Zelda: Tri Force Heroes first reviews [Metacritic: 75]

[noname2200]

DivinePaladin said:

The usage of the assets, according to somebody actually involved (I will take Aonuma's word over somebody uninvolved with the game, with all due respect to Iwata), was purely a design choice.

Hmm, I might just be misunderstanding you here, but one of the persons who said the reuse of assets was a necessity instead of a choice was Aonouma.

http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/majoras-mask-3d/0/0

Iwata:    First let's start by asking you about the Nintendo 64 version. If I remember correctly, the development for Majora's Mask began when somebody requested that it be made in one year.  

Aonuma:   You're right. Since we already made The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time², we had 3D models that we invested a lot of time in to build. This all started by (Shigeru) Miyamoto-san asking whether we could make a game in one year if we repurpose the models. But we were already talking about trying to make Master Quest³ for Nintendo 64DD⁴.

 

Essentially, the way I read it Majora's Mask was always distinct from Master Quest, but it would only be allowed to proceed if they recycled Ocarina of Time stuff so as to pop it out in a year. In that sense, it really does seem to be a cousin to Tri Force Heroes. Both games were part of a deliberate attempt to reuse one game to quickly pump out another, and while both games are quite distinct from their predecessor I'd argue with confidence that Tri Force Heroes set out to be more different from its origin than Majora's Mask did.*

 

*Not a slam against Majora's though. I <3 that game...