Majora's Mask: Ocarina of Time

Clock Town is the town that was shown in the intro, and everybody’s working toward a big celebration on the third day. Deku Link seems to be beneath notice, so he’s free to go about trying to get his ocarina and the salesman’s mask back. Tatl suggests visiting a Great Fairy in town, which is a good idea in theory, but the fairy apparently got careless dealing with the Skull Kid, and got blasted into a bunch of tiny fairies, and one of them’s gone missing. So, of course, it’s up to Link to track down the missing fairy and bring her back to the fountain, where the Great Fairy becomes whole again and rewards Link for his help by giving him the ability to blow bubbles.

The bubbles allow Link to pop a balloon, gaining the attention of the leader of a gang of kids running around town. The leader challenges Link to find them all in a game of hide-and-seek before sunrise. They’re easy to find, but difficult to catch unless Link hits them with more bubbles, which stun them and let Link close the gap. And so, Link wins the game, but the group apparently has a “no scrubs” policy and refuses to let him join. They are fairly sporting, however, and teach him the password to the tunnel to the astral observatory.

After going through the tunnel, Link finds a scarecrow who teaches him further tricks he can do with the Song of Time once he learns it. The astronomer, Professor Shikashi, complains about the Skull Kid’s antics and offers to let Link take a look through his telescope. Link sees the Skull Kid atop the clock tower; the Skull Kid seems to realize he’s being watched because he does something to the moon to make a Moon’s Tear fall, and then taunts Link by waving his butt at him.

Link can take the Moon’s Tear back to Clock Town, where he finds a business scrub willing to sell Link the flower it’s occupying for it. It’s a good trade, that will let Link wait at the door to the clock tower until it opens on the night of the festival. There’s not a lot left to do right now, so here’s some stuff going on in the town:

• I didn’t mention this earlier because it’s irrelevant to the main quest so far, but Link met Tingle selling maps of Clock Town. It was five rupees and marks all the points of interest in town, so it’s a good deal. Tingle is a 35-year-old man who wants to be a fairy, to the point of dressing like one, to his father’s embarrassment. I’m aware he’s not overwhelmingly popular, but I’m trying not to let that color my perception too much.
• Tatl is a lot more demanding than Navi was, even if her alert noise isn’t “Hey!” Navi’s hints were like “Here’s what we should be doing next, in case you’ve gotten so caught up playing music for singing frogs that you’ve forgotten,” while Tatl’s more like, “What are you doing? We have a quest to finish!” I guess it makes sense given the strict time limit.
• There’s a bank in Western Clock Town that records deposits by stamping them on the account holder. This will protect Link in case he has a catastrophe like being sent back in time three days, so I deposited some to test it out at first, then everything before going to confront the Skull Kid at the end.
• I played a couple minigames while waiting for nightfall on the third day. One of these is to find the way through a maze whose walls only pop up as needed to block Link’s path to a treasure chest that contains Deku nuts. This is a pretty pointless game, so I found a better one. In a corner that can only be accessed by Deku flower, a couple business scrubs run a platforming game. The reward is more substantial here (50 rupees), but the game is a giant pain in the nostrils. The first jump is a nightmare, and they don’t get much easier.
• Dawn/dusk of each day having a cutscene that interrupts Link: A good way to mark milestones on the passing of time, but it’s already getting old, and I can only imagine it’s going to get worse.

At dusk on the third day, the way to the top of the clock tower opens, and Link makes his way up, collecting a heart piece along the way. At the top of the tower, Tael hints to Link and Tatl that they need to get “the four who are” in the swamp, mountain, ocean, and canyon. The Skull Kid bops Tael and starts floating out of Link’s reach, but Link stuns him with a bubble, making him drop the ocarina. As Link picks it up, he flashes back to Zelda coming to him as he’s leaving Hyrule and giving him the Ocarina of Time for the journey. She teaches him the Song of Time, saying he can play it to call for help from the Goddess of Time. With the moon about to crash into Clock Town, that’s just what he does, and after a weird sequence, finds himself returned to just after his first meeting with the mask salesman.

Next: The curse lifted.