Ocarina: 1: (noun) a small egg-shaped wind instrument with a mouthpiece and holes for the fingers. 2: (geek) a portable TARDIS that makes music.

In 1998, Ocarina of Time, the first 3D Legend of Zelda title, released in the USA on the N64. The story was compelling, the world was HUGE, and the characters were memorable. Me and my older sister, Amanda, went dungeon crawling, boss slaying and princess saving daily. She mostly “navigated.”

18 months after Ocarina of Time, Nintendo tried to capitalize on its overwhelming success by releasing a sequel called Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. At the time, I didn’t buy into it. This was the first, true sequel to a Legend of Zelda title, and I didn’t want more of the same. (Hold up fanboys, I know the original NES title had a sequel, but even its creators don’t acknowledge it as a true sequel. So put down your torch and comment post)

Majora’s Mask was just re-released on the Nintendo 3DS and I have to say, I’m sorry I missed it on its first release. While the first Ocarina of Time focused on traveling between two time periods set 7 years apart, this game has you using the same magic ocarina to travel 3 days in the past to stop the impish Skull Kid from crashing the creepiest looking moon ever into the Earth killing everyone in the game.

This game is solid, engaging and stands on its own feet borrowing from Ocarina of Time enough to strum the nostalgia strings, but bringing enough new content to separate itself as a “stand alone” classic.

Time progresses as you play so there is a sense of urgency to completing quests and collecting items you need to defeat the Skull Kid and recover Majora’s Mask. If you find yourself running out of time, you can play a tune on your magic ocarina and travel back to day 1. You keep the important items, but everything else is lost to the void. This has lead to some rage moments usually reserved for “Dark Souls.”

But that’s a therapy session for another time.

Praise the sun, class dismissed.