The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion pack in February, Nintendo has confirmed. It keeps up the regular pace of adding one N64 game per month, after the addition of Paper Mario in December and Banjo-Kazooie just yesterday.
Save Termina before it’s met with a terrible fate!
The Legend of #Zelda: Majora's Mask comes to #NintendoSwitch for #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members in February! #Nintendo64 pic.twitter.com/WN2Q0Wqc8Q
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 21, 2022
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was the second Zelda title released for Nintendo 64, following on from the revolutionary Ocarina of Time. While it plays second fiddle to Link’s first 3D outing in many ways, this was a no-less adventurous and innovative game that has come to be appreciated as one of the very best games in the series. A direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, it sees Link get trapped in a world-ending time loop, with just 72-hours in-game (around 54 minutes in the real world) before the grinning moon crashes into Termina and sends you back to the start.
Back in the day, this was one of just two games that required the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak. Other games could be enhanced, but just Majora’s Mask and Donkey Kong 64 made it a requirement. The Expansion Pak added 4MB of RAM to the console and allowing for more detailed textures, a longer draw distance and more. It’s what the higher priced tier of Nintendo Switch Online was named after.
Further Reading: Is Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack’s N64 emulation good enough?
It’s another fan-pleasing addition to Expansion Pack, but continues to demonstrate that Nintendo are content to release games at a slow pace. Nintendo Switch Online – Expansion Pack launched at the end of October, featuring a higher price point than the regular Switch Online subscription but promising a growing library of N64 and Sega Mega Drive games. The initial offering included nine N64 titles, with games like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Lylat Wars and more included. This was then expanded to include Paper Mario in December, and Banjo-Kazooie yesterday.
However, as soon as Expansion Pack launched, users complained about the quality of the game emulation that Nintendo was providing, with graphical deficiencies compared to previous efforts that weren’t always consistent or authentic to the original games. Nintendo has yet to address these complaints, though it’s doubtful that they’ll make a big song and dance about it, because that would mean admitting anything was wrong in the first place.
Future additions to Nintendo Switch Online have already been confirmed, though it’s just a case of waiting to find out when games like F-Zero X, Kirby 64, and Pokémon Snap are added.
