The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Console icon Nintendo 64

  • Beat the game without playing the Song of Time more than once - attempts must include the Prologue.

    318 (286) of 6,701 โ€“ 4.75%

    4.27% of players have earned the achievement in hardcore mode
    4.75% of players have earned the achievement in softcore mode
  • Created by MoonLegend on: 05 Dec, 2017 01:54
    Last modified: 07 May, 2024 12:28


    Recent comments

    (See all 154)

    Rampagingtaru 12 Jan 2025 22:26
    Pretty sure it'll save the game at the start of your three day run after the tutorial.
    DeadCanDance 14 Jan 2025 00:42
    When I first saw this I thought it absolutely should not be part of a core set.

    After doing it - I'm torn. I still think it shouldn't be, but because glitches and owl saves cheapen it. There's a lot of challenges you could build around this but that would be far too brutal to be part of a core set. And you can't justify banning glitches and owl statues as part of a core set.

    It's held back by not being part of a subset or having a subset built around it.

    I also think it's kind of silly that a Majora's Mask set that includes this awards fewer points than a game like Donkey Kong Country 2. I mastered that in a day and to me, it didn't require nearly as much studying or technical feats as this set did. Everyone's gonna be a bit different, but I do think around 1000 points for this set would be reasonable, especially since I think getting Epona and the Song of Storms on the first day could reasonably be made 25-50pt achievements on their own.

    With that said - this requires a lot less precision than it seems. I wasted a ton of time and dealt with a lot of setbacks I don't normally have to deal with, and I went for things I didn't strictly need to finish the run like the Gilded Sword and defense upgrade. I also picked up Chateau Romani.

    I ended up using the 4th Day glitch at the end of the run. I decided after getting Epona I would just roll with this run and finish with that if I absolutely had to.

    The gorons were extremely aggressive at the racetrack and it took me 4 attempts to get the gold dust. I went for the beaver brothers bottle when I didn't need it.I lost a LOT of time climbing to Stone Tower Temple because Link did short hops in a couple of instances where I needed him to jump. I got thrown out of the Gerudo Fortress several times because I kept rushing the first part with Zora link.

    Doing things glitchless, I had an hour on the clock when I was ready to fight Twinmold. If there were two more hours to work with, I would've nailed it.
    DeadCanDance 14 Jan 2025 00:49
    I highly recommend watching some glitchless speedruns of the game - there's a lot of big time saves that don't require much skill to pull off, like enemy weaknesses that aren't obvious and ways to skip obstacles that are so dead simple I don't know why I never thought of doing things that way. (Like when climbing Stone Tower, playing the Elegy of Emptiness on top of the platforms that come to you so you can ride them to where you need to go - really wish I'd seen that before I made the climb.)

    I also think an achievement or two to help set the pace for this would be helpful - an achievement for unlocking Woodfall Temple by 9 or 10am on the first day would help make this less of a steep hill to climb. You have to do it anyway to complete this challenge, and it would give people who haven't done it before a good feel for the kind of pace they need to go in order to stand a chance at completing this - a smaller challenge that makes the bigger one less daunting.

    If you're not in the Mountain Village by 12 or 1pm on the first day, reset. I'll say that flat out.

    I've been wanting to do a 3-day run for ages and it was a lot of fun even if I wasn't able to bring it home without glitches - I got within a stone's throw of it and I know I'll nail it if I try it again. Very glad to have this mastery under my belt.
    FrozenFirebird 14 Jan 2025 11:39
    I'm in favor of this staying in the set and being scored exactly as it is, for a number of reasons.

    1) This is very much "on brand" for the game's theming, that of being on a clock and having to plan out your activities based on your knowledge of the world. And it's crazy that it's possible without glitches - which makes me think Nintendo planned it this way on purpose.

    2) It's far from difficult. It's a little silly to me that this rates 5 "majoras" in the icon's little difficulty markers, while the Majora damageless one only has 4. This achievement is made much easier by being able to copy owl saves and retry segments to optimize. That segmented nature alone really makes this similar to something like DKC2's speedrun achievement, which also allows saves.

    3) It's immensely satisfying to pull off, and makes the game's ending more rewarding.

    4) It serves as an excellent basis for the rest of the achievements, as the save you've created will have the whole world wide open to you once you beat Majora.

    5) It combines very well with the 3-heart achievement. If you're using owl saves to optimize segments, you may as well not pick up any hearts while you're at it, by the time you get segments short enough to continue, you'll be skilled enough to avoid a lot of damage in the process. Probably even pick up some boss damageless achieves if you're so inclined too!

    I've seen a lot of harder things in sets valued less for points. And this is quite a ride when you get it to work.
    Sheikji 19 Jan 2025 05:30
    Although the challenge is interesting, I think it's a mistake for this achievement to be part of the normal set.
    Because of this achievement I left the game abandoned for a long time, I decided to try to master it again and when I'm about to complete the challenge, the emulator freezes on a black screen after using fast forward, preventing me from finishing the game. proof of this is that I still have control of the character but the screen goes black.
    I've already given up on starting achievements in several games on the site due to this type of challenge, I'm just a casual player trying to collect achievements, not a fanatic for challenges completely different from the game's proposal.
    It would be interesting to review this achievement, as literally each attempt takes hours of the day, keeping the player hostage throughout the game, as it is not possible to save and continue later. NOTE: this type of achievement must necessarily go towards a defined bonus.
    NOTE: I apologize for the rant and to anyone who likes this type of challenge, but it is simply frustrating for us to invest time in something that in the end came to nothing, as I was unable to complete it due to an error in the emulator, not to mention when we lost too much time doing something in the game or we make mistakes countless times, forcing us to restart the game.
    raullink 19 Jan 2025 10:40
    @Sheikji

    I'm sorry about the emulator crash. That must be really frustrating.

    I still don't see this achievement as a problem.

    You can save and try as many times as you need. Just use File 1 and File 2. Save in File 1, and before opening it again, copy it to File 2. If you want to go back, do the same thing (copy File 2 to File 1) before opening File 2.

    If you've already done all the other achievements, it's ideal to tackle this one next, as it requires you to know all the routes. It does take some practice. I made two "half-runs" where I messed up. But they werenโ€™t too long since it's just one game cycle.

    I recommend watching a YouTube video. There's an excellent one by Smiffic that lasts 23 minutes. It focuses only on what needs to be done.

    Use it as a reference to get the "timestamps." For example, "Oh, I need to reach the ice mountain by 11 a.m. on the first day."

    Keep trying, trying, and trying until you get there. Once you do, back up your save immediately.

    Another tip I have is to use savestates! Yes, it's possible in hardcore mode. Create a savestate near an Owl Statue. If you mess up your save files (e.g., accidentally deleting your backup), you can disable hardcore mode, load the savestate, save the game at the Owl Statue, and then re-enable hardcore mode.

    It's not as cruel as it seems. You just need to plan ahead.

    I did this almost a year ago, and even today, I feel incredibly rewarded for completing this challenge. I've been playing this game for at least 18 years, ever since I was a teenager. I never knew it was possible to finish the game this way. Now that I know and have done it, I feel like Iโ€™ve truly "experienced the game."
    BorsPepsi69 22 Jan 2025 11:14
    Damn this achievement is harder than it sounds, I constantly forget stuff and what to do and I end up forgetting something important and have to reset, or I'm on auto-pilot and just play the game as normal and end up forgetting something like needing to warp out of Woodfall after getting the bow and head straight to Snowhead.
    Jotta 24 Jan 2025 17:02
    Acho que essa foi a conquista mais difรญcil que eu peguei, demorei um bom tempo pesquisando estratรฉgias e treinando elas, mas finalmente consegui. Nรฃo รฉ impossรญvel mas requer muito foco e treino.
    BorsPepsi69 30 Jan 2025 15:38
    I've FINALLY got my mastery, this was by far the most stressful achievement to get.
    NinoSatori 1 Feb 2025 07:26
    AUUUUGH!!! The Great Bay Temple Frog SOFTLOCKED me with it's Capture attack and I couldn't move! It was my best run so far and got screwed by Jaaaaank!! X.X So I guess there's a lesson for you.
    Rampagingtaru 1 Feb 2025 07:28
    DI'd you get epona at least?
    NinoSatori 1 Feb 2025 07:30
    I just needed to clear Great Bay and Canyon and it was over. Had Epona, had the mask, had Song of Storms. TTnTT
    Rampagingtaru 1 Feb 2025 07:32
    Did you back up the save to slot two?
    NinoSatori 1 Feb 2025 07:33
    Nope Hadn't thought to do that and it had my 100% file on it anyway.
    DynamixDJ 7 Feb 2025 11:54
    I have created a video guide for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/gY_4lxxN-3s?si=U5N7pLfJYlfHLzEc
    Pbatalha 8 Feb 2025 19:51
    One question, can I save and play another day or does it have to be in one session?
    raullink 8 Feb 2025 19:56
    Yes, you can. You can do save backups too.
    Yaruzu 11 Feb 2025 05:42
    For anyone who might be wondering deku palace moon warp does work for this
    TheHy1ianGuy 16 Feb 2025 03:59
    kinda like this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cr5wBC4ID8
    TheHy1ianGuy 16 Feb 2025 04:01
    like it because makes you get the upgraded sword

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