Japanese Majora's Mask is VERY Different - Region Break

The mask was called the "Deku Nuts Mask" because in Japan Deku Scrubs are called Deku Nuts.

Intrestingly, the japanese cutscene with Epona is retained for the 3DS remake, rather then using the american one.

The Skull Kid scream in the JP version almost feels like a cut away gag. The timing is just impeccable 😂

I did NOT expect this video to open up with Shesez detailing the history of blackface

12:42 The counter on the japanese save file is not a death count. it a count of how many times the player played the Song of Time.

I find it interesting that there are changes made to the USA version from the original Japanese version, that they would later backpedal in the 3DS remake. In the 3DS remake: 1) The Epona cutscene uses the original Japanese one. 2) The block formation on the entrance of Stone Tower uses the original Japanese one. 3) The shortcut in Pirate's Fortress that was cut in the USA version of N64 MM was brought back. I am sure there are other examples as well. N64 MM had an extremely short/rushed development cycle of under 2 years, so it makes sense that there would be so many differences between each version of the game.

Here's a couple changes between Japanese and English that are relevant to speedruns. - Song of Double Time in the US does a scene reload, while in JP it does not. This lets you skip some cutscenes in English, like Mikau slowly walking and collapsing onto the beach. - The snow boulders blocking the path to Mountain Village can be backflipped through on English, but not on Japanese, meaning you can skip needing an explosive for it. - Saving Koume in the woods is a little faster in English because you only need to talk to Kotake in the shop once after seeing Koume to have her give you the red potion, instead of twice. If she's in the Woods looking for Koume, targeting her to talk in the US version has her lower down immediately, while in JP you need to talk to her first before she starts coming down to you. - Loading zones are faster on English than on Japanese. - When doing a Hyper Extended Superslide (HESS) with Infinite Sword Glitch (ISG) active, hitting a ledge in English does not stop the superslide, while in JP it does. This makes a method of skipping Goron Lullaby called Snowhead HESS only doable on the US version. Combined with other little time savers, this makes English the faster version for a lot of categories over the Japanese version, when for a lot of other games it's the other way around where English is slower.

I always interpreted the black face as shadows. Like a jawa.

Bean Salesman- That honestly makes WAY more sense. That's not an easy spot to find, so it makes sense to have him on a higher ledge not normally accessible. Otherwise its so weird that the Deku Guards don't just go in this obvious hole with two torches next to it, find him, and kick him out. Pirates Fortress- Seriously?! Every time I access that I keep thinking "there's obviously a shortcut to jump down, right? Wait, no? Why not? What's the point of this extra wall here? Well it was in Japan! It also makes more sense the chest would face the throne as well.

Early in the year that Majora's Mask came out, there was major controversy arsing over Jinx's blackface appearance in Pokemon. I imagine around the time this game first came out in japan, all that drama was fresh in their minds and made the earliest decision to remove the blackface.

Fun fact: In the Japanese version of Majora's Mask, the game uses Japanese for it's language. Meanwhile, in the American version, it uses English for its language. Cool, huh?

The Japanese Deku palace does make more sense. I was always wondering why the bean guy is just in a hole that is just there for no reason inside the castle

I prefer Skull Kid's scarecrow design, but I kinda think the change was unnecessary. Maybe I was ignorant, but I never got the vibe that it's blackface from OoT. I thought he just looked mysterious, like his face was a shadow. I still think that actually.

The Last/Final day part was explained poorly, you should have said that confusion could arise from the fact that "last" could be interpreted to mean "previous" and so it was changed to "final" to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. Otherwise, great video!

Seems like the changes for the US version were a bit of a mixed bag. Lots of good QoL improvements for the most part but also some weirder changes like removing those underground passages in the Deku Palace.

3:49 Wait, why is it unnecessary if it's way better? That's reason enough. And why is it surprising when looking at a 3D game like this? It makes sense because it's a 3D game. Like, in the US version, you can actually see Epona now. They fixed an issue that happened because of the 3D perspective.

You also forgot one major detail where when you get to the moon, the Japanese version has a short cutscene showcasing the children and the tree while the US version just smashcuts to Link

Part 2 Part 2!!! Great video, always love a Region Break episode!

It's unfortunate they changed the Skullkid's face from Ocarina of Time. Navi mentions that he's sad he has no face, which is also implied to be why he purchased the skull mask. So him being faceless is kind of very relevant given the mask symbolism of the sequel. 2:33 Skulltula comes from tarantula and the last half is pronounced similarly. 5:00 We kinda got the short end on the Deku Palace, it was like its own mini-dungeon in the Japanese version! 9:15 I don't think I ever actually used the owl statues to save, maybe once. Idk, I just always wanted to "finish" a session and not stop in the middle. xD

I think one of the reasons for them removing the ring from the cow is that the nose rings can be seen as a form of animal cruelty. They're used for controlling bulls and sometimes cows with attachable poles. And for weaning calves from their mother's milk (weaning rings have plastic spikes that make nursing uncomfortable for the mother and discourages her from allowing her calf to suckle). Granted that's a bit of a stretch. The first example is for safety, because you need to be able to wrangle an out-of-control bull/cow to prevent it from hurting humans. The second is so that calves can stay with their dairy cow mothers for longer without the farmer having to worry about the little fella drinking up all the valuable milk. But I do think some groups do take objection to them, and I won't say I don't understand why. It is a little harsh to think about a pierced septum that regularly gets tugged on.