The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D is a return to the strangest and darkest entry in the whole series — and at the same time proof that even after fifteen years Nintendo can carve a classic into a more perfect shape. The original game from 2000 was created in record time thanks to the Ocarina of Time engine and became famous for the oppressive atmosphere of a dying world: above the town of Clock Town hangs a giant, mocking moon that will fall in three days and destroy everything.

The whole game rests on a relentless cycle of time. You have only seventy-two in-game minutes before the world ends — then, using the Song of Time, you return to the start of the first day and everything begins anew. The characters live out their own schedules, keep appointments, go through small dramas, and you try to understand and save them. The masks are essential: by transforming into a Deku, a Goron or a Zora you gain entirely different abilities and views of the world. The 3DS version adds improved graphics, a reworked saving system, clearer time management through the Bombers' Notebook and gentler combat. Retro gamers love Majora precisely for that melancholy, existential weight and how boldly it breaks away from the rest of Zelda — it remains one of the most distinctive adventures Nintendo has ever released.