Majora's Mask 3D Fishing Journal 2, Final Day

With all the freebies on Thursday it felt like Nintendo honestly didn't want me to find time to return to my fishing sessions and catch that final piece for my collection, but I did it anyway and thus finally completed Majora's Mask 3D again.

The strategy to catch the Great Fairy Fish was pretty much the same as last time. Go do a lot fishing at the Ocean Fishing Hole during the first two days and then save your game at the Dawn of the Final Day, so you can reset, if you didn't have any luck. Now, keep using the door at the Ocean Fishing Hole with the Great Fairy's Mask on, until the hair glimmers. Then check for the Great Fairy Fish (you really have to go close to the crystal cave as Zora Link) and repeat, if it's not there.

Any small Fairy Fish then will do, it doesn't matter much, where they are. You don't have to push your luck and try to find a combination, where the small one spawns right in front of the big one. You can just lure him there and use your Fishing Rod to move him in the right spot.

Finally, reeling the Great Fairy Fish in takes a long time with the incredibly weak Young Link, for me it took 5 ingame hours with the Inverted Song of Time in tact. So, you probably don't want to try this after the final midnight, or else the moon might crash on your during the process. Play it safe.

Luckily with such a big fish the pillars in the water don't seem to be a problem. With smaller fish like the Ambrosial Amberjack the borders can really get in the way and make it hard to reel them in at the end. Landing fish on the shore is much easier. But this doesn't seem to be a problem with the really large fish, which just pop on the ground easily.

Here are my records of my second fishing playthrough (the values in parenthesis are from the German translation):

• Termina Bass: 13cm (60cm)
• Termina Loach: 22cm (79cm)
• Groovy Carp: 5cm (38cm)
• Sweet Ranchfish: 5cm (39cm)
• Fragrant Reekfish: 10cm (52cm)
• Mooranha: 5cm (38cm)
• Postal Salmon: 34cm (97cm)
• Cuccofish: 6cm (40cm)
• Ancient Fish: 107cm (172cm)
• Ferocious Pirarucu: 174cm (220cm)
• Colossal Catfish: 117cm (180cm)
• Lord Chapu-Chapu: 357cm (315cm)

• Termina Seabass: 32cm (95cm)
• Goodta Goby: 6cm (42cm)
• Ambrosial Amberjack: 39cm (104cm)
• Bashful Angler: 47cm (114cm)
• Dancing Sea Bream: 21cm (76cm)
• Fairy Fish: 11cm (56cm)
• Ninja Flounder: 20cm (75cm)
• Skullfish: 34cm (97cm)
• Nuptuna: 97cm (164cm)
• Grand Swordfish: 184cm (226cm)
• Savage Shark: 223cm (249cm)
• Great Fairy Fish: 342cm (308cm)

It took me a total of three cycles (about 6 real hours) to replay the fishing minigame and it overall was quite enjoyable. I probably wouldn't do it again anytime soon and rather try to improve the size records for each fish, but if you're only aiming at catching one fish per type to get the entries, it can be done pretty quickly.

Majora's Mask 3D Fishing Journal 2, Day 2

Another day has passed and another 3-day-cycle of fishing is over. I have to say that playing this sidequest after everything else in Majora's Mask 3D does feel good. Link saved Termina from its demise already and now it's time to relax somewhat and do some fishing after all these troubles.

Yesterday the Sweet Ranchfish gave me trouble, but I could cut things short with this little fellow by just quickly exiting and re-entering the Swamp Fishing Hole and checking the side pond. Around 9AM on the first day I already got the Sweet Ranchfish and that's when the fisherman asked me the following...

This pond's all
fished out. Why
not try your
luck in the sea?

I said "Okay" and here we are. I spent the rest of the cycle fishing at the ocean and it's looking as good as yesterday. I'm now only one fish short and it's the big boss, the Great Fairy Fish. So, there's a fitting finale awaiting for tomorrow or whenever I'm lucky enough to meet the Great Fairy of Fish. Now, here's the list of what I caught today...

• Termina Seabass: 32cm
• Goodta Goby: 6cm
• Ambrosial Amberjack: 38cm
• Bashful Angler: 37cm
• Dancing Sea Bream: 21cm
• Fairy Fish: 9cm
• Ninja Flounder: 20cm
• Skullfish: 34cm
• Nuptuna: 97cm
• Grand Swordfish: 184cm
• Savage Shark: 221cm

I caught two of the Savage Sharks, where it felt like the game wanted to troll me a little. The first Savage Shark was all over the place. Before I even could cast the lure and think about catching some smaller fish, the shark would already be on the other corner of the pond. It took several tries to lure him in. But one door later I saw one right at the shore surrounded by lots of these small Goodta Goby, which he also eats. And catching that Savage Shark never has been easier than this.

For both the Great Swordfish and the Savage Shark I used Fierce Deity Link, which made things really easy and epic at the same time. He's so strong that even catching a Nuptuna with Young Link gave me more trouble...

And I'm not looking forward to the loooong struggle against that Great Fairy Fish again, where you're also forced to use Young Link with the Great Fairy's Mask. But at least in this game the fish tend to give up after a while. If you pull them long enough, they get exhausted and you can just pull them in easily. It's when they start to show you their faces all the time. It's one of the things that makes the fishing in Majora's Mask 3D much more enjoyable than in Ocarina of Time. This and the fact that your line doesn't break as easily.

What's different in the Ocean Fishing Hole is that it takes a lot more time to scout for the fish you wants. You have to dive around as Zora Link for a while, where the border can be annoying, because the Fishing Hole Guy just keeps telling you not to swim out further. As much as invisible walls are terrible game design, they are certainly better than getting text boxes over and over again just because you're getting a little bit too close to the border...

You also have to try the corresponding masks in multiple places, which was another problem with fish like the Nuptuna. The Nuptuna looks like an Ambrosial Amberjack, which might make you insecure and keep trying with the Couple's Mask, but it's a lot larger and brighter and therefore somewhat easier to spot. It also seems to favor the third night around the carneval celebrations.

That's it for today and I will finish this post with some epic fishing screenshots... Behold!

Majora's Mask 3D Fishing Journal 2, Day 1

It's fishing time, again!

I did complete the whole thing last year, after Majora's Mask 3D got released, but I want to do it again and I want to do it a little bit more efficiently. I want to try to get all the fish in as few cycles as possible.

And overall I'm having fun with this, because this is easily the most interesting and fleshed out variant of fishing in the Zelda series, which at the same time really added something more to the different masks in the game, where many of them are only used once and now get to see some more value with the fishing.

The random number generation aspect can be off-putting, but all you really have to do is use the door and check the pond. And that's not really a big issue. In fact I managed to almost complete the entire Swamp Fishing Hole collection in a single 3-day-cycle. Here's what I caught:

• Termina Bass: 13cm
• Termina Loach: 22cm
• Groovy Carp: 5cm
• Fragrant Reekfish: 10cm
• Mooranha: 5cm
• Postal Salmon: 34cm
• Cuccofish: 6cm
• Ancient Fish: 107cm
• Colossal Catfish: 117cm
• Ferocious Pirarucu: 174cm
• Lord Chapu-Chapu: 357cm

The only thing missing would be the Sweet Ranchfish. And I did in fact saw one, and despite being lured with Epona's Song he just wouldn't bite and then suddenly disappeared (probably because it was around 3PM, since he just appears from 6AM to 3PM). If that little fish wouldn't have been so fickle, I could start with the Ocean Fishing Hole tomorrow, instead of spending another cycle in the swamp for just one measly, little fish.

Otherwise it went quite well. I even caught three Lord Chapu-Chapus. Yes, THREE of them...

With Fierce Deity Link (and probably Goron Link) you can reel them in relatively quickly. When I caught my first Chapu-Chapu last year, I was playing as Deku Link and it took forever to reel it in (don't fish as Deku Link, ever). And this demotivated me from trying to catch him again until now, where I found that it's easy enough with the power of a god.

The Colossal Catfish also appeared automatically in the last hours of the 3rd day, because the earth is rumbling all the time. You directly get the jingle, when entering the pond, so you can just quickly leave and enter, until you hear the sound. You don't have to go on that pillar and stomp it as Goron Link each time.

And if you thought that the Zora Moon Dungeon was bad, try dolphin jumping onto that pillar... Yes, you can just hop there as Deku Link, but usually I'm checking the pond as Zora Link and then just want to quickly go up to the pillar to check for the catfish, where a dolphin jump seems like a shortcut, but it usually isn't. Anyway, if you visit the pond during the final hours, it saves you the trouble of going onto that pillar. But you also have to be careful that there's time left to catch the Colossal Catfish. Getting smashed by the moon, because you were too distracted with fishing, is probably one of the most unheroic ways of dying in a Zelda game, right after getting zapped by a shopkeeper for stealing.

Well, lets see, if I can get that Sweet Ranchfish tomorrow. That little...

Majora's Mask 3D Fishing Journal, Entry 2

After my last entry in February I relatively quickly caught all the other remaining fish except for one: the infamous Great Fairy Fish. But then I didn't have much time on my hand and going for the Great Fairy fish felt like a slow task, so I didn't return to the fishing minigame until today. And now I managed to finally complete my collection:

To get the Great Fairy Fish you have to spent a good time fishing during the first two days, so that it appears on Day 3. I don't think it matters, what and how many fish you get in advance. I mostly caught Seabass and Goby, but also one Ambrosial Amberjack, one Dancing Bream, some Fairy Fish, some Skull Fish and two Bashful Angler. So, that you have to catch all types of fish before Day 3 or even empty the pond, those are just a rumors. If anything maybe go for Fairy Fish. But you should spent a good amount of time with one fishing session.

So, now save your game at the Dawn of the 3rd Day, so you can reset, if you're unlucky. Then go to the seaside fishing pond, wear the Fairy's Mask and enter and exit, until the hair starts glimmering. If the hair doesn't glimmer, you simply exit and re-enter, there's no reason to check the pond, because there won't be any Fairy Fish around. If the hair glimmers, you can go and check, if the Great Fairy Fish is there. It's supposed to be in the crystal cave on the deep right side. Unlike Lord Chapu-Chapu it's not so easy to spot, it hides behind the sea grass and it's quite smaller than the cave. At first I thought it might be larger and as easy to spot as Chapu-Chapu, but that's not the case. You really have to go in front of the cave to see it.

Then now find the small Fairy Fish around. You might be unlucky and it's on the opposite site of the pond. This actually happened to me. But you can still get it, where it needs to be. I stood on top of the pillars in front of the crystal cave and I pulled the small Fairy Fish towards the big one and then I let it go. Some people complain, how heavily luck based he Great Fairy Fish is, because they expect a small Fairy Fish right in front of the crystal cave. But you might not get so lucky or only after many, many visits. But the small Fairy Fish doesn't need to spawn there, you only have to get it there. So give it a try.


So, here's my list of records. (I put the German values in parenthesis, because they make more sense, size-wise. Though not all of it, it's really weird.)

• Termina Bass: 13cm (61cm)
• Termina Loach: 22cm (79cm)
• Groovy Carp: 5cm (39cm)
• Sweet Ranchfish: 5cm (39cm)
• Fragrant Reekfish: 10cm (53cm)
• Mooranha: 7cm (44cm)
• Postal Salmon: 42cm (108cm)
• Cuccofish: 7cm (44cm)
• Ancient Fish: 114cm (178cm)
• Ferocious Pirarucu: 170cm (217cm)
• Colossal Catfish: 125cm (186cm)
• Lord Chapu-Chapu: 380cm (325cm)

• Termina Seabass: 43cm (109cm)
• Goodta Goby: 6cm (42cm)
• Ambrosial Amberjack: 37cm (102cm)
• Bashful Angler: 49cm (117cm)
• Dancing Sea Bream: 22cm (78cm)
• Fairy Fish: 12cm (57cm)
• Ninja Flounder: 21cm (77cm)
• Skullfish: 36cm (100cm)
• Nuptuna: 103cm (169cm)
• Grand Swordfish: 187cm (228cm)
• Savage Shark: 209cm (241cm)
• Great Fairy Fish: 392cm (330cm)

I might try to score some better records, but now that I caught all the fish types, I'm not much interested in this minigame anymore. It also doesn't provide any replay value, it feels like something, I'd only ever do once. Maybe I do it a 2nd time in a couple of years, but it's similar to all the Ship Parts and Train Cars in the Nintendo DS Zelda games. It feels great to complete these collections, but it's too random to offer any incentive to play this multiple times.

So, I most likely will keep the fishing going in this one savegame and if I ever decide to replay Majora's Mask 3D, I probably won't touch the fishing in the new savegame.

Majora's Mask 3D Fishing Journal, Entry 1

This will just be a short update on what I have achieved so far. I mostly played the Ocean Fishing Hole and got all regular fish there, as well as one boss fish, the Grand Swordfish. I caught one on the third day using Fierce Deity Link, but you can also use Goron Link. He was quite annoying, because he kept moving around and despite his size he was very hard to see in the murky waters. So, I kept losing track of him and had to search for him under water using Zora Link. Not much fun.

He also broke the line once, when I tried to move him out of the water on one of these pillars, which didn't go too well. It's best to wait for them to jump and then try to move them on land.

Someone asked me in the comments to give some tips about fishing, but to be honest, I don't really know, what I'm doing. It seems to be a lot easier than in Ocarina of Time, where I constantly had the issue of fish breaking lose. But in general I'm just holding A and keep moving the slide pad left or right, depending on where the fish goes. You want to hear the fast reeling sound. Whenever the fish jumps out of the water, I press forward. I don't know, if this is required, but I think it was the same in Twilight Princess, so I just keep doing it. I never have any problem with the small fishes and even the Swordfish went in relatively quickly, so I must be doing something right. But sorry, if I'm not of much help here. But the real fault probably lies at the game, because it never really explains how to catch fish properly.

Well, these are the fish, which I have yet to catch:

• Cuccofish
• Ferocious Pirarucu
• Colossal Catfish
• Savage Shark
• Great Fairy Fish

So, it's mostly the boss fishes and one regular fish. Though the Cucco Fish seems kind of rare, since I still haven't found one yet. It's also my major issue with the fishing game: it's all random. You leave the fishing place, you enter through the door again. You check whatever fishes there are. Repeat until you find a new one. There should have been a slightly better solution.

But my main goal is to catch one of each type. I don't really care too much about records, especially since the sizes seem to be messed up between all languages. But in general I really like that this minigame gives more uses to certain masks, that's probably the best part of it. That and they did a great job with putting the fishing places into the world.