Summary
A fan ofThe Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Maskrecently discovered a scrapped feature that incorporates the Nintendo 64’s microphone.The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Maskis considered one of the best games in the franchise, being a sequel toOcarina of Time. While a lot ofMajora’s Maskwas built usingOcarina of Timeas a base, it tells a much darker story where Link has to stop Skull Kid from dropping the moon on top of the town of Termina. The game has a very experimental feel to it, having a unique three-day mechanic that players have to loop time around. It appears the experimental nature doesn’t end there, as it was also originally going to support one of the Nintendo 64’s unique controllers.
The Nintendo 64 had a few different accessories over the years, such as a dance pad, a glove controller reminiscent of the NES Power Glove, and the Japan-onlyN64 DD disc peripheral. One of the more notable controllers was the Nintendo 64 microphone and Voice Recognition Unit (VRU). This controller can be plugged into the console’s fourth player controller port, allowing players to speak into the microphone and perform commands in-game.Majora’s Maskwas a game that originally was going to implement this accessory.
In a video posted by Skawo, they discussed howMajora’s Mask’s codecontains support for the N64’s voice recognition system, but it is hidden and can be re-enabled.Majora’s Maskhas five actions that correspond to five voice commands, which are all in Japanese. If a player says “Hai Chiizu” (“Say Cheese”), a picture will be taken. When next to a cow, saying “Miruku” (“Milk”) will act as if the player used Epona’s song, filling up a milk bottle. Saying “Atonanjikan” (“How many hours remain?") next to a Gossip Stone makes it act as if Link hit it with his sword, telling the player how much time is left before the moon falls.
Saying “Okirou” (“Wake up”) lets players skip the Sonata of Awakening to wake the scrubs up. Lastly, saying “Haiya” while ridingEpona inMajora’s Maskhas the player use one of the carrots to speed up. There’s also a sixth command programmed in called “Osuwari” (“Sit”), which is likely meant to be used with the dogs in-game, but the command, as is, doesn’t interact with anything.
Only two games ended up using the VRU:Hey You, Pikachuand the Japan-onlyDensha de Go! 2 Kōsoku-hen. The playeruses the N64 microphone to talk to Pikachu inHey You, Pikachu!and interact with him, as it is a pet sim game.Densha de Go! 2uses the microphone in a similar manner, where the player can use it to announce train stations to the in-game passengers.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
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The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was the sequel to the iconic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Majora’s Mask re-uses many character models from Ocarina of time, though the games are vastly different, with Majora’s Mask being by far the most bizarre entry in the Zelda franchise.The story sees Link stuck in a three-day cycle as he tries to stop a town from being destroyed by an angry-looking moon… a tale as old as time.
