfelt hug. In a game as dark and depressing as Majora's Mask, that is the best reward one can get."

"See you... tomorrow... Ok?"

TriggerPigking
Nia from Xenoblade Chronicles 2

"Nia is one of my favorite characters in gaming, and I could talk about her at length. From a companion angle, she's essentially the only dedicated healer in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, so she's almost always a necessity for the party. F??rom a charact?er angle, she acts as a very nice sarcastic foil to the rest of the party (including Rex's upbeat attitude), which is a lot of fun.

We need more sarcastic cynical white mages in games, and the rough we?lsh accent she has works surprisingly well?? for such a character."

NeoTurbo
Whacka from Paper Mario

"Whacka is everyone's favorite Paper Mario NPC for some reason or another. Whether you want to protect that precious smile or protect your party from death at the cost of inflicting him serious??? head trauma.....Whacka has something for everyone!"

TheBlondeBass
Herlock Sholmes from The Great Ace Attorney

"The Great Ace Attorney is a fascinating duo of games. They manage to simultaneously raise the bar of what is possible in an Ace Attorney game, while also managing more subdued and, dare I say... realistic cases? They're not afraid to deal purposefully unsatisfying endings that wouldn't feel out of place in a court of law, free from the chains of Ku'rain channeling. I'll say it. They've outclassed Trials and Tribulations for me.

But, I digress. These games are still very much comedic, and this larger-than-life take on Sherlock Holmes takes the cake. Threading the line of genius and idiocy, you're never quite sure what's going to happen next with him, b??ut you know you won't be disappointed!

I'm certainly not one to spoil story-rich games like this one, so let me just say this. After case 2-3, I was thinking "okay, that was the best Logic and Reasoning Spectacular." That??'s the name of a new mechanic where Sholmes and the main character try to piece together the clues at a crime scene, by the way. Anyway, then came cases 2-4 and 2-5, and the??y both blew me away back to back. That's a difficult feat!

Oh and the uh... the joke in my submission ??is 'The game is a foot!'.?? Sorry."

Vesalius
Glory from Shadowrun: Dragonfall

"It was a tie between her and Big Bo from Binary Domain, but she’s my favorite murderous medic sidekick! I ?always made my characters weak in combat, so it was nice having a sidekick who could shred people’s faces."

Inquisitive Raven
Fret from NEO: The World Ends With You

"Fret first comes across as your typical dudebro (and to a degree he is), but there's more to him than that. He has a surprising amount of emotional intelligence, often knowing what to say to defuse a situation if possible. He presents himself as cheerf??ul and easygoing to a fault, even when he has his own misgivings about what's going on. Later on in the game,? Fret deals with the repercussions of this facade in a way that hit surprisingly close to home and led to a good bit of growth for him.

I didn't expect to like him as much as I did. I already had ideas of some of ?my favorite characters, but Fret really grew on me. He's a good dude! And that's not even mentioning how he complements Rindo, who's way more passive most of the time. I like Fret as a "Sidekick" because he's legitimately his own character, and not tied to Ri??ndo alone.

Also, I love hearing him yell, 'Galaxy Brain - ACTIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!' before a battle!"

That's it for this edition of Destructoid Draws! ?While we're talking about favorite sidekicks, what are some of yours? As always, I'd love to see more stories? and sketches in the comments! Want to check out the previous Destructoid Draws? Here are a few handy links!

• Guilty Gear
• Favorite Franchises
• Villains
• Original Mega Man Robot Masters
• Indie Games
• White Whales
• Super Smash Bros
• ENCORE: Guilty Gear
• ENCORE: Dream Crossovers

The post Destructoid Draws ENCORE: Favorite Sidekicks appeared first on Destructoid.

Please Relax

Here is my solemn promise to you: I will not write an article about how much it sucks to be single on Valentine's Day. I am, so I know firsthand that it does. I also know t??hat nobody likes to be reminded of how lonely they are, but (anecdotally) the Internet has really cranked up the V-Day hate over the past couple years. Is 2017 not bleak enough? Can we not just let people do silly romantic things, even if this holiday has been co-opted by greeting card companies? Greeting card writers gotta eat too, you know?

Anyway, Niero (the man who owns this website and keeps messing with the way the front page looks) asked the Destructoid staff for some kind of "singles awareness day editorial." Since my schedule on this fine Sunday before Valentimes is open, at least until the WWE pay-per-view Elimination Chamber starts, I thought I would take up this task -- especially since Niero said it could be as "gonzo" as I wanted. I will hold him to this? promise. Normally, I would make a preemptive apology to my editors, but they've been working for Destructoid a lot longer than I have; cashing checks that somebody else on this website already wrote is a rite of passage.

So! Here are five video games (or whatever) that might help you either loosen up or redirect that venom towards something else. Also, I don't want to hear word one from any of you about "game journalism lol" because I do plenty of actual games reporting on this website. Let me have this.

#1: Overwatch

Some might say that Overwatch is one of the ten best games of the year. Those people would be right. Overwatch is a tightly designed hero shooter, with one of the most effective gameplay loops I've ever seen in a competitive game. At press time, I'm one hour short of 150 hours spent playing Overwatch. Symmetra is currently my main, although I've been experimenting with Zarya from time to time. You haven't lived until you've seen a Mike Cosimano Symmetra POTG is? all I'm gon??na say.

How can you be upset on Valentine's Day if you're playing the best multiplayer game available on a PlayStation 4? You won't be alone, and you can reasonably assume everyone else on the servers on the 14th will be in the same boat. Hell, if you want to go one step further, be social and throw on a microphone so you can try coordinating with your team! And by "coordinating" I mean "yell at Widowmaker to switch to someone who isn't a sniper, we're on Attack for Christ's sake." I know Overwatch has cute girls and handsome boys, so that might be a potential issue for incredibly lonely he??arts,? but just remember this: none of them are real!

#2: Calling your dad, just to say hi

Just call your dad! He's probably worried about you. If you have a bad relationship with your dad, call your mom. If you have a bad relationship with both of your parents, text or call my dad. Lord knows I won't.

#3: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

Normally, I wouldn't classify Majora's Mask as a wish-fulfillment game. It's a relatively grim, offbeat sequel to an?? iconic game -- one I absolutely love, but it's not really a classic "Singles Awareness Day" game. But think of it this way: if you had the Ocarina of Time, maybe then you could travel back in time and re-do the parts of your life that led you to be alone on Valentine's Day!

Or you could just pop a Majora's Mask 3D cartridge into your 3DS of choice and get lost in an absorbing, classic Zelda adventure. I've been playing the remake mostly out of curiosity, since Majora's Mask was one of the first video games I remember playing. I encountered that game primarily in hotels with an N64 controller hooked up to the TV as a special treat, so I never saw it as intended, only as ships passing. And now that I'm a discerning adult with a 3DS cart that doesn't shut off after an hour like those hotel versions, I can report back with clear eyes the one fact I've always known to be true: this game absolutely rules. I think Link Between Worlds is maybe the best Zelda game, but Majora's Mask is easily my favorite.

That awful grimacing moon and the post-day title cards have become punchlines in a post-irony world, meme'd almost beyond recognition, but seen in their original context they're still wickedly effective. It's easy to forget that some things become iconic because they're memorable, and I have to thank Majora's Mask 3D for reminding me of that fact. Spending your lo??nely Valentine's Day getting lost in a portable game is not a bad idea, and I highly recommend you choose this one.

#4: https colon backslash backslash YouTube dot com backslash users backslash danpoetman

Alone on Valentine's Day? You could really use an ego boost! Why not watch the weird, depraved "comedy acts" published by one Daniel Songer? This is absolutely a case of "retweets do not equal endorsement, opinions are mine not my employers" ect, ect, ect, because I'm fairly certain Daniel Songer is one of the most offensive (non-Nazi) people to ever actively seek fame in front of a camera. I say "fairly" because half the fucking time I can't even understand what this dude is saying. Watch my "favorite" "video" produced by this man, Condum Smile -- yes, that title is a play on "Gangnam Style" -- and see if you can even begin to comprehend what he's going for. This dude is so far o??ff the rails that you need to forget whateve??r you think you know about comedic theory to even start meeting him on his level.

Between his looks and his delivery, Songer is like a failed clone of Alex Jones, but instead of spouting conspiracy theories, he thought he'd try his hand at YouTube stand-up. In each video, Songer just goes for it with the kind of gusto you normally see in people that at least have a shred of talent. Watching these videos, I finally understand "carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man." If you watched some of these videos and came away both confused and horrified, but also intrigued, I highly recommend the short film Follow Me, which follows a similarly untalented aspiring Internet personality. Demi Adejuyigbe stars in it, and that dude is obscenely funny.

#5: Tinder

It's so weird that we've gamified modern romance, right? Weekend bar hookup culture is now a mobile game with microtransactions. It's kind of like Pokémon GO, in that your location absolutely determines the quality of your experience. Back in my home town of Buffalo, I got some incredible screenshots of a desolate Pokémon-free wasteland as well as some truly horrific Tinder profiles. People in Buffalo are way into sharing pictures of them with deer corpses, I guess. But out here in Los Angeles, there are plenty of 'mons and Gyms, and you could hypothetically swipe forever on Tinder! (Unfortunately, in LA, unless you look like this, you'??re probably not getting matched very often.)

If you're single on Valentine's Day, I bet there will be a lot of people in the same position trawling dating sites looking for a person to share in the loneliness. Put yourself out there, see if you can rectify the past year's mistakes! Maybe when Valentine's Day 2018 rolls around, you'll be complaining about how expensive it'll be to give your boo everything they deserve. Also, take it from my experience: if you're a straight guy, do not use the Super Like. Pay for unlimited sw?ipes if you gotta, but leave it at that.

The post Five video games or whatever to play on Valentine’s Day that might help you stop being so bitter about Valentine’s Day for like five minutes appeared first on Destructoid.

It's the end of the world, so grab your fishing rod

Majora's Mask 3D is out today. Did you buy it? You ??should probably buy it. You know, if you want.

It's the same (well, maybe a tad different) great game from back in the day, but with a few notable additions, like fishing holes. In this video, The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma gives us a look at the piscary mini-game. He gives us a look at a couple different rods, which can be used to fish at different depths. The world may be in peril, but there's al?ways time for?? a little R&R.

Also, good lord is the end of the video frightening. Watch out for that poten??tial heart atta??ck.

The post Watch Zelda producer go fishing in Majora’s Mask 3D appeared first on Destructoid.

On the third day, Link rose again

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is unlike any other Zelda game in the series. For instance, there's no sign of the franc??hise's classic villain Ganon, and no Zelda outside of a quick flashback reference.

It's also a decidedly darker affair, with strong themes of depression, anxiety, and general angst due to the impending end of the world. Heck, there's even straight-up voyeurism quest and th??e assumption of dead people's identities.

Majora has a lot of really cool ideas, and most of them are augmented by the slight upgrades found in Majora's Mask 3D.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)
Developer: Nintendo EAD Tokyo. Grezzo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: February 13, 2015
MSRP: $39.99

Majora's Mask is a sequel to Ocarina of Time, making it perfect for people to pick up right after playing Ocarina 3D. You don't need to play any prior Zelda entry though, as Majora stands completely on its own. Kicking off as a search for Link's pal Navi, he ends up meeting Skullkid, who is in possession of an evil mask. One thing leads to another, and he finds himself cursed, and in a foreign land named Termina, with its capital Clock Town smack dab in?? the middle. Oh, and a giant Moon is going to destroy everything in just three days because of Skullkid. No pressure.

Visually Majora 3D has a nice new sheen to it, and if you go back and compare it to its classic version, it looks better across the board. Everything is brighter, more crisp, and less jaggy, breathing new life into Termina that I never really saw before. Like specific bits of the story, it definitely doesn't feel like a current-era title, and if you were turned off by Ocarina 3D's visuals?? you likely won't be amazed here either.

The first thing you might notice after dropping into the world is that Clock Town doesn't feel like your typical RPG town. It's alive, bursting with people going about their daily routines, with different dialog at different times of day. That's because Majora runs on a time system, with a full night and day cycle. After three days the Moon will crash into the worl??d and kill everyone, but you have a few tricks up your sleeve to prevent that from happening.

Masks, man. Masks are life. You'll have three major ones at your disposal that you'll acquire through?? the main storyline, which let you change forms to a light, medium, and heavy build. All of them have their own tricks of the trade, like walking on lava without taking damage, rolling about the world, or the power to swim swiftly. You'll also find a great deal of other ancillary masks that have their own benefits, like a quicker run speed or the peculiar power to blend in with enemies -- usually in a humorous fashion as they don't recognize what is clearly a young boy with a giant mask on. Finding and using all of the masks is half the fun, but a lot of them are still fairly useless outside of one specific quest.

To deal with the whole "end of the world in thre?e days" thing, you'll learn the Song of Time very early into the game with your trusty Ocarina, which resets the cycle entirely and lets you play "from the beginning." All of your Rupees, consumable items, and dungeon progress are reset. Sounds punishing right? Well, not really if you understand how the system works.

For one thing, you can play something called the "Inverted Song of Time" immediately, which slows down the clock on a permanent basis (for each cycle). You can also store your Rupees in the town bank and pick them up even if you reset time, and consumables can be replenished in seconds by whacking the right bushes. To prevent yourself?? from running out of time while in the middle of a dungeon, just unlock said dungeon, then immediately play the Song of Time, and the Inverted Song, giving yourself three entire days to complete it.

It's that simple. While the time element is a cool feature that does add a unique element to Majora, you can manipulate it in such a way that it doesn't become a true detriment to your quest. Oh, and in Majora 3D, the Song of Double Time now goes to an exact hour instead of just cycling up between the next day and night period -- gone are the day?s of waiting around for 15 or more minutes just to initiate an event.

You also have the Song of Soaring, which is basically fast travel for any Owl Statue you happen to find in the world. When coupled with the power to go portable on the 3DS, Majora 3D is easily one of the most convenient Zelda entries to date. As you can clearly see a lot of the frustrating ??parts have been taken out. Some may call it casual; I call it progress.

Of course, Majora is still frustrating at times. There are some really stupid gates on progress in some areas outside of the time cycle. Bottles are more plentiful than any other Zelda game, but they are very hard to come by at first. One specific part of the story takes place in Termina Bay, and tasks players with capturing objects in bottles. There are far more objects than actual bottles at that point, and even if the player has more than one, it takes multiple trips to go into the staging area, then slowly return to "deliver" them before going to get more. It's an antiquat?ed design coupled with a stealth section that throws you out of the zone instantly if you're seen. The stealth mechanic has a few neat hidden mechanics you can throw at it, but the e?longated fetch quest is still just plain not fun.

Majora also still does that dumb thing where if it becomes "Dawn ??of the Second Day" for instance while you're in the middle of questing, it will pause, show the flavor text, and then dump you back into the area like you just zoned in. Why is this still a thing? Many a time I was busy doing an annoying quest like tracking down a hidden object, and completely started back at square one because of the notification. There'?s also a few more relics of the past, like a Wizzro miniboss fight that feels like it's re-used five times over. While it may be advanced thematically, a lot of the actual quest line feels dated.

Thankfully, the gameplay holds up for a 3D action romp, especially with the 3DS enhancements. Just like Ocarina there's now a map on the bottom screen, and it's leaps and bounds above what the N64 was capable of with that tiny allotment in the corner -- it's especially great on quests where enemies show up as icons on the map (like the aliens at Romani Ranch). You can also assign extra items on the touch screen, which comes in handy for all of the masks you're going to pick up. The Ocarina and Pictobox (camera) are on dedicated touch buttons too. The former is very nice as it's used constantly, but it would have been nice to change the latter as I rarely take pictures. Majora 3D also supports the Circle Pad Pro for camera manipulation, or if you have it, the New 3DS' C-??Stick nub.

The Sheikah Stones are also back, which basically serve as an in-game video "Super Guide." Majora is probably the most deserving Nintendo release for this feature, because of how cryptic it can be. The other big upgrade is the enhancement of the Bomber's Notebook, which keeps track of quests and persons of interest in Termina. It's not super explicit now but it's very useful, armed with an alarm feature, a full calendar of all three days with breakdowns for day and night, and full quest tracking for each step. You can also find times for the availability of certain characters. Two new fishing holes are also in if you like that sor?t of thing.

All four of the core dungeon bosses have also been altered slightly, mostly providin??g a giant Majora-themed "eye" as a weakpoint during their vulnerable phase. I know some of you will hate the "casual" weakpoint alteration, but to me they're ultimately a non-issue. In the end, you hit the boss, it gets stunned and vulnerable, and you slash it a bunch of times. Having a big eyeball in play doesn't really make much of a difference since the fights are still memorable.

The third and fourth guardians, Gyorg and Twinmold, are a bit different. Gyorg now has an entirely new phase in his fight, which takes place completely underwater. You also won't get the Giant's M??ask immediately during Twinmold -- only when you kill one half of the duo will the mask drop. Both changes are interesting, especially the latter since it's no longer a gimmicky throwaway fight.

Nintendo didn't go above and beyond the call of duty with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, but the improvements do in fact make it a more playable experience. Many of the frustrating elements from the original are gone, and because of the nature of the three-day cycle, it's a perfect thing to pick up, play, and turn off after one cycle completes. Majora still isn't my favorite Zelda, b??ut I'm much more inclined to go bac??k to it on the 3DS.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D appeared first on Destructoid.

Majora's got a brand new bag

In a fitting tribute to the days of polygonal graphics that didn't play well on air, Majora's Mask 3DS has a nice little commercial you wouldn't be surprised to see stationed between episodes of Rocko's Modern Life and Doug. 

Not that these have all washed away. Sony does more cool-teen-targeted live-action commercials still, while anything about Pokemon on TV tends to look just like this Majora's Mask trailer, with obscure ?forest settings. This is a bit more spooky, though.&??nbsp;

The post Majora’s Mask gets a cute lil ’90s-feeling, live-action commercial appeared first on Destructoid.

Ha

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D is out on ??February 13, 2015. I?'ve completed it, and our review will come in February. I know, I know, but at least you'll get a pre-launch review, right?!

This new video from Nintendo shows off the gyroscope aiming feature that was in Ocarina of Time 3D, compliments of Eiji Aonuma. The best part? You can turn off gyroscope controls entirely just like Ocarina, and the left analog stick is pretty damn ef?fective.

During the DS and Wii era, Ni??ntendo would have stubbornly forced us to use this "revo?lutionary" type of play control. Now with systems like the Wii U and the 3DS, we have actual options just in case we don't prefer them.

The post The best part about this Majora’s Mask 3D gyroscope demo is that you can turn the feature off appeared first on Destructoid.

Also Super Smash Bros., for those living in the past

The New Nintendo 3DS XL is the current hot commodity for Nintendo fans, with special edition units selling out. For those who are n??ot so keen on ordering one before playing?, an opportunity to get some hands-on time is coming in just a few days. Nintendo will be giving the US debut for the handheld at PAX South this weekend.

Accompanying the new hardware are upcoming 3DS titles The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Also, for those who are months behind the curve, it will be possible to pay money to go to an event full of unreleased titles just to play Super Smash Bros. for 3DS,? which released last October. This is a thing that people will do.

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This one's for the fine folks in the UK

Nintendo sure has hit the marketing hard for Majora's Mask 3D in the few days since its ??wildly popular Direct. It seems like the 3DS rema?ke has been everywhere lately. There's just under a month to go until release, and it remains to be seen whether there's enough steam to push the hype train at full power for that long. Final stop: Termina.

The post Yet another Majora’s Mask 3D trailer to tide you over appeared first on Destructoid.

Early Clock Town shenanigans!

Have you managed to secure a fancy Majora's Mask New 3DS XL,? but want to know what to expec?t from the remake? Don't worry; Nintendo of Japan has your back.

In this 16-minute video, we get to see early game day one Clock Town. There's Tingle floating high above the ground in the north district. Oh! There are some of the town's infamous Bombers. Awww, an?d there'?s sweet Anju minding the inn.

So many memories flooding my brain right now.

The post 16 minutes of Majora’s Mask on 3DS because Nintendo loves you appeared first on Destructoid.

Some are claiming it's 'dumbed down' already

When The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D was announced, it was said that a few changes would be coming, just like the Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker remakes. We've already heard about extra fishing ponds, but now we?? know that the Bomber's Noteboo?k will be expanded upon.

The notebook was essentially a way to keep track of quests in the game, but it wasn't all that detailed, and it was incredibly easy to miss stuff in the original incarnation. Eiji Aonuma told GamesMaster magazine directly in a recent interview, "W?e were told by Mr. Miyamoto that he felt there were a lot of users who finished the original without even noticing all the hidden events scattered around the town. He said that he wanted us to make sure users were more aware of them this time around."

He goes on to explain the reasoning, stating, "When the game was launched, I believed that the real purpose was for players to overcome this pressure and experience a sense of achieve?ment. On a portable console, users don't have to choose when or where they play, they can keep on playing the game whenever they want. I think this should allow all users to enjoy that special sense of ??achievement."

People are already claiming that the game is being "dumbed down." Barring the fact that we don't have any concrete details, to that I'd respond -- when's the last time you played it? Some of those questlines are so devilishly hidden that the vast majority of gamers wouldn't be able to find them after hundreds of hours of searching. As long as it doesn't explicitly ruin the entire puzzle, I'm fine with it. Part of my problem with the original is that a lot of things were way too obscure or designed as nothing more than an arbitrary time sink, ?to the point where they weren't even enjoyable.

GamesMaster [Facebook via Nintendo Everything]

The post Majora’s Mask 3DS will have a more detailed explanation of quests appeared first on Destructoid.

It's a dream and a nightmare at the same time

Ocarina of Time is one of those incredibly well made games that just never clicked with me. Maybe it's because it was too much like A Link to the Past, except everything looks worse and takes longer to do. Maybe it's because the game's theme of being a child and an? adult at the same time is something I can't relate with. Either way, I've tried repeatedly to?? finish the game and I always lose interest well before the end.

I have the exact opposite relationship with Majora's Mask. Like Earthbound, it's a game that I have not been abl??e to stop playing since it first came out over 15 years ago. I think about it pretty regularly, and talk about with people who aren't at all interested in the topic at least once a month because I can't help it.

Majora's Mask is a game about do-overs. It actually feels like a do-over of the game that came before it. Ocarina wanted to be about being an adult, but in the end, it was just about being in an adult's body while living like a child, experiencing the best of both worlds. Majora's Mask does th?e opposite. It's about having to live like an adult and being treated like a child. It's about learning from your mistakes, being empathetic, and knowing that every second you're on this planet is another second closer to your inevitable death. 

It's the end of the world as they know it and they feel nothing

One of the weirdest things about becoming an adult is discovering that so many things are totally awful and few people notice or care. That guy on the street is homeless and starving. Ah, don't worry about it. Someone else will take care of him. There is poison in our food but we keep eating it because it tastes friggin' delicious. Ah well, you can't live forever, right? People are getting killed right now and we might be next. Bummer. Did you see the new Game of Thrones? [Blank spoiler] character ??got killed and I was so sad that I cried for real.

This is our world. This is also the world of Majora's Mask. A giant, angry moon is clearly?? hanging over our heads. It'??s getting closer every day. I think it's going to kill us. Should we do something about it? 

Maybe, ??but I'm really busy with this thing I'm workin?g on now. Get back to me later.

Looking to other adults and saying, "Jesus Christ, aren't you seeing ??how terrible this is?!" is a pretty common occurrence. It's largely because adults often don't feel the same alarm kids do when things are going wrong. When you're a kid, everything feels clearly color coded between "good" and "bad." The rules are well known and enforced. You can practically hear dramatic music playing in the background of your life when you're in trouble, and happy clown music when things are going your way.  

As an adult, things aren't as clear. Consensus on right and wrong is harder to find. It's up to you as a grown up to decide for yourself what's safe and what's not. That's Link in Majora's Mask. He's the only one who truly sees the danger. Sure, there are a few politicians and religious characters who are also aware of the pending Armageddon, but they mostly just talk about it, or in some cases, cry about it. Link is the one who gets that we're about to die, and is willing to try to make a difference. He can't sit back and wait for other??s to take care of him. He has to take care of himself, and in doing so, everyone else. It's a challenge that's simultaneously scary, strange, beautiful, and anything but simple. Ask any interesting adult about their lives, and they'll likely use the same words to describe?? it.

People can see you, but can they see you?

Majora's Mask is the canonical sequel to Ocarina of Time, at least in one timeline. That means that in this era, Link has been an adult before. He's also saved the world before. No one sees that though. To th??e people of Termina, Link is either an unremarkable kid, or an unwelcomed outsider, depending on if he's hanging out with humans or not. The only people who seem to respect him on-sight are other kids. After a little initiation test, they indoctrinate him into "The Bombers," a street gang of philanthropic stalkers. Unlike most adults, the Bombers aren't wrapped up in their own petty little problems. Instead, they're wrapped up in everyone else's pet??ty little problems. They keep a close eye on the comings and goings of everyone in town, regardless of how well they know these people in real life. If only they had a hashtag. Maybe then they'd have the visibility they need to make a difference. 

That's the dream anyway. Reality is different. In fact, visibility often makes things worse in real life, as it clouds out messages due to excess noise and distortion. Still, the instinct to be seen is something that almost all young adults have. It's part of the old "identity vs. role confusion" stage of psychological development, as theorized by psychologist Erik Erikson. Majora's Mask messes with a lot of these st?ages, which is a topic probably best tackled at another time.

Regardless, being denied visibility is frustrating for more than just developmental reasons. If people knew Link was the one who saved the world in Ocarina of Time, if they respected him as an equal, then maybe they'd listen to him when he says that the world is about to end. This is another way that the game simulates the experience of young adulthood. As a kid, you might guess that every adult gets treated with respect. In reality, going?? out into the world expecting people to automatically think you are a smart, respectable, cool guy, just because you're a grown up will lead to i?mmediate disappointment. 

This is where the whole mask motif fits in. Link learns that being seen for who he is physically won't get him far. He is forced to start manipulating situations by appearing to be who people want him to be. He learns to adjust his outward identity to best fit the setting he's in. It feels dishonest at first, like an imposter complex. With practice, Link learns he's not an imposter. He's just expressing different sides of himself, first out of necessity, later out of?? genuine joy.

It's not always easy though. In fact, it's usually painful, at least during the initial transition. That changes in time. With practice, Link gets comfortable with the masks in his life, using them to connect with people of any race, age, or gender. While these people aren't seeing everything that Link is, they are seeing a side of who he really is. It's through this pr??ocess that Link changes the world. 

All things are made from minutia 

Majora's Mask gets a lot of people down because most of the game doesn't tell you where to go and what to do. You can take on most of the game's challenges in any order you want, or end up wandering around with no idea what to do for hours. Some of the most important things you need to do in the game involves helping random strangers to communicate with one another at very specific times, or putting some random set of variables together and just hoping that it was a good idea. These are things that anyone could do, but only Link would do, because Link is the kind of person?? who cares about thes?e things.

Earlier I mentioned how Link is the only person in Majora's Mask that gets how bad his big picture is and how the difference between good and bad isn't always clear in adult life. The same goes for seeing the differences between "important" and "unimportant" things. It gets pretty cloudy as you get older. As a child, you know it's important to do the things that will cause you gain pleasure or avoid punishment. In that way, childhood is like most videogames. If we're going by Kohlberg's stages of moral development, most children and videogames operate on the lower end of the pyramid. If you get rewarded, do it. If you get punished, d??on't. 

Majora's Mask expects you to be able to access a higher level of motivation. Though the lingering fear of death is always there pushing you forward, the moment to moment decisions you make in the game are often driven by a combination of curiosity and optimism, with no guaranteed reward beyond experience. The game doesn't tell you have to form an all fish-person rock band, or lead a parade of dogs through the town, but what if you did anyway? What if you helped that strange boy help communicate his love to an older woman? What if you did things to help people, ju?st for the sake of helping, with death hanging over your head and no idea how to stop it?

It's these small moments of adventure and kindness that eventually lead to the world being saved. They also lead to Link finally becoming an adult; a super powerful adult that is also a god. Most free-roaming sandbox games provide the player with the freedom of an adult while rewarding them for behaving like a vaguely organized sociopathic toddler with super powers, offering constant rewards for acting before thinking. Majora's Mask thinks more highly of you than that. More than every other Zelda game, and just about any other game. It expects you to have the empathy, tolerance for hardship, and the willingness to live in the moment for the sake of the moment that defines emotional maturity. 

Unfortunately, you can't go back in time to fix your mistakes in real life. All we can do is acknowledge them, accept them, and try to do better next time. We can't rewind time, but we can do our best to not repeat past mistakes as we move forward. That was the main lesson I learned about life as a young adult. It's also the lesson of Majora's Mask, the game about a boy who is an adult, motivated to mov??e forward by his impending doom, discovering himself and the world.&nbs?p;

The post Majora’s Mask is my favorite game about being a young adult appeared first on Destructoid.

HNNNNNG!!!!!

It's happening! It's finally happening!

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (my favorite game of all time) is making a return on 3DS next spring, Nintendo announced today to lead off its Nintendo Direct? presentation. Best news ever!

The post Zelda: Majora’s Mask coming to 3DS in spring 2015! appeared first on Destructoid.