Zelda Informer Interview

This interview was published in two segments by Zelda Informer, between September 23 and 26, 2010. It was held following the first pause, due to Alex Hall's lack of funding. The interview was conducted by Phillip Stetson.

Please visit the original articles before continuing. They can be found here and here.

Due to the nature of some of the content linked in the interview, reader discretion is advised. Content linked may not be suitable for readers under 18. All images from the original articles have been posted.

The Interview

Haunted Majora’s Mask Creator Opens Up in Exclusive Interview

As anyone who has been on the internet the past couple weeks, the Haunted Majora’s Mask story has spread around like wildfire. Unfortunately, because of a few reasons, the creator, Jadusable, had to cut it short. He explained why on the site. (http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/) A few days ago after he cut the story short abruptly, Tabitha, one of our forum members, got a hold of him through e-mail. She passed him along to me and I got to ask him some questions about the story. Hit the bump to read the interview.

Before we start, Jadusable wanted me to inform you that the whole story can currently be viewed at his website at http://www.youshouldnthavedonethat.net/index.php/chapters/

And now, the interview:

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Zelda Informer: How long would the story be and what would the story have been if it were to run its course?

Jadusable: Originally I was planning on having the story end in four resets, one for each "giant", sort of a throwback to the original game and how many resets it originally took the average player (excluding the first reset as a Deku). That would probably put the story at ending around the 26th or so.

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ZI: Any chance of it continuing at some point down the line or do you plan on using the experience to make something new?

J: The generous donations from people who have supported this creation have made it possible for a continuation to be a reality. I can't divulge too much right now, but we've got something big in the works. I'm always looking for new ways to approach the concept of immersing the viewer and taking away the fourth wall and I think that this next project is going to blow the Majora's Mask story out of the water in terms of that.

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ZI: What tools did you use to modify Majora's Mask and create the videos?

J: Hah, I get this question a lot. As many people have proved, it was a combination of elaborate gameshark codes and sneaky video editing. It was pretty time consuming, but ultimately I'm satisfied with the finished product.

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ZI: At what point did you realize the story has taken off and how surprised were you?

J: When I say that I decided to write this on a whim I wasn't kidding, I was really taken aback at how quickly this blew up. When I originally posted the first chapter I was pleasantly surprised at how well-received it was considering this was my first attempt at writing scary material, but that paled in comparison to when I saw that my first video had gotten over 100,000 hits on Youtube in less than three days. I really had a hard time believing the success of this at first, to be honest. It pretty much picked up right off the bat and held its audience until I had to discontinue it.

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ZI: What are some random hints and clues that you added that viewer have missed, if any?

J: Time and time again my viewers surprise me with how perceptive they are, I honestly think there are maybe one or two clues that are still out there that no one has picked up on to my knowledge... of course I can't tell you what they are, they're a bit of foreshadowing, haha.

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ZI: Who is BEN and how did he DROWN?

J: Pass :P

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ZI: Who/what is contained inside the Majora's Mask cartridge?

J: From what is implied in the story, "BEN" is. How he got there is something that hasn't been explained yet.

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ZI: Did the explanation of the capture device being unusually clear organically stem off of the fact that the videos were being recorded from a ROM and you needed to explain the clarity?

J: Oh yeah, most definitely. I had never recorded Nintendo 64 games before on a capture device so I had no idea that the difference between an actual game and a ROM would be so significant until people started pointing it out. Looking back, that was my biggest regret in making the story believable.

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ZI: What made you choose Majora's Mask as the framework for the game? Was the inherent creepiness of the Elegy of Emptiness Link a contributing factor?

J: Majora's Mask had always been one of my favorite games. I loved everything about it; the ambiance, the atmosphere, the darker setting for a Zelda game. What really sticks out to me is the mystery part of it, Termina is such a mysterious land filled with odd people. There's something about trying to save a doomed world that you already know the ending to that always stays on your mind when you're playing the game. You could be rescuing the Deku Princess and saving her life and yet in the back of your mind you realize "This doesn't mean anything; the moon will crash and I'll go back in time and none of this will ever have happened," That feeling that you get when you have to leave everyone behind and travel back in time is a unique one, I think. Like disturbing but there's hope at the same time, almost. To me its a masterpiece of a game.

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ZI: What specifically caused you to cut the story short?

J: A number of factors - money was a big issue - the whole thing just got too expansive for me and the cheap webhosting I had wasn't able to handle more than a few thousand people at once on the website without going down. If I was going to involve my website this throughouly in my ARG, then I would need a better host, and those cost quite a pretty penny. Also I needed more manpower, given that all this time I had been doing the writing, filming, managing, updating myself I couldn't balance that, school, and retaining a social life. Something had to give and regrettably it had to be the ARG. It didn't help that there were people out there who were posing to be me as well. Like weeds, it seemed that whenever one was discredited more would pop out to take its place and they would end up throwing off people with false clues (who would then go back to everyone else and say "yeah but we know [x], so [y] CAN'T be right!", when in reality there was no such thing as [x], causing a sort of domino effect). It got quite discouraging after a while, but I've learned how to take measures to prevent this kind of behavior in the future. It's funny - even now after this is all over - I recently found out there was some guy pretending to be me and selling shirts based on the story/catchphrases and making a profit off them... it's like I can never catch a break haha. It seems like I always have to remind people to not believe anything that isn't posted by me on the website or by my Youtube account.

However to me, I just needed to regroup and redouble my efforts, which is exactly what I'm in the process of doing.

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ZI: What do think of the people who took the story SUPER SERIOUS like bleachfan (link)?

J: Hah, oh wow. Reading that article made me almost feel guilty. I suppose on one hand its kind of a compliment, but on the other I hope I didn't cause too many people to have similar reactions. While I was writing this whole thing, I didn't expect a lot of people would really take it so seriously (seriously in the sense of "Wow, this is actually happening omg"). My hopes were that the audience would suspend their disbelief just as they would at a movie/videogame and play along, but seeing stories like this make me wonder if something like this wouldn't have happened to a guy like that sooner or later. I guess he's one of my biggest fans. I salute you Jarrod, where ever you are. Keep on truckin' bro."

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Note: I sent him a few more questions after this, so look for an update soon with the extra questions

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The Man Behind the Haunted Majora’s Mask Answers a Few More Questions

"ZeldaInformer: If you feel comfortable with it, tell us a bit more about yourself.

Jadusable: Well, I'm not really the kind of person you'd envision writing this sort of thing or being an avid gamer, but yeah. I've been into film and writing since I was a kid, I've participated and won state-wide competitions for films I've directed/wrote, and I've currently got a TV show that I'm trying to find an agent for. Also, my greatest role model is Arnold Schwarzenegger. A lot of people scratch their heads and laugh when I say that, as I'm sure the readers of this are doing right now, but his mentality and determination is something superhuman that I want to adopt 100%.

There's a story of how a journalist once met an aspiring Arnold Schwarzenegger in a cafe in Arizona. Arnold was promoting his newest movie - some unremarkable B-movie that did horribly - and the journalist asked him what he was going to do from here. Arnold simply replied in a calm voice, completely straight-faced as if he believed it 100%, that he was going to become Hollywood's #1 movie star. Of course at the time no one knew who this guy was - he was some bodybuilding Austrian foreigner with a goofy accent, and this idiot thought he was going to be famous. Instead of trying to change his goofy qualities that people viewed as weaknesses, Arnie turned them into iconic strengths and if he wasn't Hollywood's #1 movie star, by the end of his acting career he was one of the most famous/infamous actors in all of Hollywood. And then he goes on to become the governor of California with that same mindset faced with similar criticism - how does the Terminator get into politics? And he blames it all on his mental attitude. It's remarkable - he views life as his playground and that there was no reason why he couldn't accomplish anything he wanted. Regardless of if you like him or want that same career path - you have to admire his mindset, and that's something that as someone trying to break into the industry I try every day to have. Think and you shall become.

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ZI: Have your plans for the story changed at all because of the recent influx of donation money?

J: Yes, I'm thinking much broader now and the additional ideas that I had making the story ("Damn, it would be cool if I could do -this-") have suddenly become reachable.

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ZI: Do you plan on branching out into Ocarina of Time as well, as some of your videos include sections of it?

J: Depends on where this new project takes me. Just to clarify - the new project I keep talking about *is* a continuation of the story, but in a different way than one might expect.

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ZI: Have you recruited any help for the story going forward to help you organize and keep things in line?

J: Yes and no. I have a lot of people who have been emailing me offering their services on my next project and I've actually been in touch with a game developer company about taking the next step. Regardless of whether or not that goes anywhere or whether or not I'm able to hire a few of their members, the next step for me is evolving into that medium. And to clarify - I use the term "videogame" extremely loosely, it wouldn't be a standard videogame by any means (or rather, one that we're used to); my vision is something that will take the whole viewer-interactivity to the next level. I have a dozen concepts and game mechanics that - to my knowledge - have never been explored in the horror genre that are literally sitting right in front of us to use. All of the aspects that played a big role in the previous ARG will be present here (looking for clues, discussing theories, a sense of community, etc), the "videogame" will be just a part in the whole experience, similar to how the videos were just a part of the whole experience.

I can't really reveal my plans just yet, but just know that this will be big and should my plans come to fruition, it will re-define a lot of what it means to be a "scary" game.

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ZI: So far, what part of the story is your favorite or most enjoyable to make?

J: I'd have to say booting up Majora's Mask or Ocarina and running around looking the different environments/playing with the different animation codes, kind of just scoping them out to see what I could do with them and letting my imagination wander. "Oh THIS would be scary" or "Hmm, can I use this?", that definitely was a lot of fun. In addition, I really enjoyed sneaking into several popular tinychats and just eavesdropping on how people were reacting to the newest video/update, but I would never talk in them. Also, learning to write horror was a fun process and something that was very much a learn-as-I-go experience and it helped me understand the human psyche a little bit more than I did before I attempted this. Very fun stuff all around.

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Thanks again, Judusable, for answering our questions. I'm sure we all look forward to anything else you have up your sleeve and I, personally, cannot wait for what's next. Anyway, that's all for now."

Notes

• The link to the Encyclopedia Dramatica entry for the Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge is no longer active. The entry can now be found here. This link contains material that is not suitable for children.
  • The player mentioned was bleachfan614, a reader that claimed that the story was real and that the Moon Children were coming for him.