You start out with a few paragraphs telling you the background of Link and how he got from The Ocarina of Time to Majora’s Mask. Basically, it says that after he became a hero, he went on a personal journey to find an invaluable friend. Now, they never say who this invaluable friend is, but I like to think he was searching for Navi. *sniff!* (Although that probably is not the case.) So you see Link riding through a forest on Epona’s back. Then you see two fairies watching him. Then they startle Epona and she throws Link off her back and knocks Link out. Then you see this dude with a freaky-looking mask on. He’s working with the fairies. They look to see if you have anything valuable to steal. They start messing with Link’s ocarina when he wakes up. The freaky mask dude, called “Skull Kid” by the fairies, takes off on Epona. You try to hold on to Epona but you get thrown off.

This is where some actual gameplay comes in. Go in the wood tunnel, up the platforms, and through the door. You, being as smooth as you are, fall off a ledge, and you fall a long way. You see little images floating past you while you fall. Dude, you are trippin out. You land on a big pink flower, and you see the fairies AND the Skull Kid hovering nearby. Skull Kid tells you that Epona wouldn’t listen to him and that he got rid of her. He makes some sort of comment about you not being able to beat him as he is now, then starts twitching like mad and this purplish energy goes at you. Suddenly, you’re surrounded by Deku scrubs, then this one massive Deku scrub overtakes you. When you snap out of it, you look at your reflection in the water and you see that YOU are a Deku scrub in Link’s clothing! (Ha… a Deku scrub in Link’s clothing... a wolf in sheep’s clothing... never mind.) The fairies and Skull Kid laugh at you then start to leave. You take off after them, but one of the fairies comes back to beat you up for good measure. Well... she basically just rams into your head a few times, but that’s enough to separate her from her clan, and a door shuts behind them. She blames YOU for her getting stuck in here and demands that you help her get out. Enter more gameplay. But you’re a Deku Scrub; it’s a little different. You don’t have your sword or your shield, and because it’s the beginning of the game, you have no other items to work with. BUT if you press “A”, you do have your own Deku attack, and “R” will give you your own Deku shield.

Open the door that Skull Kid and the other fairy went through and walk through the corridor. The fairy will stop you and tell you not to leave without her. Then she’ll apologize for the stuff she said before and demand that you take her with you. She’ll tell you that she knows where Skull Kid might be headed, deems herself as your partner (at least until they catch up with them again), and introduces herself as Tatl. (How you’re supposed to pronounce that I really dunno… too many consonants.) She’ll also tell you that when she figures something out, she’ll tell it to you when you press “C up”. Well, just take a few steps forward and she will have figured something out. Press “C up”. She’ll tell you how to use a Deku lower. Press “A” while standing on it to dive in. Hold “A” for a while (you’ll hear a little “poof” and some pollen will pop up when you’re ready) and you can pop out of the flower and glide! Use the control stick to direct yourself while in the air, press “A” again to descend. Tatl will also tell you that that you can press “A” on the ground for a spin attack. But, of course, Zelda Master Plexie has already told you that. Anyway, use the Deku flower to glide to the platform across the room and go through the door. In this next room is a bunch of platforms with Deku flowers. Glide from platform to platform to get to the tunnel to your right. Be careful, when Deku Link starts swinging his legs in the air, that means that your flowers are about ready to give out and you’ll want to get some solid ground under you. Look for your shadow below to see where you’re going to land. If you want, before you go to the tunnel, go forward to the platform with the treasure chest. There are some Deku Nuts in there (you can throw them while gliding by pressing “B”). As you get close to the tunnel, Tatl will prompt you to Z-target and then talk to her. She’ll explain about Z-targeting then tell you to check the tree out. However all that happens when you check the tree out is that Tatl tells you how much you look like it. -shrug- Go through the tunnel, then you’ll be going through a twisted corridor like in Ocarina of Time (OoT). Then you’ll get to a room and the door will shut behind you. Go up the ramp to the left, and to the stairs leading to a door. As you try to go through the door, you hear a voice from behind. It’s the man from the Happy Mask Shop in OoT. He’s traveling the world collecting masks. Then one day an important mask was stolen from him. He tells you that he’s been following you. How that’s possible without our detection, I’m not quite sure. But he tells you that he knows a way to get you back to your former self, out of Deku mode. If you can get back what was stolen from you (the ocarina), he can change you back. All he wants in exchange was the mask that was stolen from him. The only thing is, is that you have to get back to him before he leaves in three days. Once you’re done talking to him, go back up the stairs, push the door open and walk through.

This screen comes up with this Law and Order type sound: “Dawn of the First Day / 72 Hours Remain”. They keep time for you... how nice... how stressful... Tatl complains to you about the time limit then tells you that we need to go see the Great Fairy; she watches over everything, she’ll know where Skull Kid is. Tatl will tell you that she’s in the shrine near the North Gate. Now, this town can be seriously confusing to someone new to the game. But here’s the rundown. Right now, you’re facing south in the South Clock Town (which has the South Gate). The North Clock Town (with the North Gate) is behind you and the West and East Clock Towns (with the West and East Gates, duh) are to your right and left respectively. For right now, turn around, go right around the door you just came into a find the entrance to the North Clock Town. (It has a blue border around the entrance.) Go through the entrance and to the left you’ll see a ramp leading to the entrance of the Fairy’s Fountain.

As you walk toward the pool, Tatl will say “Oh no!” Oh no indeed! The Skull Kid has shattered the Great Fairy into little fairy bits. One stray fairy is on the loose in town, go find her and bring her back. Tatl will remind you that you don’t even have three days left. Thanks, we know.

If you’re searching for her during the day, go back to South Clock Town. To the right of the South Gate is a ramp leading to the Laundry Pool. That’s where you’ll find her. Get to her by walking on water. Being in Deku mode is cool because you don’t sink under water, you hop on top of it. Be careful though, because you can only hop five times before you sink and drown. If you look for her at night, she in the East Clock Town near the Treasure Chest Shop. She’ll be up high; you’ll need to use a Deku flower to glide to her. Once you get her, bring her back to the Fairy’s Fountain in North Clock Town. When the stray fairy gets back to the pool, she’ll join the other shattered fairies and become whole again to make the rather ho-ish Great Fairy. She’ll introduce herself as the Great Fairy of Magic and grant you Magic Power. Now, in Deku mode, you can use “B” to shoot bubble blasts or press and hold “B” for a big bubble. But keep in mind that these things decrease your magic power. The Great Fairy tells you that the man who lives in the observatory may know where the Skull Kid is. She also tells you that if you are ever returned to your normal self, to come see her again. Now, off to find the man in the observatory.

Exit the fairy pool and you’ll see a little boy shooting at a balloon. This is Jim. Try to talk to him and he’ll diss on you, calling you shrimp. “If you can’t pop that balloon, then don’t mess with Jim!” says he. Well, Jim’s a dork because he can’t even pop that balloon. But we can. Blow a big bubble, aim it at the balloon, then release “B”. If you aimed right, it’ll pop the balloon and startle Jim. Try talking to him again. You have impressed him so he mentions the entrance to the observatory and a code… but you have to “pass the test”. He’ll call four of his little friends together. Get ready for a game of hide and seek. If you can find them all in a certain amount of time, Jim will teach you the code. Two of the little boys stayed in North Clock Town. One by the slide, and one by the tree by the entrance to the Fairy’s Fountain. Watch out, because not only do you have to find them, you need to catch them. And they WILL run from you. There are two in East Clock Town. One will be up the stairs to the right of the alleyway. Watch out, he has a cucco on hand and when he sees you, he’ll glide away with the cucco. Just chase him down and catch him. The other one is on the roof opposite where the previous boy was. Use a nearby Deku Flower to chase him off the roof then run around and catch him. The last little boy is somewhere in West Clock Town. Once you get them all, you’ll return back to North Clock Town. They’ll say that you’re pretty good for a Deku scrub. If only you were human, then you could join their club and get an official notebook. But you’re not, so too bad. But he will give you the code he promised. The code is random for each new game. If you forget it, go ask one of the little boys besides Jim. (If you ask Jim, he’ll just ask if you remember it.)

Now that you have the code, go back to the little kid guarding the alleyway in East Clock Town. Tell him the code and he’ll let you in. Inside is kinda creepy. Jump across the water, being careful to monitor your hops so you don’t drown, and watch out for the skulltula up in the ceiling at the other side of the water. You can get him with a bubble blast when he turns his back to you or you can go around him completely. Your choice. Around the corner you’ll see a big balloon, shoot at it with a bubble and it will pop, revealing a ladder. Go up the ladder and through the corridor and you’ll enter this really cool place. Explore a little if you want, then go up the stairs and talk to the astronomer. He’ll tell you that the troublemaker he encountered before is probably somewhere near the clock tower. Then he’ll ask if you want to look in his telescope. Use the control stick to move it and zoom in with “A”. Zoom in at the top of the clock tower. You’ll see the Skull Kid on the top of the Clock Tower. Then he’ll look at the moon and you follow his gaze. Okay, the moon is freakin scary lookin. Okay? It has a face. That’s not normal. And it’s a scary face. You’ll see something fall from the moon’s eye and crash to the ground. Look back up at the Skull Kid and he’s spanking himself and shaking his butt at you. Then he hops away. Then quit the telescope. The astronomer will ask you if you saw the Skull Kid and ask what the loud noise was. He suggests that it’s another Moon’s Tear and that you go outside and see. There’s a door nearby so go outside and get it. It IS a Moon’s Tear! Now you can exit the observatory.

Go back to South Clock Town. You’ll see a large, yellow Deku flower. Go by it and a business scrub will fly down. This is his Deku flower, so don’t use it without permission! Talk to him and he’ll talk about how the carnival is looking a little iffy and how he wants to pack up and go home. He’ll also mention that he wants a Moon’s Tear and asks if you have one. When he says, “Press START to open the Select Item Screen. Choose an item with ‘C’,” do it. Put the Moon’s Tear to a “C” button then offer it to him. In exchange, he’ll give you the Land Title Deed for his flower. He mentions that if you don’t need to the spot, you could always sell it yourself. Alright friends, now you can’t do much until midnight of the third day. You can go around and explore the towns and talk to people, get a better understanding of what’s going on. You might want to stop by the bank too. The bank is not much of a bank. In south side of West Clock Town, there’s a boy kneeling in a hole in the wall. Talk to him, and he’ll ask if you want to deposit rupees. There are incentives for how many rupees you deposit too. So go ahead and deposit rupees. I’d deposit all I have. You can always withdraw some later if you need it. So the little banker dude will set up an account for you and you can deposit and withdraw rupees whenever you want. Always deposit all your rupees before you stop playing or before your three days are up. If you do deposit them, they’ll be there when you come back, if you don’t deposit them, you lose all the rupees you found. But anyway, at midnight of the third day, make sure you’re back in South Clock Town. At midnight, fireworks will go off and the Clock Tower will open. Get in the Deku flower you traded with the business scrub, glide to the entrance and go up the stairs.

On the roof, you’ll see Skull Kid waiting for you with your ocarina. Tael and Tatl are reunited. Tatl will suggest to the Skull Kid that he return the mask he’s wearing, but she’s ignored. Tael says, “Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. Hurry… The four who are there… Bring them here…” Then Skull Kid smacks him down. There’s a little more dialogue, then Skull Kid spazes out and the energy he emits seems to make the moon fall faster. You now have five minutes to do… something. Well, let’s go for the obvious. Tatl well glow green around the Skull Kid so Z-target him and shoot at him with a bubble. He’ll be stunned and drop your Ocarina. Go get it. When you pick it up, you’ll think back to the time when you left for your journey and Princess Zelda said goodbye. She said she believes in her heart that you shall meet again. *sniff!* She gave you the ocarina and reminded you of the Song of Time from OoT. You play along with her then leave. Then Tatl knocks you out of your memories. Then Tatl pleads to the “goddess of Time”…right. But that should trigger something. Pull out your ocarina. Instead of an ocarina, it will be a Deku instrument: pipes. It doesn’t matter, try the Song of Time. It will then ask you if you want to “Save and return to the Dawn of the First Day?” Choose yes. You’ll fall back through time, shedding any undeposited rupees and Deku nuts you may have acquired along the way. Then you’ll have flashbacks from when you started the game and then you’re standing where you were at the dawn of the first day. Freaky, huh? As Tatl comments, everything has, “Started over…” Then Tatl remembers that we now have the Ocarina and that the mask salesman can change you back to normal! So let’s go and see him. Push back through door of the Clock Tower and talk to the man. He’ll start shaking you and this massive organ will appear from nowhere. Then he’ll teach you the Song of Healing. When you learn it, the massive Deku scrub that took you over previously will back away. We wave goodbye to him, and a Deku mask will fall from you. The mask salesman will say, “This is a melody that heals evil magic and troubled spirits, turning them into masks.” Now that will be of assistance to us in the future. And he lets you keep the Deku mask. Now, when you put it on, you will return to Deku form, but you can take it off and return to normal whenever you want. Niiiiice. Then he says he’s done his part and asks for the mask the Skull Kid stole from him. Hm… We weren’t quite able to get a hold of that… When he realizes this, his face turns really scary-looking and he picks you up and starts shaking you. Chill, duuuuude!! He’ll explain about the mask that was stolen from him; it’s called Majora’s Mask. Whoever wears it has evil powers, and the ancients, fearing that the mask could fall into the wrong hands, hid it. But no, Mr. Mask Salesman just had to get that mask. And then it was stolen from him. And now YOU have to get it back for him. So, off we go.

When you get back outside, Tatl remembers about what Tael said about the swamp, mountains, ocean, and canyon. Nobody knows what that means, but Tatl suggests we go investigate those areas. She says the swamp is right outside the South Gate. But before we leave Clock Town, let’s take care of a few things. Remember how the Great Fairy said to come see her again when you return to your original form? Well, we’re back! But it’s three days ago. She’s still in little fairy bits. So go get that stray fairy and bring it back to the Fairy’s Fountain. She’ll tell you that there are four other fairies that are broken like she was throughout the land and asks you to help them too. She’ll give you the Great Fairy Mask. When you’re in one of the four temples, it sparkles when there are stray fairies in the same room as you and the little fairies will fly to you. Now go back to the entrance to the observatory. Remember the code? Use it to get in the alleyway. Now, you can go all the way back to the observatory and talk to the scarecrow there, or you can just read the walkthrough for the info and skip the trouble. ^_^ Aren’t walkthroughs great? The scarecrow will ask if you want to dance til night. (Or til morning if you ask him at night.) Say no, unless you really do want to dance til then. And that’s literal. You will give up however many hours of your allotted three days. I mean, you can start over by playing the Song of Time again, but you do have to start over. Anyway, then he’ll tell you that he knows a song that will allow you to manipulate the flow of time. Wanna learn it? Well, since time is such an important factor in this game, sure you do! He’ll tell you that “if you play the strange song backward, you can slow the flow of time. And if you play each note twice in a row, you can move a half a day forward through time.” Pretty helpful, huh? The strange song he speaks of is the Song of Time. If you play the Song of Time backwards (C down, A, C right, C down, A, C right), you can slow time down by half. And if you really want to go back to speedy time, just play it again. It’s very helpful, especially for temple conquering. So why don’t you go ahead and use it right now. Play the Song of Time backwards and slow time down. There, that’s better. And if you play “C right, C right, A, A, C down, C down,” you’ll jump to the next night or morning time. Also, while in front of Scarecrow, pull out your Ocarina. He’ll want you to play him a song. Make up a song, but make it something simple that you’ll remember. He’ll remember it and bury himself in the ground. Now, if Tatl glows light blue, but there’s nothing to Z-target, play Scarecrow’s Song. He’ll pop up to lend you a hand on your journey. Anyway, leave the alleyway. Jim will show up again. He doesn’t recognize you out of Deku mode and he wants to know how you know the code. It obviously doesn’t matter that much to him, because he makes you part of the Bombers. You get an official Bombers’ Notebook. (For more information, go to the Bombers’ Notebook Section.) Now go to South Clock Town. On the west side of the clock, there’s an owl statue. Slash it with your sword and it will spread its wings. This will be very, very helpful in the future. If you want, this is where you save your game, at this and other owl statues. They will also serve as warp points later on. But for now, let’s head on out to Termina Field.