The Legend of the Mask

The Zelda franchise is one of the most popular in video game history, especially the title "Ocarina of Time" which remains one of the most popular games of all time. However my favourite title in the series will always be "Majoras Mask" which came out shortly after Ocarina as somewhat of a sequel. One of my favourite aspects of the game was the use of Masks, and how wearing one could completely change the mechanics of the game. in particular the transformation masks which changed not just the skill set of your character but even the appearance of the character.Majoras mask captured my imagination because you weren't just saving the land of Termina from the impending doomsday, you were fulfilling the everyday needs and answering to the desires of the townspeople of clock town, by becoming the actual inhabitants themselves. you had multiple agendas to attend to and you became a vessel for completing unifinished business of many poor deceased souls of Termina.the game is very well thought out and didn't leave much room for improvement, but I think there may be one more character who could be squeezed in, but not as an actual presence in the game, rather an additional mask that held their soul.so what mask do I have in mind you ask? well I know for a fact that many of you are going to roll your eyes at this, but I can't help but be very inspired by all of Japanese culture in general particularly the tradition of the Noh mask. Noh masks are mainly used by talented stage performers who act out the tale of Inari in celebrationm (or anticipation) of good a harvest season. as Inari was the Kami of good harvest (among other things)Inari is said to have a fox companion so of course this actor is wearing a fox mask.(noh performance)ok I know what you are thinking... the legend of Zelda already has a very iconic fox character!! how dare you impose on the sacred territory of the great Keaton. loved by all the children and travelers to the land of Hyrule(or Termina in this case). but bear with me for a moment.my true influence for the Kitsune mask (japase term used for fox mask) comes from the popular anime series "Naruto" in which each ninja village has a special Ops force seperate from the regular armies. They are known as the "Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai" or Anbu for short. the Anbu black ops are said to be a group of Highly trained Shinobi(ninja) who specialize in infiltration, assassination and torture. what really captures my attention about these characters? the kick ass masks that they have to wear in order to protect their identities.Alot of people may not like the idea of contaminating a very well respected game experience with what many poeple in the west consider to be a "children cartoon" (stupid) but if you actually take the time to watch the show, you will realize how deep and enriching the series as a whole could actually be.lets consider a few ways that the masks effect the game and see how the Anbu mask may fit in.ControlsThe main action buttons in Majoras Mask are the A and B button, some masks affect but these some are soley for appearance for example the Bomb mask changes the Function of the A button to Explode or the Goron mask which changes both the A and B buttons. I think if Link were to wear an Anbu mask, the A command might change to something like "sneak" which would allow Link to swiftly move around his enemies reducing the chances of being detected; similar to the functionality of the Stone mask but you are not actually blending into the environment as much as being stealth. So if you are not careful you will still get caught. on top of this, while you are in sneak mode, while approaching an enemy the B button command may change to something like "Assassinate" which will let you go up behind your enemies and slice them across the neck, chest or stomach( depending on the animation and height/shape of the enemy) some other cool features might be extended bow range or dissappearing in a puff of smoke (maybe exhausting one of your deku nuts?)Appearancethis could be really cool, I imagine the mask to look kind of like Ameterasu from the Okami series, because the red lines are a large influence in the way spiritual animals are depicted in Japanese folklore, and the more wolf like appearance may create less confusion or commotion because of its similarities with the Keaton mask. Or for those of you more familliar with Naruto, he could possibly sport one of the masks that The Kirigakure (Village hidden in the Mist) Anbu wear. which is more like a human face than anything.InteractionAlot of the times, the only affect of the masks come when you are speaking with an NPC or in the case of the Mask of Truth, a Grotto stone.there is actually alread a Ninja tribe in Majoras mask already known as the Garu, whose mask you receive in order to summon and battle different members of the clan. While it may be interesting to have something like this I see the Anbu mask as more for combat, but there are still some interesting ways it can be implemented while still being different from the Garu mask. for instance, wearing the mask and talking to specific characters may get them to reveal "top secret" information about pretty much anything.or perhaps if the mask stayed true to its Noh mask origins, it would cause NPCs to give you tributes for good harvest or they could treat you like a stage performer.(maybe even triggering another event like with the Kamaros mask)One of the cool things about Majoras mask is that each mask can cause a NPC to treat you differently weather it affects the game or not.Themethis one is kinda tacked on but I just wanted to make something clear. Majoras Mask was probably one of the darkest games in the franchise. It took bold chances that other titles of the series didn't want to. For that reason I feel that a concept as dark as Anbu would fit really well in this game particularly.I found it to be rather difficult coming up with an item that could possibly add to the experience of this game. it seemed the developers didn't leave any stones un turned. even with the Anbu mask idea it seemed that the other masks had most of the functionality covered, however I think the Anbu Mask could make for some deeper more interesting battle mechanics, not to mention many of the masks were only ever needed once in the game for certain events whereas the Anbu mask has the potential not just for battle, but for unlocking special cut scenes, missions and items.