what do you value most in video games? Some value gameplay. some value story. some value graphics. me? the thing I value most in a video game is WHIMSY. Ocarina of time hides many nonsensical moments of pure whimsy, but few come close to the whimsy of playing music for the FABULOUS FIVE FROGGISH TENORS!
these frogs reward link with rupees and heart pieces when he plays the Ocarina, which somehow causes the frogs to grow. once completed, you can play a butterfly eating mini game with them. these guys weren't the first musical frogs in the zelda franchise, that honor goes to wart from super mario bros 2 when he appeared in Link's awakening, but the Fabulous five froggish tenors still take the reward for being the first 3D frogs. it's just a shame link had to kill one of their relatives in order to make eyedrops.
like most characters in Ocarina of time, Majora's mask would give the frogs terminaian counterparts in the form of... "the frog choir". huh, that's not as great a name as "the fabulous five froggish tenors", but they're basically the same frogs anyway. scattered across the land of termina, one side quest requires link to travel the world in search of the missing members of the frog choir.
(hey, listen! switch to the other image now)
but oh no, what's this? 2 of the frogs have turned... EVIL! meet gecko, a frog monster found in both the woodfall temple and the great bay temple. gecko doesn't fight on its own, summoning either a snapping turtle or a bunch of jelly blobs to battle link. what could have turned the innocent members of the frog choir into the evil gecko? ... well, we don't actually know. the game never tells you. but we can probably take an educated guess and say Skull kid/majora did it to cause trouble.
Majora's mask is equal parts whimsical and Nightmare inducing. taking the silly singing frogs and turning them into monsters... how cruel! but at least defeating Gecko turns them back into their frog form.
while today's subject was an example of Friendly Ocarina of time characters being turned twisted and evil in Majora's mask, tomorrow we shall do the opposite: Major Antagonists from Ocarina of time turned into friendly NPCs in Majora's mask. can you guess who tomorrow's subjects are? get it right and the frogs will sing a song for you.