Majora’s Mask brought us the coolest swords in The Legend of Zelda

polygon.com:

After more than 25 years of The Legend of Zelda, the Master Sword has lost its sheen. I’m not talking about the numerous times that Link has literally had to repair or restore the sword. It’s just that I personally have gotten a bit bored with it. Even though the designs vary, many versions just adapt the standard wide-brimmed blade and blue hilt with wings. It’s great and all, but it can feel a bit standard and formulaic.

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Because of this, I’ve always had a soft spot for Zelda games where Link doesn’t get to use the Master Sword. Link wields the White Blade in The Minish Cap and just a regular sword in Link’s Awakening. These still bore me, but there’s another game where the Master Sword doesn’t appear: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. In fact, Majora’s Mask gave fans the coolest swords in the history of the series and brought out a new, darker side of the franchise.

With Majora’s Mask, directors Eiji Aonuma and Yoshiaki Koizumi delivered the oddball darling of the series. In it, Link finds himself not in Hyrule, but in the floundering world of Termina. Every Zelda game can feel dismal in its own way. But even today, Majora’s Mask feels surprisingly transgressive for a Zelda game. It allows Link to fail — and fail again — in his role as hero. In Ocarina of Time, Link leaps through time to save Hyrule. In Majora’s Mask, the most he can manage is to buy himself a few days before a calamitous moon grimaces above with rounded teeth. And the premise gave the developers the perfect setup to get creative with Link’s powers and especially his sword.

Instead of solely using standard tools like weapons, Link collects masks he uses as items. Each one holds the spirit of a dead character, and some even allow Link to transform physically into the likeness of the departed soul. These objects feel cursed with power. In the cutscenes triggered when he puts one on, Link places a mask — like one that resembles the face of a Goron — and