Swimming in 3D games is never great, but there's something especially horrible about Zora Link.
After 15 years, I finally wrapped up The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, finally seeing the good end to that interesting three-day cycle. I collected all of the masks, explored numerous side quests, and fell in love with this stellar entry in the Zelda series. For all intents and purposes, the legion of Majora's Mask fans can count me as a new convert. This is truly one of the best Zelda games ever made. However, I take issue with one specific element of this otherwise excellent game. SPOILER WARNING: Some light spoilers about some specific sections of the second half of the game are below.
Swimming as a Zora is frustrating and obnoxious. While swimming in a 3D game has never really been great (the music note portion in Skyward Sword comes to mind), there's something especially horrible at the way swimming is implemented in Majora's Mask. It's a major focus of an entire area in a way I don't recall in other Zelda games. You have to precisely move around as Zora Link to solve puzzles, finish races, and fight a boss. In small doses, it could have been fine, but you regularly have restrictive time limits demanding you to move around to near perfection. The beaver races, which you have to do a minimum of four times, are an egregious example of this. Even worse is how the swimming boost is now tied to your magic meter (which it wasn't in the N64 version), meaning that in addition to time limits, you also have to deal with a depleting meter.
The pinnacle of this woeful mechanic is in the final area of the game. As Zora Link, you have to race through three mazes against a ticking clock. Also, you need to perfect jumping out of the water as Zora Link, something that (at least in my playthrough) was never done before in the adventure. If you fail to make the right turn in one of the mazes, run out of time, or miss the jump, you have to start the entire section over again. It's maddening, and legitimately got me to a point where I thought about turning the game off and moving on. I stuck with it, and I believe on my 30th or 40th try, I made it through the mazes.
Making that specific segment even worse is comparing it with the Goron Link section in that same final area. Like the Zora segment, you have to maneuver Goron Link (in wheel form) expertly to complete the section. It's challenging and you'll very likely have to retry multiple times. However, it's not nearly as long as the Zora Link segment, and when you fail, you very quickly restart. It's also not up against a time limit. Playing those two areas right after each other really highlighted to me how much I disliked the Zora Link swimming and how much I enjoyed the challenge of controlling a rolling Goron. Hell, I think I'd play an entire game of Goron Racing. Maybe that can be the next spin-off after Hyrule Warriors.
How did you feel about the swimming in Majora's Mask on Nintendo 64 and/or 3DS? Did you get as frustrated as I did? Do you think I'm insane? Do you want to roll as Gorons with me?
