The Legend of Zelda is one of the longest-running video game franchises in the industry. Over the years, the games have seen a number of different enemies threaten the Hyrule Kingdom. While Ganon and Ganondorf might be the most notorious and recurring villains in the series, they are far from the only threats Link has encountered throughout the games. Another memorable antagonist is Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for the N64.
Encountered early in the adventure, Skull Kid is an interesting villain. Instead of being a more pure embodiment of evil, such as Ganon, he is the victim of a series of unfortunate events. In fact, it is Majora’s Mask, which he steals from the Happy Mask Salesman, that causes him to do bad things. In addition to causing Skull Kid to do terrible acts, such as causing the moon to fall from the sky, this titular mask gives the character an instantly recognizable appearance. Recently, one artistic gamer decided to give this antagonist an updated, higher resolution look.
In a post on Reddit, a user known as tsuda_art shared a short video they created based on The Legend of Zelda series. Specifically, this clip was a 3D animation for Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask. In the scene, Skull Kid levitated in the air above a tree stump, which was also floating. One highlight of the animation was that the creator decided to include the fairies seen in the N64 game. The purple one represented Tael, while the yellow one was Tatl. In addition, the Skull Kid was seen wearing an impressive recreation of the titular Majora’s Mask.
Beyond sharing this video on Reddit, tsuda_art provided several details behind the process of making the animation. According to the creator, the clip was created in Blender. However, they noted that the tree trunk seen in the video was photo scanned. In addition, they revealed that every part of the production, such as modeling and rigging, was done by them. With over 2.2K upvotes in only a couple of days, the consensus among fans seemed to be that tsuda_art nailed the look of the antagonist from Majora’s Mask. “Impressive work, I can tell you put a lot of time in!” nuttydoof said on Reddit.
While it might be hard to top this 3D animation of Skull Kid, other fans have been making impressive artwork as well. For example, one gamer recently showcased their progress on a detailed cross-stitch of the world map from Zelda: A Link to the Past. If these creations are anything to go by, it seems only a matter of time until more passionate fans showcase even more art based on the beloved series.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is available for the Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass, and an enhanced port is available on 3DS.