Few video games had as much impact on the industry as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Where Super Mario 64 set the foundation for 3D gaming as we know it, Ocarina of Time codified its finer details. How games use stories, how they pace themselves, and the very nature of modern lock-on systems (think Dark Souls) wouldn’t be possible had The Legend of Zelda not transitioned its series so masterfully into 3D. At the same time, Shigeru Miyamoto wasn’t entirely finished with Ocarina of Time.
Following OoT’s release, the game plan was to develop an add-on called Ura Zelda which would eventually release as Master Quest on the Nintendo GameCube. A remix akin to Zelda 1’s 2nd Quest, Master Quest flips Ocarina of Time’s dungeons on their head to offer franchise fans an even greater challenge– but does it actually improve on the original?
10 OoT: Dungeon Design
When Shigeru Miyamoto first approached Eiji Aonuma with the idea of remixing dungeons for Ura Zelda, Aonuma expressed disappointment at the prospect. In his mind, the development staff had already done their best work imaginable on Ocarina of Time, rendering such an endeavor redundant.
While the final dungeons in Master Quest are unique enough where they make for a solid set in their own right, Aonuma’s words ultimately ring true: the staff really did do their best work on Ocarina of Time. Not a single one of MQ’s dungeons outdoes OoT’s in terms of sheer puzzle & level design. They aren’t bad, but Ocarina’s dungeons are in a league of their own.
9 MQ: Challenges Familiarity
Playing Master Quest before Ocarina of Time is a recipe for disaster. The game very intimately builds off of OoT and outright challenges any familiarity players might feel playing through the revamped dungeons. Once simple puzzles are made considerably more complex, entire layouts are rearranged, and a few key puzzles require a level of out of the box thinking rarely seen in 3D Zelda. It’s a daunting challenge, but one genuinely meant for franchise masters. Jabu-Jabu is an especially odd experience in MQ.
8 OoT: Perfect Pacing
Ocarina of Time’s greatest strength is pacing. Above all else, this is a game that knows how to use its time wisely. Exploration isn’t directionless but players never have their hand held– even by Navi. The hardest puzzles are legitimate brainteasers, but they don’t halt gameplay in its tracks like in Master Quest. While this does mean Ocarina of Time isn’t as challenging as Master Quest, it moves at a brisker pace that makes the game’s best qualities shine without ever lingering on any over negatives.
7 MQ: Mirror Mode
The original Master Quest is little more than a 2nd Quest. Which, to be fair, is more than most Zelda games end up getting. This made it all the more surprising when Master Quest’s inclusion on Ocarina of Time 3D came with some changes. The most obvious was the implementation of MIrror Mode, a reference to Twilight Princess’ mirrored state in the game’s Wii release.
By mirroring the game, Master Quest 3D makes it so players can’t rely on muscle memory anymore. While this can be disorienting at first, it helps in making Master Quest feel more than just an Ocarina of Time reskin, if only because of its mirrored geography.
6 OoT: Sensical Puzzles
Master Quest’s puzzles are fun to solve, but quite a few are pure nonsense. Cows in Jabu-Jabu? Cute but dumb. The eye switch hidden in the Forest Temple’s well? Genuinely clever, but completely unintuitive. It makes sense why Master Quest opts to get as strange as it does– the expectation is that you’ve played Ocarina of Time beforehand– but it just doesn’t compare to Ocarina of Time’s puzzles. Not only do most puzzles make sense with their settings, the game never asks anything of the player that doesn’t make sense in context.
5 MQ: Double Damage
Alongside mirror mode, Master Quest 3D doubles the damage of all enemies in the game. The original Master Quest is already more challenging than Ocarina of Time due to better enemy variety (more on that in just a bit,) but the double damage takes gameplay just that extra inch further.
Double damage turns Master Quest from a 2nd Quest into a genuine hard mode in every respect. In many respects, Master Quest is the ideal rendition of Hero Mode– new dungeons, a mirrored overworld, and extra difficulty.
4 OoT: Gold Skulltula Quest
There are 100 Gold Skulltula hidden throughout Hyrule in both Ocarina of Time and Master Quest, with quite a few found within dungeons. As a result, half the Gold Skulltula questline is radically different between the two versions. Even though the quest has something of a reputation for its large Skulltula count, it’s worth hunting them down.
The entire point of the Gold Skulltula quest is to show players every nook & cranny hidden throughout Hyrule. The reason you only need 50 for the Heart Piece is more a mercy than anything (think Korok Seeds capping out rewards in the 400s.) Master Quest’s dungeon Skulltula tend to be harder to find with less the thrill of tracking them down due to comparatively worse level design.
3 MQ: Better Combat
Ocarina of Time has a fantastic combat system that it unfortunately doesn’t use all too well. Outside of mini-bosses, most enemies and boss fights don’t require players to master the art of combat. This isn’t the case for Master Quest, which features far more aggressive enemy design from start to finish. Coupled with the double damage from Master Quest 3D and it’s not unusual to Game Over inside the Deku Tree or Dodongo’s Cavern. Iron Knuckles are especially dangerous, able to kill Link in just a few short strikes.
2 OoT: The Authentic Experience
There’s just no getting around the fact that Ocarina of Time is the original and authentic experience– the way the game was always meant to be played. Every facet of Ocarina of Time comes together to create one of the most cohesive games in the medium, from the plotting to the gameplay loop.
There’s never a dull moment, no puzzles that are out of place or too obtuse, and downright enviable pacing. Master Quest accomplishes what it needs to as a remix of Ocarina of Time, but it was always being built in the shadow of one of the greatest games ever made.
1 MQ: Bosses Are An Actual Threat
Ocarina of Time’s bosses are memorable, but most of them are also too easy for their own good. As the 3DS version of Master Quest doubles damage, it goes without saying that boss fights are notably harder when playing MQ3D. The final battles against Ganondorf and Ganon are particularly dangerous this time around.
That said, even the original GameCube release of Master Quest offers harder bosses by virtue of featuring harder dungeons. What hurts Ocarina of Times difficulty more than anything is how often Hearts or Fairies drop. With remixed dungeons designed to punish players, it’s not unusual to reach bosses in Master Quest with only a few Hearts.
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