A Look at The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest

Before writing my retrospective on the PS2 (which I’m eagerly waiting to write), I wanted to write a little post on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest, the differences between it and the original and whether it’s worth buying if you don’t already own the game at this point. But before we get into that, let’s take a look at the game’s origins, shall we?

History

Master Quest, originally referred to as Ura Zelda, was meant to be an expansion disc for the original Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 game using the aborted, Japan-only Nintendo 64DD (disc drive). The game was meant to change the dungeon layouts and add more difficulty to the puzzle solving elements of the game. Due to the failure of the 64DD in Japan, the project was ultimately scrapped. However, due to popular demand among hardcore Zelda fans, Nintendo decided to release Ura Zelda on the Nintendo GameCube, renaming it The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest. In North America, Master Quest could be obtained by pre-ordering a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. The disc included the original version of OoT as well as the expansion.

Key Differences

In Master Quest, the story and hub world remain unchanged. However, all the dungeons have a new layout, different weapon locations and more (and different) enemies. It should be noted that in the Master Quest version, the self-censorship first seen in the gray cartridges of the original OoT (cutting out the Fire Temple Muslim chants and changing the color of Ganondorf’s blood) are still intact. As it stands, there is no official way to play Master Quest uncensored.

They’re different in more ways than just the boxart

Is it Worth it?

Despite the fact that Master Quest currently costs around $20-30 on eBay, people who are either looking for a challenging rendition of the legendary OoT or people who are big Zelda fans (chances are that those people already own Master Quest already, though I’ve seen several posts on message boards where someone is on the fence about purchasing the game) will adore it. Let’s face it: the days of hard Zelda games are long gone. My (at the time) six year-old cousin completed Wind Waker. I doubt any six year-old could complete Master Quest. It’s not a game for babies or people who cling on to current hand-holding mechanics such as regenerating health and hint arrows. The dungeon design in Master Quest provide challenging puzzles that will make even the most veteran Zelda fans stumble at times. The enemy placements are intelligently inserted into each room of the dungeons, offering more than just “more enemies = harder game”. Warning: You will die, and you will probably die more than you’d think.

Not to digress from the actual content of the game too much, but I’m really thankful that Nintendo of America decided to release Master Quest. Considering the fact that they refuse to release Earthbound Zero in some capacity (no, I’m not one of those fans, though I respect Earthbound fans for their loyalty) despite being fully translated. In an age where NoA won’t even release games available in Europe (therefore in English) such as Disaster Day of Crisis, I’m really glad that they decided to release Master Quest while their batting average was still relatively high. I won’t turn this into a rant against NoA (too late I suppose), so I will end this by saying that playing OoT is an incredible experience in its own right (I will talk about this game in great detail during my N64 retrospective, don’t worry), and Master Quest is a great “hard mode” of sorts for people who have mastered the original game.

Advertisement