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The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time 3D 3DS Decrypted. The Stone of Agony from the original version of the game is replaced with the Shard of Agony, which serves the same purpose, only with a sound signal to inform the players of secrets nearby. This is because there is no equivalent to the rumble feature on the 3DS.

• Very similar to the Deku Scrubs, these enemies shoot three Deku Nuts at a time. Either shoot them with your Slingshot, throw down Deku Nuts, or reflect their nuts back at them, then chase.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, commonly abbreviated as OoT, is the fifth game in The Legend of Zelda series. It was the first The Legend of Zelda title to feature 3D graphics, and the first of two Zelda titles for the Nintendo 64. It is often considered to be the best game in the Zelda franchise, and is even considered by many to be the best game of all time.

Ocarina of Time is the fifth entry in The Legend of Zelda series, originally released for the Nintendo 64. It is the first 3D game in the series and the first Fifth Generation title, and it set the standard for all the later games in the series, with its then-unheard of style of cinematic presentation and introduction of many mainstay elements of the franchise.

The story follows a young boy named Link, the only member of his forest village without a fairy. Following some prophetic dreams, he is gifted a fairy named Navi by the Great Deku Tree — the guardian of the forest — and asked for his help to remove an evil curse. This is merely the start of an epic journey that takes Link from the sanctuary of his Hidden Elf Village to the magnificent Hyrule Castle and then to all points of Hyrule in a quest to stop the evil thief-king Ganondorf from seizing the power of the omnipotent Triforce.

Unfortunately, things don't go according to plan. Link is sealed away, and when he wakes up seven years later, Hyrule has become a dark and twisted version of its former self. All is not lost though: there exists one final hope in Link, who is now old enough to wield the Master Sword and accept his true destiny as the Hero Of Time. Using his new powers, Link must travel across the broken Hyrule, and across time, to re-assemble the shattered forces of Good for an epic final showdown with the King of Evil.

According to Hyrule Historia, this game takes place fourth in the overall timeline of the series and its events cause a three-way split in time, with each Alternate Timeline branching off from its events. Its immediate chronological sequel starring the same Link is Majora's Mask, which takes place after Link has been sent back in time and is transported to Termina while on a search for Navi.

The game has had numerous rereleases — in particular, Master Quest, a preorder bonus for The Wind Waker which included the original game along with a second version (originally intended for release on the 64DD add-on) with harder dungeons.

The game had a remake produced by Grezzo for the Nintendo 3DS, titled The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, which updated the visuals and controls, but left the story, music^note , world, and even some of the glitches and bugs intact. The Master Quest version of dungeons was also an unlockable in the 3DS remake^note - this time adding extra twists by flipping the entire game world horizontally in the tradition of the Wii version of Twilight Princess, but also doubling the damage Link takes from enemies and obstacles.

Unmarked spoilers ahead.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time provides examples of:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: After Link has the Golden Gauntlets from the final dungeon, he can go back outside to find the final Great Fairy, who gives him 'damage reduction.' Or, in simpler terms, doubles his health. Since Ganondorf is balanced for Link not doing this, things don't exactly go well for him.
• Ability Required to Proceed: A staple of all Zelda games, you'll need certain items to advance further in each dungeon. Most notoriously, the Hookshot, without which you cannot even enter the Forest Temple.
• Accidental Proposal: Inverted - when Ruto gave the Zora Sapphire to Link, in the eye of a Zora, his acceptance of it would mean that Link accepts her proposal. However, Link only needs the sapphire to open the inner chamber of the Temple of Time. So Ruto proposed to Link, but he interpreted it in a different way.
  • She still thinks it counts when you meet her in the Water Temple!
    Ruto: This is a request from me, the woman who is going to be your wife!
• Action Girl:
  • Zelda in her Sheik form (though not for combat). She also has hints of this in the final battle, when she uses a spell to freeze Ganon in place and calls the Sages to seal him away.
  • Impa, who apparently taught Zelda (as Sheik) all she knows.
  • The Gerudo race as a whole, as attested by the guards that Link fights when rescuing the carpenters from the Gerudo Fortress, as well as the others' expertise in the training areas.
• Adipose Rex: King Zora, to the extent that moving a few feet away from his throne requires a really long cutscene.
• After Action, Villain Analysis:
  Zelda: Ganondorf, pitiful man. Without a strong, righteous mind, he could not control the power of the gods, and - (is cut off by the castle starting to collapse)
• After Boss Recovery: After fighting each boss, you get a Heart Container. In the remake, all of your health is restored after fighting Ganondorf (as well as before).
• All of the Other Reindeer: Link is the Boy Without A Fairy, and thus teased by all the 'other' Kokiri...in the Backstory, at least. The game begins with Navi bonding to Link. Though most of the Kokiri are happy for him; only Link's rival Mido continues to be a douche about it. In the future, on the other hand, Link is still the odd one out as the only outsider who does have a fairy.
• All There in the Manual: The Kokiri girl with blonde hair is named Fado. Her name was only ever revealed on the old Zelda 64 site.
• Alternate Timeline: As noted above, confirmed with Hyrule Historia. Later games confirm a split in the Zelda universe's timelines, as a result of the Time Travel in this game's ending—one where Young Link returns to his own time and grows up normally, the other where Adult Link disappears (when he returns to his own time as Young Link). The former leads into Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures, while the latter leads into Wind Waker and its sequels. Hyrule Historia also revealed a third timeline, created if Link LOST to Ganondorf in this game, which leads to A Link to the Past, the 'Oracle' games, Link's Awakening, and the two NES games.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Ocarinas existed before this game's release (though they did become more popular afterward, to the point where you can buy ones that look just like Zelda's).
  • The rotating ice floes found by Jabu Jabu's altar in the adult timeline also happen to be an actual and naturally occurring phenomenon.
• Always Close:
  • No matter how much time you have left, Link and Zelda always manage to get out of Ganondorf's castle immediately before it explodes and crumbles into itself.
  • When racing the Running Man, he will always reach the goal one second before you do.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Fado, the blonde Kokiri girl. She has a childish and innocent quality to her, and often relies on Mido. Yet once you reach adulthood she disappears from the forest, with no reference from anyone. You only see her during the Biggoron's Sword quest, where she makes you give her a dead guy's medicine. She then gives you his item, with an eerie statement about people lost in the forest becoming Stalfos, complete with her giggling about it.
• Ambiguously Gay: The four carpenters from Kakariko Village. Made more obvious in the remake. Sabooro outright flirts with Link, calling him a cute kid.
• And I Must Scream: The ultimate fate of Ganondorf in the ending. He's sealed away into the former Sacred Realm (now the Evil Realm thanks to Ganondorf, a man of ultimate evil, being the one to claim the Triforce from it) by the sages, but it's implied he will eventually escape (And in Wind Waker, he does).
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Shields are affordable if a bit pricey, and each tunic requires its own wallet upgrade to actually buy, so they're at least pretty expensive. However, in almost every instance where it's possible to lose your shield and sometimes your tunic, it's possible to find a new one right next to you. If you haven't lost either, you'll know the chest that would've contained one because it will instead house a blue rupee.
  • The Sun Song cuts down the long length of time it takes for day to change to night and vice versa, and it lets you change time without having to go out into an adventure area. Though this can be frustrating as, in time freeze areas, playing the Sun's Song will advance the game clock to either noon or midnight, depending on which time of day you play it at.
  • In the future, getting Epona and learning the warp songs from Sheik considerably cuts down on the amount of backtracking you'll have to do. The songs still work when you're a kid, too.
  • Finding and using Farore's Wind also makes backtracking in the dungeons quicker and easier, especially in the Water Temple.
  • There's also Pierre. Almost anywhere that requires a magic bean sprout to go, can be reached by summoning him instead. He also allows you to bypass the nerve-wracking and frustrating experience with the Moblins in the Sacred Meadow and some hellish backtracking in the Water Temple... provided you visited Bonooru at Lake Hylia to record the notes you want to use immediately after getting the Ocarina Of Time, and went back after arriving in the Future to activate the song.
  • In Ganon's Castle, underneath the bridge you can't reach in the main area, there's a secret room. Inside, there are several fairies in pots, as well as business scrubs that sell you bombs, arrows, shields, etc. just in case you run out and need to get more, so that you don't have to go all the way to Kakariko to buy and stock up.
• Anti Poop-Socking: In the remake, Navi will complain about feeling tired periodically. This becomes silly when she tells you to take a rest as you reach the door to the final boss, after all the Sages have been urging you to hurry.
• Apathetic Citizens: In Kakariko Village, after Bongo Bongo wreaks havoc in the village, no one seems to care that it happened after you came back over there.
• 'Arabian Nights' Days: The Gerudo seem to be very loosely based off of this trope, where the harem girls are thieves. Also, their king, happens to be the main antagonist in the series, and he happens to be skilled with sorcery, as his previousappearances suggest.
• Art Evolution: Compare the original official art of Link, Zelda◊, and Ganondorf with their◊3DS◊counterparts◊.
• Artistic License – Physics: Red Ice and Blue Fire are both magically charged elements that you first encounter in the Ice Cavern. Red Ice is warm and cannot be melted by normal fire. However, Red Ice will melt when exposed to Blue Fire which is cold.
• Ascended Glitch: The 3DS remakes retains (and in some cases, recreates) many of the glitches from the original that weren't Game Breaking Bugs, as a nod to players who felt it made the game fun.
• Astral Checkerboard Decor: The Temple of Time has some checkerboard tiles in the outer parts of the main room. The Forest Temple gives us the falling ceiling room.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Every single boss. Navi usually points it out for you (except for Ganondorf, whose weak point she cannot tell).
• Badass Cape: Ganondorf has a wine-colored cape that adds to his menacing, imposing appearance after he takes over Hyrule (it's also seen when he appears in the great Deku Tree's narration after completing the first dungeon).
• Bad Future: Once Ganondorf takes over, everything in Hyrule gets a lot worse. Hyrule Castle Town is an abandoned ruin with a perpetually dark sky, the castle itself is gone and replaced with Ganon's own dark castle (which is also the Very Definitely Final Dungeon), the Kokiri Forest has been overrun due to the death of the Deku Tree, the Gorons have been captured and face extinction via a dragon, Zora's Domain has been frozen over^note , and Lake Hylia has nearly dried up.
• The Bad Guy Wins: One of the few games in history in which dying invokes a canonical timeline. There is no in-game indication that this is the case, however. Canonically, Link lost the final battle against Ganondorf, but even then, it's not clarified which phase of the battle did him in.
• Ball of Light Transformation:
  • Seen when Link uses the Ocarina to warp to the various temples. The Sages also seem to be able to do this as well.
  • Ganondorf also gets a bit shiny when he transforms into Ganon.
• Banishing Ritual: Since Ganondorf has become effectively immortal so long as he possesses the Triforce of Power, the Sages defeat him by sealing him away inside the Dark Realm after Link has weakened him enough with the Master Sword.
• BFS: The Biggoron Sword. It requires both hands to wield, and, at least in the remake, it's about as long as adult Link is tall. Its also the deadliest weapon in the game.
• Big Bad: Ganondorf, the evil foreign king who seeks to use the mystical Triforce to reshape Hyrule in his own image.
• Bigger on the Inside: Most dungeons have so many floors and rooms so large that they outnumber their external size. In particular, Jabu Jabu's Belly is an entire dungeon made of extremely large intestinal tracts, which you might not expect from looking at Jabu-Jabu's relatively small exterior.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The residents at Lon Lon Ranch: Talon (big), Ingo (thin), and Malon (short). However, this trope does not apply seven years later, when Malon is an adult and as tall as Talon.
• Big 'YES!': Part of Darunia's reaction to 'Saria's Song'. He even dances to it for half a minute!
• Bishōnen: Adult Link is said to look pretty dang good. The Poe Collector says he could run a different sort of business (what he means is not clarified) if he had Link's looks, while Nabooru regrets getting captured and failing to keep her promise in the Past once she sees what Link grows into.
  • And this gets a bit creepy when you save Sabooro, who calls Link a cute kid.
• Bittersweet Ending: You manage to defeat Ganondorf and restore peace to Hyrule, but a lot of people are lost in the future. Ruto, Darunia and Saria become Sages and their friends and loved ones mourn their absence. Zelda says goodbye to Link and sends him back to the past; while this fortunately means that one timeline's Hyrule will be protected from Ganondorf thanks to Link thwarting his plans before he even puts them into place, that timeline has its own bittersweetness: Navi leaves Link once sent back to the Temple of Time; and the Great Deku Tree remains dead. The final scene of the game is Young Link entering Zelda's courtyard and her pleased expression at seeing him.
• Bizarrchitecture: The Forest Temple has some wonderful mind-screwing corridors that can twist 90 degrees. Depending on if the corridors are twisted or not, the gravity in the rooms immediately after can go in two separate directions.
• Bleak Level: Kakariko's Well and the Shadow Temple are really creepy. Seems like they were used in the past to torture or even execute people. The foes there are also nightmarish. It doesn't help that a lot of traps are invisible unless you have the Lens of Truth.
• Blinding Bangs:
  • The beggar that buys bottled fish and bugs.
  • Some of the Kokiri children, particularly the guard at the entrance to Hyrule Field.
• Blob Monster: Morpha plays with this. It's actually a nucleus, but it forms a watery tentacle blob around it to protect itself.
• Block Puzzle: No Zelda game should be without them.
• Blood from the Mouth: Ganondorf, upon defeat of his first form. In the 1.0 version of the game it's red, but in every other release it's green, making it look like he instead either a) hocked a tremendous loogie or b) got beaten so bad he vomited.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Compared to most Zelda titles before or since. While many Zeldas since have featured incredibly dark themes, they usually don't have mass graves and torture chambers for you to explore...
• Blue Means Cold: The magical blue flames are said to provide 'refreshing coolness'.
• Bonus Dungeon: The Gerudo Training Grounds — a series of puzzles and challenges that earn you keys to access the final prize: Ice Arrows. Useful for 100% Completion and extra attack power, not particularly useful for anything else in the game. ^note Downplayed with the Bottom of the Well- you're required to go in to get the Lens of Truth, but most of the rest of the dungeon is optional, just containing some Gold Skulltulas.
• Bookends: Link's meeting with Zelda in the castle. Possibly even the same one, only this time it will turn out differently...
• Boss Arena Recovery: There's frequently junk around the periphery of boss arenas that can be used to restore health.
• Boss Banter: Koume and Kotake chat with you before doing their Transformation Sequence. They also bicker with each other after they're defeated and realize they're dead.
• Boss Corridor:
  • Phantom Ganon, Morpha, Twinrova, and Ganondorf all have one. The last one is noteworthy, since it's a long staircase lined with stained glass windows.
  • Regarding minibosses, the first two Iron Knuckles in the Spirit Temple are each preceded by one.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: The Iron Knuckles, which you fight three times in the Spirit Temple and twice in Ganondorf's castle. They move slow as molasses while walking, but they swing their axes hard and can knock four hearts off you in one swing and send you flying across the room. On top of that, unless you fight them with the Biggoron Sword (which takes them down in a few hits), they are very resilient and take a long time to wear down. Making matters worse is that the heavy armor falls off at half health, letting them run at you. It is strongly recommended that you bring bottled fairies with you for these fights if you're new to the game.
• Boss Rush: The remake adds an option to rechallenge previous bosses, with only the number of hearts gained from the previous bosses and minimal items, with the ability to save your best time to beat each boss. Beating all the bosses in this way unlocks the Boss Gauntlet mode, in which you fight every boss from Gohma to Twinrova, starting with only five heart containers and some items and earning one item per boss, which becomes three hearts in the MQ version, in which enemies also inflict double damage, just to make things interesting..
• Boss Subtitles: Every boss is described with one, starting with 'Parasitic Armored Arachnid: GOHMA'. It also plays with this it to great effect at the end of the game; as the final boss towers over Link, it's as though the game itself is incapable of describing the behemoth as anything else than 'GANON'.
• Bowdlerization:
  • Originally, Ganondorf coughed blood shortly before the castle escape, and Ganon also bled with the final few hits. This was recolored green in later versions of the game, so when Ganondorf coughed up that blood... it looked more like throw-up, and green slime poured out of Ganon in the final blows. Surprisingly, all blood when Link is hit, as well as the bloody spots and skeletons in the Bottom of the Well, as well as the bones in the graves, are kept, E-Rating and all!
  • In the Fire Temple, the original version specifically sounds like the Arabic for the First Pillar of Islam ('There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet') and 'God is great.' All of these changes were only made in game v1.2, not the gold cart (v1.0) and first run regular carts (v1.1). A Gametrailers video elaborates on this slightly.
  • The Gerudo crest and the Mirror◊Shield◊, much like the Fire Temple theme, were altered because the Gerudo Crest was too similar to the Islamic Crescent Moon. There's ONE spot in the game where they forgot to change the symbol: the ceiling of Dampe's tomb in the room where he gives you the Hookshot (it was changed in the 3DS version).
  • The 3DS remake keeps all of the changes made in v1.2 but goes even further by making the blood on the Dead Hands no more than a pale pink tone, and removing blood on the floors of the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: One of the Iron Knuckles you fight is a brainwashed Nabooru.
  • The manga removes Nabooru being an Iron Knuckle (she's still brainwashed) while explaining Ingo's strange return to good by having him be brainwashed as well in an extra scene after Link frees Epona. Both are done with the Gerudo forehead jewel (Ingo's was in his ear).
• Brats with Slingshots: The first dungeon item is a slingshot. And true to the trope, you can only use it as a child.
• Broad Strokes: The general plot is similar to the back story for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The official timeline confirms that the earlier game takes place in a timeline where the Hero of Time LOST to Ganondorf in the Final Battle.
• Broken Bridge: The bridge to Gerudo Valley is out, requiring either Epona or the the Longshot to cross.
• But Thou Must!: Many of the characters will ask Link yes or no questions; however, choosing no will either lead to an infinite loop or being forced to do it anyway. There is even a literal example where the Deku Tree asks Link to listen to a story and if you pick no he says, 'but thou must listen'.
• Butt-Monkey: What did that poor musician in the windmill ever do to you?

• Call-Forward:
  • A castle guard says 'KEEP IT A SECRET FROM EVERYONE,' not unlike the friendly Moblin in the first game.
  • At one point, Mido says 'Grumble, grumble...', an infamous line uttered in the first game at a frustrating Guide Dang It! moment.
  • The Sages and Mido are named after the towns from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The same game is also the source of Volvagia^note , Dark Link, and Iron Knuckles (which are used instead of the Darknuts used in 2D games other than the second game as well as later 3D games).
  • In the remake, the Happy Mask Salesman has the masks that were attached to his pack in Majora's Mask.
  • In the remake, when you visit the bedroom of Lon Lon Ranch, you can see on the wall some of Malon's paper drawings. One of them is Marin.
  • In the remake, Impa's house has a book on the table that resembles the Book of Mudora from A Link to the Past.
• Camera Centering: An effect of Z-Targeting.
• Camera Lock-On: If not the Trope Maker, then the Trope Codifier.
• Cape Swish: Ganondorf does one of these right before you fight him, and every time he recovers from Link managing to stun him, whether he gets a Light Arrow in or not. That said, the second version, when he gets back up after Link gets the Light Arrow in and pounds on him, has more flair.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Ganondorf is called the King of Evil at several points, and 'Great' is added on at the start of his boss fight. He calls himself as the Great Evil King when defeated, while Malon, in an utterly optional conversation about Ingo, uses 'the Evil King' to refer to him.
• Cave Behind the Falls: Zora's Domain. There are some in Gerudo Valley as well.
• Chain of Deals: How you get Biggoron's Sword. It's a fairly lengthy one with all sorts of objects, from eye drops to funny smelling mushrooms. Some of the trades even have a time-limit.
• Character Tics: OoT Link is well-known for his inability to drink anything without dramatically wiping his mouth with his arm afterward.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Link might need quest items to perform some feats of strength, but as a boy he can already pick up football-sized boulders, hold them above his head, and hurl them a good ten feet.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Both the Skull Kid in the Lost Woods whom you teach Saria's Song to and the Happy Mask Shop owner become pivotal characters in Majora's Mask.
• Cherry Tapping: A lengthy yet surprisingly effective method of battling Dark Link is using the broken Giant's Knife. Using the stab attack with Link's default sword will make Dark Link jump onto the blade and deliver an unavoidable attack. However, since the broken sword has no blade to jump on, the stab will always hit. Just be prepared to do it a lot. Just bring Biggoron's Sword instead. He goes down faster.
• Chick Magnet:
  • While Ruto and Nabooru are the only ones actively expressing romantic interest in Link in the game, it's speculated that Zelda, Saria, and Malon might be into him as well. Also, Shigeru Miyamoto claimed that Navi was in love with Link too.
  • Incredibly early discussions of the design of the game hinted that there would be a 'choose your girl'-style romantic subplot between the number of girls. Likely scrapped not long later when the story would make most of the girls unreachable for the last majority of the story.
• Childhood Marriage Promise:
  • Thanks to the Time Skip, Link gets confronted with his wholly accidental promise sooner than the trope would normally require. Luckily, Ruto being the Sage of Water means it has to be called off.
  • The player can choose to agree to marry Malon if they talk to Talon as a kid. Talon laughs that Link is too young for marriage; and later when Link ages, he doesn't bring it up again.
• The Chosen Zero: Navi wakes Link up, not succeeding for a while, then wonders out loud if Hyrule is really supposed to be saved by such a lazy boy.
• Collapsing Ceiling Boss: Volvagia, and that is one of his attacks, causing boulders to fall from the ceiling onto your head.
• Combat Tentacles: Morpha has one or two at a time, and in the latter case, one of them has its core.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: The manga by Akira Himekawa.
• Company Cross References: There are several references to Super Mario Bros.. For example, Malon and Talon have brooches of Bowser's head, and portraits of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser can be found in the Castle Courtyard.
• Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Navi is perhaps most known for her habit of routinely nagging the player about the current major quest objective, regardless of where (or when) they are or what they're currently doing. This can result in her telling Link to check out the strange clouds over Death Mountain when he's already standing at the summit, or when he's a child and there are no strange clouds yet.
• Continuing Is Painful: If you die during the final battle with Ganon, you have to start the Tower escape sequence again.
• Continuity Snarl: The game itself is possibly the biggest retcon in the franchise, and one that greatly affects the whole timeline. The backstory of A Link to the Past establishes that Ganondorf got the whole Triforce and that the Master Sword remained unused until the arrival of Link ^note in the present day. Ocarina of Time is based on that backstory but introduces a predecessor Link who did wield the Master Sword, and ends with Ganondorf being sealed away with only the Triforce of Power in his possession. The incompatible nature only got worse when new Zelda games such The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are established as direct sequels to Ocarina of Time but diverts further away from the setting of A Link to the Past and the NES games. It's only when Nintendo creates an Alternate Timeline where the Hero of Time is defeated that Ocarina of Time is finally reconnected to A Link to the Past as the prequel it was originally intended to be.
• Convection Schmonvection: Played straight in most of the game (especially Dodongo's Cavern) but despite the series's track record with this trope, it's averted in Death Mountain's crater, in which it's so hot that Link requires the flame-retardant Goron Tunic to be able to survive for more than a minute or so, and touching the lava is an instant void out, just like outside Ganon's Castle.
• Cool Horse:
  • Epona, of course, making her series debut.
  • Ganondorf's demon horse counts as well. It's last seen being used by Phantom Ganon to scare Link, then vanishes when Phantom Ganon starts his second phase.
• Corridor Cubbyhole Run: In the Sacred Forest Meadow as well as the Forest Temple (the part with the Descending Ceiling).
• 'Could Have Avoided This!' Plot: The entire game from acquiring the Master Sword onwards is a result of Link and Zelda being in over their heads for trying to take on Ganondorf and directly foil his plans, instead ending up giving him exactly what he wants, which Zelda painfully admits post-Time Skip. The correct solution was to simply expose Ganondorf's conspiracy to the proper authorities before it started. After the final battle, a now less-naive Link is sent back in time to before he first met Zelda, and he does exactly that.
• Coup de Grâce Cutscene: At the end of the final battle.
• Covers Always Lie: Promotional official artwork (and hype) in Nintendo magazines showcased Link and Sheik joining forces against Ganon's entire army. Such an event was never featured in the game.
• Cowardly Boss: Morpha. Most of the difficulty is in trying to hookshot it while it spins and whirls and winds and does everything to evade you. Also features Murder Water and Combat Tentacles.
• Crapsack World: All of future Hyrule, Castle Town especially.
• Creepy Mortician: Dampé. He himself dies during the Time Skip, but he took his treasure, the Hookshot (which is later upgraded), to the grave, and invites anyone who reads his diary to visit him. But he's not a bad guy at all. He gives you the Hookshot if you can keep up with him in a race, and a Heart Piece if you finish in under a minute.
• Critical Annoyance: A high-pitched beeping noise will sound when you get down to two hearts or below.
• Critical Existence Failure: Played straight in most enemies, with the usual 'wheeze and limp when injured and standing still' cosmetic touch.
• Cue the Sun:
  • When Link shoots an arrow at the morning sun at Lake Hylia, a Fire Arrow descends from the sky.
  • Also, playing the Sun Song at night will literally cue the sun.^note
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • Anyone used to the Ocarina controls from the original version may have trouble getting used to the Ocarina controls for the 3DS remake, as the button layout for each note is totally different.
  • And of course, the mirrored Master Quest in the 3DS remake also messes with long-time players' reflexes.
  • One for veterans of the first game involves Peahats, which went to only being vulnerable when still to only being vulnerable when moving. If the player forgets it, they're almost sure to take a hit or two.
• Damsel in Distress: Zelda double subverts it during the game, when you are being assisted by Sheik... who is Princess Zelda... and then gets captured after that reveal.
• Dance Party Ending: A sequence during the ending credits roll shows all secondary characters (even the Kokiri, although they'd already been living just as dangerously during the Time Skip) partying in the Lon Lon Ranch.
• Darker and Edgier: Ocarina of Time is easily darker than the previous games in the Zelda franchise, as it deals very explicitly with subjects like war and the large-scale devastation caused by it. It is especially prevalent in the latter half of the game with Adult Link: the moment you first step into Hyrule Market seven years after drawing the Master Sword is quintessential nightmare fuel. And from there, you rediscover Hyrule in its newly distorted form, with perennially ominous skies consuming the land and at least one genocide in the making (ie. the Gorons on Death Mountain are slated to become lunch for the ancient dragon Volvagia, revived by Ganondorf as a warning to any who would dare oppose him). Then you come across such settings as the Forest Temple, Shadow Temple, the nether regions of Kakariko Village's well, and Ganon's Castle (erected where Hyrule Castle once stood). Although it was subsequently surpassed by its direct sequel Majora's Mask in terms of overall darkness, there can be little doubt that the first 3D Zelda had plenty of creepiness to go along with the softer nuances it carried over from the NES/SNES games.
• Dark-Skinned Redhead: The Gerudo people, including Ganondorf prior to his becoming Ganon, although even at the beginning Ganondorf's skin has a sickly/undead-looking greenish cast, which becomes outright Hulk green or even blue in many of his appearances (not all of which are humanoid, of course) later on in the series's chronology.
• Dead Character Walking: By a glitch, you could walk Zombie Link in a dim world. A different method allows Zombie Link to walk around in regular lighting, but nothing can be done anyway and everything are all frozen and many features are disabled.
• Deadly Dust Storm: The Spirit Temple is beyond a stretch of desert that has a constant sand storm. Link needs the help of the Phantom Guide (just a Poe that isn't programmed to be hostile) to lead him through safely. Or, alternately, you can figure out on your own where to turn and in which direction, and once you reach the crate in the sand, you can leave the Poe behind and make a beeline for the exit since following it in the loop isn't necessary to get in.
• Death Mountain: This is a game in the Trope Namer's series, so players should expect it by now. This is also the game that started the trend of combining this trope with Lethal Lava Land.
• Degraded Boss: Lizalfos, Stalfos, White Wolfos and Iron Knuckles are presented as minibosses in their respective dungeons (or Mini-Dungeon, in the case of the White Wolfos), and eventually refought as mooks in later areas and dungeons.
• Departure Means Death: Kokiri apparently can't survive outside the forest. Subverted in that they only thought that was the case, apparently, as they can be seen partying at Lon Lon Ranch during the credits.
• Developers' Foresight:
  • Normally, when adult Link enters the Gerudo Fortress and gets caught, he gets tossed into a prison cell that can only be escaped by using the Hookshot. If you engage in a bit of Sequence Breaking and get Epona before the Hookshot, and enter the Gerudo Fortress by jumping over the broken bridge, you won't get trapped in the cell if caught — the guards just throw you outside the entrance to the village. Because Link cannot enter the Gerudo Fortress from Gerudo Valley as a child (at least, not without exploiting a glitch or two), some players might try to enter the Gerudo Fortress as a child through the back door: by travelling backwards through the Haunted Wasteland from the Desert Colossus. Crafty players who manage to do so (which is impossible without a glitching OR cheating as child Link cannot cross the River of Sand) will find that the gate is closed and a Gerudo guard is standing in front of it, telling the player that children are not allowed to enter.
  • Even though it's impossible to acquire Nayru's Love before beating Dark Link without glitches, he is still programmed to respond to it by becoming very defensive, keeping his shield up and retreating.
• Diabolus ex Machina: When Link pulls out the Master Sword, it (or possibly Rauru) puts him in a coma until he is an adult, which allows Ganondorf to take the Triforce unopposed. While Rauru claims afterwards that the Sword demands an adult wielder, this is not foreshadowed beforehand, and it is contradicted in both earlier and later games.
• Die, Chair! Die!: Most forms of object only react to being picked up and smashed or hit with your sword.
• Difficulty Spike: Most players who played this game as kids would agree that the first couple of dungeons are relatively straightforward, and the bosses both have a single, exploitable weakness. Jabu Jabu's Belly is the first dungeon where it isn't as clear as to which direction to head and takes a bit more intuition.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The official name of the boss theme that plays when you fight King Dodongo and Volvagia is, according to the official soundtrack, 'Dinosaur Boss Battle', in spite of the latter being a dragon and not a true dinosaur.
• Disc-One Final Dungeon: Hey once you get through this fish's insides, you'll have all the stones and can save Hyrule now, right? ... Right?
• Disc-One Nuke:
  • Of all weapons, the Deku Sticks count as this. One would think they're a joke weapon due to how flimsy they look and how fragile they are, but not only do they deal more damage than the Kokiri sword, they can actually deal Biggoron Sword level damage in the right hands. For example, King Dodongo can be killed in two dive attacks from them. Sadly, the 3DS port nerfed them into being a genuine Joke Weapon.
  • The Biggoron Sword. The fetch quest for it can be completed before you even set foot in the Forest Temple, and it rewards you with THE strongest weapon in the game, which shreds through normal enemies and turns the boss fights into a cakewalk. With jump attacks and spins, even Iron Knuckles go down in mere seconds, and Bongo Bongo, of all bosses, can go down in a single cycle of its AI.^note
• Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Kaepora Gaebora, the wise but verbose owl, is active during the daytime as well as the night, always ready to give you pages and pages of trivial, useless information. 'Hoo hoo hoot! Do you want me to repeat?'
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Great Fairies' poses exist to make you uncomfortable playing the game around friends and family members.
• Downer Ending: As mentioned in the Hyrule Historia, one of the timelines involves Link failing to defeat Ganon here.
• Down the Drain: The Water Temple is a quite infamous example, featuring most of the general annoyances found in those types of levels.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Zelda has prophetic dreams, specifically one where dark clouds engulf Hyrule. She's convinced the dream is a warning against Ganondorf.
• Dream Intro: Begins with a scene of Ganondorf chasing Princess Zelda on horseback, which turns out to be a nightmare that Link is having. This ends up occurring for real later in the game.
• Drop the Hammer: Adult Link gets to mess around with the Megaton Hammer. It's a bit more powerful than the Master Sword, can open up holes in the ground like bombs do, can destroy rocks you can't destroy with bombs, and is useful for caving in several of the tougher boss' skulls (it is needed to defeat Volvagia, the boss of the Fire Temple, where you find the hammer, but you don't need to use the Master Sword or Biggoron's Sword for this fight; the hammer alone will kill the dragon. In the Final Boss fight, you will need to use the hammer for the first stage against Ganon if you don't have Biggoron's Sword).^note
• Dual Boss: Twinrova, of the complementary variety. They're evil witches that fight you together. They can only be harmed by absorbing and reflecting their attacks. When they merge, Link has to charge his shield with three attacks from Twinrova that are of the same element before he can attack her again.
• Dual-World Gameplay: You can use the Temple of Time to go back and forth to do things like plant seeds that grow into flying platforms to get Pieces of Heart. You also have to trick out time to get the Song of Storms and get through the Spirit Temple.
• Dude, Where's My Reward?: For every ten of the first fifty Gold Skulltulas you find, you get a significant reward.^note For finding the other fifty, a task that requires you to scour every nook and cranny in the land, you get... money. By that time you'll essentially have done everything in the game that requires money anyway.
• Dummied Out:
  • Quite a few things. Most notably the Wind and Ice Medallions (and their associated Temples, although the Wind Temple survived in a somewhat altered state as the Forest Temple, and the Forest portion of Ganon's Castle and the Ice Cavern have more in common with the scrapped Wind and Ice Temples than the Forest and Water Temples) and... an Arwing as a fightable enemy, which was originally used to test Volvagia's attack pattern and Z-Targeting.
  • The Medallions were going to be C-items, but their effects were either removed or recycled as different items. Example being Din's Fire, and a puzzle that requires it having the Fire Medallion's design present on the spot where you're supposed to use it (it was removed in the 3DS version).
  • Gerudo's Fortress has an extra Heart Piece that is inaccessible except with cheats/hacking — it's only present when Link is a child, but Link can't enter the area until he's an adult because a guard blocks his path when he's a child.
  • The English-language release contains the original Japanese version, which can only be accessed by using a cheat device or an emulator to change the game's region code. The same is true for both GameCube rereleases as well as Master Quest.
  • Some code from the abandoned 64DD development remains in the game- using hacks to activate the code only causes the game to crash, however. The code seems to be intended to allow the cartridge to access the disk drive.
  • The game also contains leftover code for an interesting attack - shooting beams from Link's sword! Some hacks have partially restored the ability, which can harm or kill distant enemies but doesn't actually appear to hit them: the projectile briefly appears in front of Link and fades away without moving. Also, it is used the same way as a spin attack (holding down the button and charging up), rather than being at full health. It isn't immediately clear if this was intended to replace the spin attack when Z-targeting was used, or why exactly it was taken out.
  • In Zora's Fountain, there is a cliff behind Lord Jabu-Jabu that is completely inaccessible. There's a spawn point there, and the cliff textures extend quite a bit beyond the masking trees, but none of it is used. There's also a dummied-out ocarina pedestal that was supposed to appear in front of Jabu-Jabu. It was also originally possible to jump off the waterfall in Zora's Fountain to go to Zora's River, but it was blocked by a fence for unknown reasons in the final game, as seen here with an also-unused Triforce area transition.
  • In both this game and Majora's Mask, Navi/Tatl has a description for Gold Skulltulas, but it's unused since they can't be Z-Targeted. The same is true for Dead Hand's Hands in OoT.

• Early Game Hell: Downplayed. The 3DS version's Master Quest mode not only has the harder dungeon layout from the titular expansion, but also doubles the damage Link takes and flips the entire world horizontally. This makes the normally-easy first dungeon a lot more challenging, as Link has no way to heal himself without finding hearts at that point, and even the lowly Keese deal a full heart of damage at a point Link only has three. However, the game gets more manageable once you complete the Deku Tree and find bottles, allowing you to carry Milk and other helpful stuff.
• Easter Egg:
  • In Dodongo's Cavern, the infamous 'L is Real 2401' texture from Super Mario 64 was reused as an in-joke to tease people who still belived the sign means something (per Word of God, it doesn't mean anything) and as a nod to Ocarina of Time being built on a heavily modified version of Mario 64's game engine.
  • In the remake, one of the rooms of the Thieves' Hideout (specifically, the one that is above the room closest to the cell you are thrown into if you are caught) contains a poster of the Link from Skyward Sword behind two crates. Similar posters can be found on the wall of the Bombchu Shop in Hyrule Castle Town, and in the bedroom at Lon Lon Ranch as an adult.
  • When using the ocarina, you can shift the pitch with the analog stick. This isn't mentioned anywhere in the instruction manual, and has absolutely no effect on gameplay, but it's a nice little touch that makes it closer to the real thing.
  • There are portraits of Mario, Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and Yoshi viewable from the castle's courtyard. These were replaced with a New Super Mario Bros.-like scene in 3D. You can even shoot the window for rupees!
  • There is a disturbing and downright depressing easter egg. After retrieving the Ocarina of Time from the castle's moat a telepathic message from Princess Zelda tells you to go to the Temple of Time. Just in case you don't understand this message, there is a guard in one of Hyrule Castle Town's back alleys who was supposed to give you the same message. For most players this is unnecessary so they never even look for him, but if you do you'll find the guard, hear his message, then see him die. Most players never knew he was there, so the majority of the time he'll die without ever completing his mission and without any hope that Princess Zelda or Hyrule can be saved.

• Easy Level Trick: Getting the Gold Scale from the fishing minigame makes navigating the Water Temple much less tedious, since you can simply dive through several passages instead of having to constantly equip and deequip the Iron Boots all the time. Getting the free Blue Tunic by unfreezing King Zora beforehand helps too, since using it means you won't have to worry about drowning anymore.
• An Economy Is You:
  • Everyone sells things that are handy for your quest, and all trading between other people is done via Link moving goods and money around.
  • Played straight with the Fisherman (the guy in the Fishing Hole at Lake Hylia), who actually tells Link that he's his only customer.
• Eldritch Abomination: Bongo Bongo. This 'Phantom Shadow Beast' is by far the most alien enemy Link faces throughout the game. Although it takes on a vaguely anthropomorphic form, it's doubtful if it was ever even remotely human. Considering it manifests itself as a super-fast liquid monster outside of the Shadow Temple, it may not even have a true form. The only upside is that since it is a boss, it can be defeated.
• Eldritch Location:
  • Ganon's Castle.
  • The Forest Temple also qualifies. It's an anomaly in the context of the game—whereas all of the other temples look like, well, temples, the Forest Temple is more like a giant, derelict mansion frozen in time and slowly being reclaimed by nature, and it has some truly bizarre architectural choices. Oh, and it's inhabited by the undead on top of that.
  • The Shadow Temple under the well certainly has shades of this too.
• Enemy Without: The return of Dark Link as an opponent.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Nabooru is quick to distance herself from Evil King Ganondorf. Which may even be an indicator of her real destiny, considering all the other Gerudo blindly follow Ganondorf because he's both a Gerudo and a man.
  Nabooru: Though we're both thieves, I'm completely different from Ganondorf. With his followers, he stole from women and children, and he even killed people!
• Everything's Better with Cows:
  • Link can win a cow from the horse race with Malon, which would appear inside Link's house in Kokiri Forest. How did it get up the ladder? Malon mentions she's sending a present to his house and he'll get it when he goes home. Maybe she has superpowered ranch hands hidden somewhere?
  • The Master Quest version of the Jabu-Jabu dungeon. Apparently Jabu-Jabu has a taste for beef in addition to fish (and also swallows them whole). All of them except for one are somehow embedded in Jabu-Jabu's flesh, and they usually hide a switch that you have to activate by shooting the cow with the slingshot. This comes out of nowhere.
• Evil Knockoff: Dark Link. Even in 2018, OoT marks his first chronological appearance so far.
• Expansion Pack: Ura Zelda for the Nintendo 64DD was supposed to be this for this game, but it never got finished. Its levels were eventually turned into Master Quest.
• Exposition Fairy: Navi. The Trope Codifier if not the Trope Namer. She is a fairy, and her very job and destiny is to tell you things about what's happening. Note that she's blue, which signifies 'wisdom' in Zelda lore.
• Extended Gameplay: 'Master Quest' is a version of the game that comes with different and harder dungeon designs, for people who like challenging puzzles. The 3DS version takes it Up to Eleven by making Link take double damage, and mirrors the environment, to mess with your muscle memory.
• Fade to White:
  • Multiple times, such as when Link encounters Ganondorf in the Temple of Time, and when Ganondorf is finally defeated and sealed in the Dark Realm.
  • Also whenever Link uses the secret passages between the Lost Woods and either Goron City or Zora's River (or Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia), complete with a cool sound.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The Running Man. No matter how fast you finish the race, he will always beat you by one second.
• Fast-Forward Mechanic: The 'Sun's Song' moves time to the next time of day. In certain areas, it just speeds up the progression of the sun and moon to the next 6 o'clock. In places where time is frozen, it instead advances to the next TWELVE o'clock, which screws you over if you were supposed to be there earlier than that, like at 9 o'clock.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • 'What a worthless creation that ghost was! I will banish it to the gap between dimensions!!'
  • Which becomes ironic when, upon defeat, Ganondorf is banished himself, just to the Sacred Realm instead of the void between dimensions.
• Final Boss: Ganondorf, after being defeated and failing to crush Link and Zelda with his crumbling castle, morphs into a massive monster, taking the name 'Ganon' for the first time EVER, to make one last attempt, Ring of Fire free of charge.
• Final Boss Preview: The scene where Link encounters Ganondorf in front of the Castle Town drawbridge and gets thrown off his feet with a magic bolt. The next boss after that scene is literally a preview of the final boss. Phantom Ganon's 2nd stage fights exactly the same as Ganondorf, but lacks a few attacks and is weaker.
• Fishing Minigame: A damn fine one too.
• Flunky Boss: Gohma will summon flunkies in the form of Gohma larvae.
• Foreshadowing: If you look around the outside of Link's House, you'll find a graffiti scribble depicting a battle between a monster and a knight.
• Free Sample Plot Coupon: The objective for Adult Link is to rescue and help awaken the Six Sages. Fortunately, the first sage (Rauru) is already in the Sacred Realm, having been part of the previous generation of Sages, and after telling Link about the importance of rescuing the other sages, he proceeds to give him the Light Medallion.
• Freeze Sneeze: If you do nothing in a cold area for a certain amount of time, it triggers an idle animation where Link (be he young or an adult) has one of these.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: One of the canon timelines is triggered if Link loses to Ganon in the final battle here. Naturally, (and perhapsthankfully), losing the final battle only respawns you before it begins and you can keep trying until you beat Ganon.
• Gainaxing: Twinrova, right after transforming. The 3DS version makes it even more obvious.
• Gender Rarity Value: The Gerudo have only one male child every century, who becomes their king. This is literally the only reason any Gerudo are loyal to Ganondorf.
• 'Get Back Here!' Boss: King Dodongo. The arena is a giant ring with most of it inaccessible due to lava. Link will have to chase him around the ring or cut him off—get there too slow, and he'll either repeat the process, or blast you with a massive fireball.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar:
  • The Poe collector suggests they could run a 'different sort of business' if they were as attractive as Link.
  • Nabooru promising to 'do something great for [Link]' if he can get her the Silver Gauntlets. It seems innocent enough until you're an adult and, upon seeing Link All Grown Up and looking so handsome, she expresses regret that she didn't get to keep her promise. Just what was she going to do if Twinrova hadn't captured her, assuming she didn't wait until she'd succeeded before doing it, and/or had succeeded and thus there was just the matter of doing it?
  • You can Hookshot onto the nipples of the statue in the Spirit Temple (the one at the entrance of the boss room). Only the nipples and only while directly looking at them.
• Giant Hands of Doom: Bongo Bongo. Also, the Wallmasters.
• Giant Mook: Kill enough Stalchildren in Hyrule Field at night and a bigger one appears. Ditto for Leevers in the desert and Guay at Lon Lon Ranch at night.
• Girly Run: All the carpenters do this. It's quite unsettling.
• Go for the Eye:
  • The bosses Gohma and Bongo-Bongo.
  • The Beamos enemies can sometimes be stunned by shooting them in the eye with the slingshot, hookshot, or fairy bow.
  • The eye switches. To trigger one, you have to shoot an arrow into it. Similarly, the 'blind the eyes of the statue' stage in the Gerudo Training Complex.
  • You can't reach King Dodongo without bombing the eyes of a huge Dodongo skull.
• Good Bad Bugs: Invoked in the remake: non-Game-Breaking Bugs were intentionally left in the game to add charm and replay value.
• Good Is Dumb: Despite that basic Gerudo guards are one of the weakest enemies in the entire game (taking one hit from anything to knock out) and Link could probably take on the entire Gerudo Fortress and win, if he's spotted he will always raise his hands and let himself be carted back to his cell. Though since the Gerudo themselves aren't evil (except for Ganondorf and Twinrova) it comes full circle, as they just throw him with all his gear into the same pit he's escaped from the last sixteen times they did that.
• Good Morning, Crono: Navi flies into Link's house to wake him up in the beginning.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: The three Spiritual Stones and six Sage Medallions are mandatory, the one hundred Gold Skulltula Tokens and thirty six Pieces of Heart are not.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: The Hookshot.
• Ground Punch: The Din's Fire spell involves Link punching the ground to create a large dome of flame around himself.
• Guide Dang It!
  • How were you supposed to know you could walk past ReDeads or Gibdos and they wouldn't notice you?
  • How were you supposed to know you could jump the outer wall of Lon Lon Ranch to escape from Ingo? ^note
  • How were you supposed to know you needed to play the Sun's Song where the lone ReDead was to get his Piece Of Heart?
  • How were you supposed to know Bonooru even remembered which ocarina you used to record a song? ^note
  • Stuck in the Water Temple? Did you remember to check behind the chest that contained the Longshot? There's a Song of Time block lodged in the floor there, which, when dispelled, opens up a secret passage.
• He Was Right There All Along:
  • Several bosses, particularly Gohma where the boss fight won't trigger until you look up into her eye.
  • Dark Link takes the cake, as he is Link's reflection, literally having been with Link his entire life until the Water Temple brought it to life. When you enter the room (which has an illusion cast on it by Ganondorf to resemble a foggy lake), there is a lone island in the centre of the lake. Link's reflection is blatantly visible on the mirror-like surface of the water until he steps on the island, after which point his reflection has completely vanished. Dark Link appears by the tree on the island as soon as Link turns his back, attacking only once Link either locks on or gets close enough. And once he's been defeated, the illusion fades, revealing that the very solid island, which you could physically stand on - was never there to begin with; it was a spell that served to turn Link's reflection against him.
• Heroic Mime: Yaaah! Hiehht! Hwahh! Wahhhh...HEYAHHHHHHH!
• The Hero's Journey: Even more literal than usual. The 'Belly of the Whale' stage of the journey is a dungeon inside a giant fish, and the hero, thanks to the Time Travel, literally comes of age when he draws the Master Sword from its pedestal and sleeps away seven years.
• Hidden Elf Village: The Kokiri Forest is supposedly protected by a barrier to keep outsiders away. Considering this is only mentioned in the opening scenes, and enemies appear either deep enough into the forest or once you start actually approaching the Deku Tree, it's likely that Ganondorf did something to it.
• Holy Hand Grenade: The formerly silver arrows in the previous games become arrows of weaponized light here.
• Hover Skates: The Hover Boots. Unlike most examples, they don't propel Link forward on their own, so he still has to walk normally while wearing them. Well, normally except for the 'hovering in midair' part.
• 100% Completion: If you want to get everything in the game, you had better scour every single area with the most precise attention to detail and logic possible, or have a trusty player's guide at your side - you have a LOT of ground to cover. Besides the crucial items, there are the side-quests, finding all of the fairy fountains, the bonus items like a bigger arrow bag and the bottles, the heart pieces, the mask subquest, and let's not forget those bloody Gold Skulltulas.

• Ice Magic Is Water: The Water Medallion was intended to be the Ice Medallion during development. In the final product, this shows by the mini-dungeon preceding the Water Temple being the Ice Cavern, and the Water Temple's room in Ganon's Castle is likewise ice-themed.
• Idle Animation: Link will: fidget, glance about, tap his feet against each other, yawn, hike up his belt, swing his blade if it's unsheathed, shiver and sneeze (inside cold areas), or wipe sweat from his brow (inside hot areas). (Put on the Iron Boots and the boot tapping animation becomes particularly funny.) Link may also fiddle with his shield when he has his sword out as well, or gasp for breath when he's low on hearts.
• Imminent Danger Clue: Although he doesn't notice it himself (the player might, if the camera is positioned correctly), Link's reflection disappears right before the fight with Dark Link.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Rather surprisingly not only is it done in an E-rated game, but it's done by Link of all people. His finishing blow to Ganon is to shove the blade of the Master Sword into his forehead.
• In the Back: Doing this to a Wolfos with your sword will kill it immediately.
• Infinity -1 Sword: The Master Sword is gained just from pulling it from its pedestal.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Biggoron's Sword requires a number of fetch quests to get. It's possible to complete the quest run before even entering the Forest Temple as Adult Link, although it's much easier to do afterwards once you have the bow.
• Insecurity System: The entrance to the Sacred Realm has some pretty nifty security features, such as needing three magical Plot Coupons, a magical ocarina, a magical song and to top it off a final seal that can only be broken by The Chosen One.... but with the option of putting said Chosen One in stasis for however long it takes to make him mature enough, the fact that the entrance stays open while the Chosen One is in stasis, and apparently a lack of documentation on those little tidbits of information. At least, Zelda didn't know about it. Epileptic Trees and Wild Mass Guessing abound as to whether that was Justified or not.
• Insurmountable Waist-High Fence: Used to keep Epona out of town areas; it's reasonable enough that a horse can't climb stairs to get to Kakariko village, but Hyrule Castle's busted drawbridge is a particularly weak case since Epona can jump over a canyon elsewhere.
• Interchangeable Antimatter Keys: A standard for the series; the 'small keys' do this, though there's sometimes one-off puzzles requiring more specific keys.
• Interspecies Romance: Link and Ruto. It's confirmed in the sequel that Zora lay eggs.
• Invulnerable Horses: Because no hit-detection or collision-detection was scripted into the game, Link is completely invincible while on the back of Epona. Some may consider it appropriate, considering his trusty steed is named after a Celtic goddess.
  • Ascended in Four Swords Adventures where grabbing a carrot made a horse appear under the Links, and the game says the respective player is invincible.
• Irony: Every Goron locked up in the Fire Temple has a chest containing a key in their cell.^note Too bad for them these particular cells can only be opened by switches on the outside.
• Item Get!: The most famous version is born in this game, to the point where it's reached levels of Memetic Mutation. It's even lampshaded with Ruto who obtains the Sapphire and performs the pose while the game questions why Ruto of all people got the stone.
• 'Jaws' First-Person Perspective: Used with Morpha, the boss of the Water Temple. Played with a bit, since the boss actually is the water.
• Jerkass: Mido. His walk seems designed to say 'I have a stick up my ass', at least until you meet him in the future, where he seems to regret how mean he was to Link.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Mido has a slight example of this, although his 'point' is not intentional; at the beginning of the game, Mido refuses to let Link see the Great Deku Tree until Link gets a sword and shield. Mido made up that requirement on the spot just to be a thorn in Link's side; however, it turns out there are Deku Babas in the way who attack Link, so Link ended up needing that shield and sword after all! Saria even lampshades this if you speak to her afterwards. Thanks for being a jerk, Mido!
• Joke Item:
  • The Giant's Knife, an optional weapon you can buy as Adult Link in Goron City. It costs 200 rupees, it does as much damage as the Kokiri Sword, you can't spin attack with it or use your shield with it, and it breaks and becomes useless after three hits. You can repair it up to 8 times for 200 rupees apiece, but these only allow one more attack each time. Thankfully, you can replace it with the truly useful Biggoron Sword.
  • Zig-Zagged with the Stone of Agony. It would make the controller rumble when Link was near a hidden treasure chest or grotto. However, the Virtual Console rerelease removes the rumble feature, making the item useless. Even the operations guide says that it's useless in context. Thankfully, its 3DS counterpart, which serves the same purpose, instead chimes and shines on the screen when it reacts.
  • Played straight with empty bottles which you can use to reflect Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf's attacks instead of using your sword.
• Just Friends: Saria. As a sage, she will remain forever out of touch with the corporeal world.
  • Even in the past, where she either hasn't yet, or isn't going to, become a Sage, she admits she had no chance with Link because he's not a Kokiri and was always fated to leave the forest, where she must stay or else she will perish.
• Kick the Dog: This is how Ingo in the Bad Future is able to coerce Malon into doing whatever he wants; either Malon does what Ingo says, or Ingo will 'mistreat the horses!' (probably by refusing to feed them, whipping them, etc.)
• Kid Hero: Link and Zelda, at first. This is actually a deconstruction; while Zelda is very clever and knowledgeable, her plan turns out to be Awesome, but Impractical and actually ends up aiding the villain because she didn't know as much as she thought she did. While 9-year-old Link racks up an impressive kill count, Ganondorf painfully establishes that he's still not strong enough in a Final Boss Preview. The kids thought they could be heroes and save the day, but they were defeated by their inability to acknowledge the gaps in their understanding or their delusions of grandeur. In other words, they didn't have the maturity to be heroes yet. Perfectly understandable kid behavior, but because they were playing with forces they didn't understand, the consequences were severe. Zelda acknowledges all of this after Ganondorf is sealed away, and it might be why the Master Sword insisted on Link growing up before wielding it.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: This is a major point with Link. Not only does he grow up (albeit in some kind of limbo), but he has the ability to go back to his childhood to do things there that he can't do as an adult.
• Kill the Lights: Ganondorf drains all the light out of the room when casting his evil magic. To the viewer, this almost silhouettes Ganondorf in darkness.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: In classic RPG tradition, Hyrule lacks any laws against casually ransacking a stranger's house just because you can. The closest you get is a guy in Impa's house (you never find her there though) who demands to talk to Link's parents if spoken to.
• Lady Land: The Gerudo Fortress. Only one male is born every century, and by tradition, that male must become their king. Only Nabooru saw through it, and that's a sign that she's special.
• Last Villain Stand: After all of Ganondorf's temple bosses are destroyed, his soldiers have all been eliminated, and even his castle is demolished, he flies into a Villainous Breakdown fueled rage and uses the Triforce of Power to transform into Ganon for one last battle with Link.
• Laser Sight: The Hookshot/Longshot is aimed with a red laser-like dot. Upgraded in the remake: the red laser-like dot was changed to a red laser line showing the path of the chain. The dot itself was also changed to indicate if something can be latched onto.
• Last of His Kind
  • Impa, and supposedly Sheik later on, or so you're led to think.
  • Zelda herself is the last of the Royal Hylian Bloodline.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you've played any Super Smash Bros. title from Melee onward, or Hyrule Warriors, there's about a 99.9% chance you know that Sheik is Zelda.
• Lethal Joke Weapon:
  • The Deku Sticks. Sure, they're fragile and require refilling, but they're also stronger than the Kokiri Sword and the strongest of your early weapons(in the Nintendo 64 version, anyway—the 3DS port nerfs them into being a genuine Joke Weapon).
  • A Bottle, of all items, unintentionally became this in the Ganondorf fight due to a design oversight—normally, they have no combat purposes at all, but when you fight Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf himself, the Bottle can actually deflect their attacks back at them. On top of that, the Bottle moves faster and has slightly more range than the Master Sword, effectively making the fight easier than if you used the sword. And unlike the Deku Sticks, this was not changed in the 3DS port.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Just before the second to final battle between Link and Ganondorf.
  • And again after Link gets the Master Sword back in the final phase.
• Light and Mirrors Puzzle: Many of the puzzles in the Spirit Temple.
• Light Is Good:
  • One of the Sages, Rauru, is the Sage of Light and works with Link and the rest of the Sages to help defeat Ganondorf.
  • The only arrow upgrade that Link has to receive (from Zelda herself) is the Light Arrow, and the player has to use it against the battle against Ganondorf.
• Limited Wardrobe: Everyone is still wearing the same clothes after seven years, meaning either Hyrule is an extremely smelly place to live, or there are a lot of nudist wash days going on behind the scenes.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Ganondorf invokes this after you defeat him, using the last of his strength to collapse the castle around you. Of course, he then turns out to be Not Quite Dead...

• MacGuffin Delivery Service: Ganondorf is seeking the three Spiritual Stones which unlock the way to the Triforce. Link obligingly collects them, opens up the door, and leaves it wide open for Ganondorf to swoop in and grab all the power he ever wanted. It's been joked that the easiest way to win the game is to get the first Spiritual Stone, save, turn off your console and never play again.
• Made of Incendium: The Keese are extremely flammable. In fact, they'll often deliberately light themselves on fire to do more damage to the player!
• Magic Missile Storm: Ganondorf does this as a Desperation Attack. It's basically the same attack as usual, just five at once in a wide spread and homing in on Link. As the missiles are the same as usual, you can just reflect all five back if you do it right. If you're feeling bold, charge up a Spin Attack and release it when he launches it. Otherwise, use this chance for a free Light Arrow shot.
• Magic Music: The two ocarinas, which allow Link to perform a variety of spells and effects. The titular Ocarina of Time in particular is one of the keys to open the Door of Time leading to the Master Sword.
• Malevolent Architecture
  • There is a trap that looks like a door and will fall down to damage Link if he either tries to open it or hits it with a weapon. You can use the latter effect to reveal these while keeping Link out of harm's way.
  • Because of how two elevators in Dodongo's Cavern work, you could mis-time your jump and wind up in a pit of lava that hurts Link as he stands on it. Newcomers will often die to this.
  • Jabu-Jabu has some strange red... nerve... things... that start wiggling about when Link approaches, and don't stop until he leaves. You need the Boomerang to stun them and make them platforms, but if you hit it with another weapon, or otherwise touch it yourself... well...
    • Also in Jabu-Jabu, there are the differently-colored 'slimy things' connected to Barinade's Parasitic Tentacles that will zap Link silly if he touches them and even emit electricity if a ranged weapon hits them without zapping Link. They don't move or actively attack Link, but trying to push past them WILL hurt. A lot. So go hunt down those Parasitic Tentacles if you want to remove them.
• Mini-Boss: All dungeons except the first one (two in the case of the Forest Temple, namely Stalfos and Meg), and some of them (the Lizafos in Dodongo's Cavern, the Stalfos in the Forest Temple, who are first fought as a duo and then a sequential trio, the Flare Dancer in the Fire Temple) are fought twice (in the case of Iron Knuckles in the Spirit Temple, three times; Deadhand is fought in both the well and the Shadow Temple, and you have to contend with four Gerudo guards with double swords in the Thieves' Hideout, which, besides them and wandering guards that need to be avoided, are the only enemies in the building). Notably, the Water Temple has Dark Link (formerly the Final Boss of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link), and Ganon's Tower has three pairs of prior mini-bosses (the Dinafols, who you will be meeting for the first time if you didn't enter the Gerudo Training Grounds, the Stalfos, and the Iron Knuckles, who thankfully can be woken up one at a time) before reaching Ganondorf, and an additional mini-boss pair of Stalfos for your escape after defeating Ganondorf.
• Mini-Dungeon:
  • Ice Cavern is necessary as Link earns there the Iron Boots, which are required for tackling the Water Temple.
  • In the Bottom of the Well, the Lens of Truth lies within, and is necessary for navigating the Shadow Temple and reaching the Spirit Temple ^note .
  • To a lesser extent, there's the Thieves' Hideout, inside which the young hero has to rescue the four carpenters before he can proceed into the desert.
• Mirror Monster: Dark Link is Link's reflection that was brought to life through an enchantment Ganondorf cast on a room in the Water Temple. Also an example of Mirror Boss, since its swordplay is based on Link's.
• Mood Whiplash: Full of it:
  • Walking through the cheery castle town and either (a) finding the poor dying guard left to tell you what was going on or (b) going to the future where it's been razed to the ground by Ganondorf's evil.
  • Learning a rather unpleasant fact about your previously-harmless home village during the Biggoron's Sword quest. Specifically, that every non-Kokiri who gets lost in the woods becomes a Stalfos. You know, those things you've been killing without a second thought? And, oh, hey, Link isn't a Kokiri either! Which does seem to imply that fairies are what protect people. So what would happen if a Kokiri and their fairy were separated? It's implied that they become Skull Kids, just like the human kids who wander into the forest without their parents or a fairy.
  • Go strolling through the completely happy and normal Kakariko Village and into the graveyard, which is fairly harmless as well (it even has a cute child playing in it in the daytime). Then fall down a tomb when you visit at night and meet your first ReDead(s).^note
  • When you first go out into the sunny, wide-open, and peaceful-looking Hyrule Field, you find that when the sun sets, creatures come out of the ground and start attacking you. And they are simply the more famous example. The 'daytime' enemies, the peahats are only slightly better in that they likely won't be seen if you just run straight for the major residential areas. Encounter one and the music becomes more frantic as it chases you to the ends of the field or till sundown.
  • In addition, when you first leave Kokiri Forest and are awestruck by the wide open world, the first thing you are likely to investigate is the pretty giant flower immediately outside the forest. Soon after you spend about a minute running and screaming from whirling blades of death.
  • The triumphant obtainment of the Master Sword...followed by dire consequences.
• Money for Nothing: Rupees are easily and rapidly obtained from the surrounding environment, whether from breaking pots, killing enemies, or occasionally even finding them in treasure chests. The same goes for every form of ammunition except the seldom-used Bombchus. Combine this with the fact that nearly every piece of equipment in the game can be obtained for free, and money becomes very nearly useless. Even if you're going for 100% Completion, the only other places where you need to spend money are a handful of minigames. Money can still be useful if you want to buy potions, which you can't get any other way, or if you manage to use up all of the Bombchus you get from treasure chests.
• Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: Ganon's Castle is built up on top of Hyrule Castle.
• Mook Bouncer: The Wallmasters are back in spades, and this time, they're at their scariest yet. Their grounded cousins, the Floormasters, avert this (but only once. In future games, they pull this trope off as well).
• Motion Capture: Some of Link's moves were mo-capped from live actors performing his stunts.
• Ms. Fanservice: The Great Fairies. All of them wear no clothes and instead have vines covering their bodies.
• Mundane Made Awesome: 'Saria's Song' is an upbeat little tune. Darunia, the Goron leader, reacts to it like someone just dropped a rock concert on his head.
• Murder Water: The boss of the Water Temple.
• Musical Nod:
  • While the original Zelda theme is largely absent from the Nintendo 64 version of the game (but reinstated for the credits of the 3DS port) the Hyrule Field theme includes seven notes from the iconic song.
  • Kakariko Village reuses the same theme for it from A Link To The Past. Ganondorf's theme is also a remix of Agahnim's theme from the same game.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The Gerudo only follow Ganondorf because he is a male Gerudo, which is only born once every century, and by their law, he was crowned their king.
• Nature Spirit: The Deku Tree is both a sapient tree and the guardian of the forest. His blessing gives the Kokiri their immortality and eternal youth, while keeping monsters out. It counts as Five-Second Foreshadowing that the Deku Babas near him are USUALLY the first enemies Link faces. You can fight Mad Scrubs and a Wolfos in the Sacred Forest Meadow if you know the route, though why would you go there so early in the game?
• Never Grew Up: Saria and the rest of the Kokiri.
• Never Land: The Kokiri Forest area. The Kokiri who live there never age past their childhood.
• New Game+: In the 3DS remake, completing the game unlocks the Master Quest mode.
• Nice Day, Deadly Night: Being caught outside of Hyrule Town at night as young Link will cause the drawbridge to be raised (preventing you from entering) and cause 'Stalchildren' to rise from the ground and attack if you step off the path. They aren't particularly strong (and have Super Drowning Skills), but they constantly keep coming until dawn (and every 12th one will be progressively larger).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: After you unseal the Temple of Time and grab the Master Sword, Ganondorf shows up to claim the Triforce ahead of you, thanking you for doing all the heavy lifting for him. Oops. Zelda laments this as well: She didn't expect the Master Sword to suddenly spirit Link away seven years into the future while Ganondorf conquers all of Hyrule in the meantime. In fact, you opening the door was literally the only way Ganondorf could have ever gotten his hands on the Triforce, though Zelda did not know that at the time.
  • And then does it again by sending Link back to his childhood. Though this leads into theChildTimeline, it causes there to not be a Hero to oppose Ganondorf when he does break out as promised, leading to the backstory of The Wind Waker.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: As painful as it is to say it, but thanks for being a prick and not letting us see the Great Deku Tree without a sword and shield, Mido! While Mido was doing it just to be a pest to Link and bar his way like a schoolyard bully, the sword and shield do turn out to be necessary both to kill the Deku Babas on the way to the Great Deku Tree, as well as the plethora of enemies inside it.
• Nintendo Hard: As explained before, the remake adds the Boss Rush mode. The Master Quest version does away with recovery items between bosses. Made even worse when you're only given three hearts to fight all bosses who can potentially kill you with one hit due to double damage. Yes, the game is forcing you to do a Minimalist Run.
  • Master Quest in general, which redesigns the dungeons to produce trickier puzzles and more confusing layouts (with the major exception of the Water Temple, which was made easier).
• No Fair Cheating:
  • Using a teleport song while delivering a time-sensitive item as part of the Biggoron Sword quest will reduce the timer to 1 second upon arriving at your destination, causing it to immediately spoil. Likewise, if you use a teleport song during the Running Man contest, the timer will skip ahead to several seconds before the time you're supposed to beat.
  • For Dampé's game and the Fire Arrows, you have to manually wait for the time of day to change.
• No Flow in CGI: The designers at least have Zelda's dresses warp a little to show some animation. Ganondorf's cape also animates quite well during the fight against him. When he's beaten, though, it moves straight through his body as he collapses. Played Straight with Link's hat, which is stuck in the same downward arc no matter how he positions his head, which is noticeable as all games following Majora's Mask made sure to have it very fluidly animated (issues with clipping into his shield not withstanding).
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: Even though she's a fish humanoid, Princess Ruto obviously has breasts, which was Bowdlerized in the 3DS version by giving her an Organic Bra.
• No OSHA Compliance: It's no wonder the Sheikahs aren't around anymore if their idea of a good place to build a settlement is the base of an active volcano and then keep it there on top of a reasonable facsimile of hell.
• Novelization: The strategy guide was sort of written as one of these. There was also a more straight-up novelization.
• Oblivious Adoption: Link isn't a Kokiri. He's the son of a Hylian woman who gave Link to the Deku Tree so he watched over him until the time for his heroic adventures came. It takes half the game for him (and the player) to find out.
• Obviously Evil: Ganondorf, and Ingo after the Time Skip, are quite evil-looking, and they do turn out to be bad. Subverted in Ingo's case, as he strangely goes back to good without explanation after Link escapes from the ranch.
  • Akira Himekawa played Ingo's case, see Brainwashed and Crazy above.
• Oh, Crap!: The moments right before the final boss battle. You watch Ganondorf die, you escape the tower and watch it collapse on him. As Link and Zelda are celebrating, they hear a noise, and Link goes to check it out. Suddenly, the pile of rubble explodes, and Ganondorf flies out of it. He flashes his Triforce, and then transforms. Then he knocks the Master Sword, the only weapon that can kill him, out of Link's hands and outside a wall of fire. Of course, it helps that this is one of the few times over the course of the game that Link's facial expression changes.
• Ominous Floating Castle: Ganon's Castle, hovering above a pit of lava where Hyrule Castle used to be.
  • Some Foreshadowing that Ganondorf's not dead yet? The Flying Island the castle is on is still afloat.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: When you confront Ganondorf in his chamber, he's playing one.
  • Left the Background Music On: And it's the BGM for the inner keep area.
• One-Winged Angel: Ganondorf's transformation to Ganon for the final battle, as well as Koume and Kotake's transformation into Twinrova in the second half of their boss battle.
• Only the Chosen May Ride: Epona is described by Ingo as being a 'wild horse'. The only ones she seems to be friendly with are Malon, who raised her; and Link, the only other to know her song, having learned it from Malon, who learned it from her mother, who composed it.
• Only Good People May Pass: The entrance to the Sacred Realm (also known as the Golden Land) where the Triforce dwells is hidden and requires four sacred objects (the Kokiri Emerald, Goron Ruby, Zora Sapphire and Ocarina of Time) that are each protected by the various nations that populate Hyrule. Only possessing all four and then playing the Song of Time in the Temple of Time will reveal the hidden entrance, but this is technically possible if the items are stolen through nefarious means. The final test, however, is pulling out the Master Sword, which can't be touched by someone evil. Unfortunately, there's nothing stopping someone evil from waiting for a good person to do all that, and then step inside and enter the Sacred Realm themselves.
• Organic Bra: Princess Ruto in the 3DS version, even in her youth.
• Overly Long Gag: King Zora moving aside. 'Wib.' <shuffle> 'Wib.' <shuffle> 'Wib.'
• Parental Abandonment: Link is an orphan raised as a Kokiri.
• Pause Abuse: You can use a variant of this when racing the ghost of Dampe. Since his tomb is one of the few locations that warp songs won't work in, you can abuse the error message playing one generates. You are free to move during the textbox, and it won't deduct time from the countdown.
• Permanently Missable Content: If you do not obtain the Deku Nuts and Deku Sticks upgrade from the Forest Stage before getting the Poacher's Saw in the Nintendo 64 version, due to a glitch, you will not be able to obtain them later, preventing 100% completion. This is fixed in the Nintendo 3DS version.
• Pimped-Out Dress: The first canonical appearance of Zelda's iconic dress.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Drop a tiny beetle on a patch of soil, and it will forcibly evict the Skulltula that was previously there.
• Pivotal Wake-up: With one exception, the Gibdos in the Bottom Of The Well are sleeping in coffins when Link comes in. None of them need to be defeated, though, as the key can be acquired without waking one up.
• Planet of Copyhats: Ganondorf had been established as a thief in A Link to the Past. This time around, he is revealed to have been part of the Gerudo tribe, who are all thieves.
• Platform Battle: Many of them, including with Ganondorf.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: The seven years Link spends in the Temple of Time.
• Plucky Comic Relief: The Gorons are, on average, probably the most cheerful, friendly race in the game. Which only makes it even more disturbing to see them begging for mercy in the Fire Temple, where they're about to be fed to a dragon, as a 'warning' to those who might oppose Ganondorf.
• Power Floats: After ascending from an Evil Sorcerer to a God-Emperor, Ganondorf gains the ability to levitate, most notably in his Final Boss fight with Link.
• Power-Up Food: Lon Lon Milk, which can be acquired by beating a simple minigame at Lon Lon Ranch. It instantly refills 5 hearts on drinking it, and you can get free refills of it any time you return, and you can take two drinks of it per bottle, even back to back, for a total of 10 hearts per bottle.
• Prequel: Set before A Link to the Past's Imprisoning War...so to speak. See Alternate Timeline above.
• Primordial Chaos: 'Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule...'.
• Prison Episode: The first time you get to Gerudo Fortress as an adult, the Gerudos arrest you and a prison break stage begins. You have to rescue a bunch of carpenters that were also locked in — but to do so, first you must defeat the same number of Gerudo fighters. It's worth noting that you keep all your inventory in this stage, and that as soon as a Gerudo sees you, you'll be locked in again.
• Purple Prose: Sheik's dialog.
• Puzzle Boss: Bongo Bongo. This guy has you shoot his hands to make his eye vulnerable, while the latter remains invisible and will ram you. Combining the Lens of Truth to see him when invisible and the Hover Boots to combat the constant bouncing is the key to taking him down. Though, experienced players don't even NEED the Lens Of Truth to know where his eye is.

• Reality Warping: The titular Ocarina of Time lets you manipulate time and weather, teleport, etc.
• Retcon: Prior to Ocarina of Time, it was firmly established in the backstory of A Link to the Past that although the people of Hyrule looked for a hero to wield the Master Sword to fight Ganon during the Imprisoning War, no such figure ever emerged. Ocarina of Time is based on that backstory but introduces a predecessor Link who did wield the Master Sword and fought Ganon. Consequently, future retellings of the Imprisoning War staring with Hyrule Historia mention that the Master Sword was wielded by the Hero of Time in a duel against Ganondorf (it's just that the hero lost the battle).
• Rewarding Vandalism: In Hyrule, money literally grows on trees. And under bushes. And, um, inside pottery and rocks. They have yet to perfect a method of getting into any of these without destroying them in the process. According to The Minish Cap, the Minish put them there.
• Roar Before Beating: The newly-transformed Ganon as he swings his twin blades around. He even lets one out after Navi says she's not gonna be held back again.
• Royal Blood: Princess Zelda, the Seventh Sage.
• Sailor Fuku: Malon's dress has a similar cut, but obviously isn't a school uniform.
• Same Content, Different Rating: The original N64 version was rated E for Everyone, and so were the ports directly based on this version (GCN and Wii). The 3DS remake is rated E10+, but most of the content is intact (and some is even softened, such as the removal of blood in some parts and Princess Ruto having an Organic Bra).
• Samus Is a Girl: The official 1998 Player's Guide talks about Sheik as a male, and having Sheik turn out to be Zelda was a HUGE plot reveal at the time.
• Scenery Gorn: The Bottom of the Well, Shadow Temple, and Castle Town post-Time Skip.
• Scenery Porn: The entire game has lovely scenery. Taken up a few levels in the remake.
• Scrolling Text: One of the game's major drawbacks; the speed of scrolling text is vexingly slow, coming up one letter at a time. There is no real way to speed it up; sometimes you can skip whole speechis (and completely miss what's said) by hitting the B button, but usually only if you have already spoken to the person in question, and sometimes not even then, and sometimes there is no way at all to skip the long-winded speeches.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Ganondorf's ultimate fate. Also, Bongo Bongo until Link clears the Water Temple.
• Sealed Good in a Can: What happened when young Link pulled the Master Sword out of its pedestal: He isThe Chosen One, but because he was too young to wield the sword properly, his spirit was sealed up until he was old enough, which took seven years. To the player, this is nothing more than a Time Skip (and Time Travel), but for the rest of the world... just see The Slow Path below.
• Self-Deprecation: In Desert Colossus, close to the Spirit Temple's entrance, a Gossip Stone alludes to the Ice Arrows and how they aren't a worthy reward for beating the Bonus Dungeon they're found in, since they don't actually serve much practical use.
  Gossip Stone: They say that the treasure you can earn in the Gerudo's Training Ground is not as great as you would expect, given its difficulty.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: Ocarina of Time is almost as popular for this as Super Mario 64, to the extent that there are several different types of speedrunning challenges for the game:
  • The first is the Vanilla Run, which is simply completing the game as fast as possible.
  • The second type is the Glitch Run, which requires exploiting glitches that allow insane amounts of Sequence Breaking in the game, such as skipping the child portion of the Spirit Temple early, skipping the Forest, Fire, and Water Temples entirely (save for acquiring the Fairy's Bow from the Forest Temple), only completing the Shadow and Spirit Temples, and skipping the trials in Ganon's Castle; or skipping every adult dungeon by using the 'reverse bottle adventure' glitch.
  • The third is the Mask and Skulltula Run. The goal is collecting all 100 Gold Skulltulas and the Mask of Truth in the fastest possible time.
  • The fourth is the 100% Completion run, which means grabbing every heart piece and finding the double heart fairy, getting every weapon and their upgrades, all four bottles, all 100 Gold Skulltulas, and learning all of the Ocarina songs, including the Scarecrow Song. Notably, the name of this run is somewhat misleading—unlike a true 100% run, you can skip a few things in it to save time (i.e. Farore's Wind, Nayru's Love, Dungeon Maps, Compasses, Masks, Biggoron's Sword and any requirement for Magic Beans).
  • And there are several different kinds of Minimalist Runs you can attempt, such as the Three-Heart Run.
• Self-Inflicted Hell: You can go the whole game without figuring this out, but talk to one Goron in particular about the starvation threat the Gorons face early in the game. According to what he says, the Gorons can eat other rocks and meet their dietary needs, they're just so used to the ones inside Dodongo's Cavern that they won't. Considering the fact that the Gorons live in a cave carved into rock, on a mountain, this is akin to 'starving' to death in a pantry because you're used to fine dining.
• Sequence Breaking: To the point that you could finish the game without going to any dungeon or temple if skilled enough... in less than 25 minutes.
  • 'Normal' sequence breaking includes finishing (not going to) Lord Jabu-Jabu before Dodongo's Cavern, doing the Fire Temple before the Forest Temple, doing the Water Temple before the Fire Temple, doing the Spirit Temple before the Shadow Temple, and completely skipping the Bottom of the Well. It's also possible to save all four carpenters and get the Gerudo Token before even setting foot inside any of the temples.
  • There are so many possibilities for sequence breaking in this game that speedrunners master different 'categories', such as complete (all 3 stones) Young Link runs, Any% runs where only getting to the ending matters, 100% runs where a player must complete everything, the list goes on. There's even bingo card generators with a series of objectives competing runners must complete.
  • To give an idea of the possibilities that people keep finding about, a speedrunner without any assistance beat the time of an early TAS of the game. By several hours.
  • There are, of course, more modest examples that don't involve speed runs or even severe glitches:
    • The N64 games allowed Link to jump over low fences or obstacles in a realistic fashion using backflips and side jumps, leading to some potentially unexpected situations. Starting with the Nintendo GameCube games, this isn't possible anymore- even low fences have invisible walls preventing Link from vaulting over them.
    • The first time that Link visits Kakariko Village, he can climb up the tower, line up a side jump, and just land on the roof with the man looking up at the sky. This man gives Link a Piece of Heart. What makes this sequence breaking is the fact that the man says 'Nice to see you again...' without having seen Link before.
    • Once Link gains the ability to throw Bomb Flowers, he can go up to the area overlooking Dodongo's Cavern with his back to a corner of the low fence. If he picks up/throws the bomb and quickly backflips before the flower reappears, he will land on top of the cave entrance (admittedly with some Falling Damage), which has another Piece of Heart. You're supposed to get there by planting a Magic Bean, then returning as an adult and riding it to the top of the cavern.
    • There's another Piece of Heart on a ledge in the Kakariko Village windmill that's meant to reached as an adult by going through Dampe's Grave. Child Link can get it with a very precise boomerang throw.
• Sequential Boss:
  • Barinade has three phases, all of which require the Boomerang or you will be fried.
    • The first phase has you severing Barinade from Jabu-Jabu's body with the Boomerang. Simple enough, just keep on the move or those satellite dish emitters will zap you.
    • The second phase has you destroying the special Bari circling Barinade, which can also be done by whaling on Barinade himself. Either way, you first have to stun Barinade with the Boomerang or you might as well be hitting an electrified fence with a key.
    • The third phase has Barinade moving around, but you can still stun him, and yet after 3 hits, Barinade will retreat into the ground, still zapping at you, and stay there a few seconds.
  • Phantom Ganon. In the first phase, he's riding a horse and attacks you with a powerful electric attack that splits upon contact with the floor. After giving him three hits with the arrows or the Hookshot, he'll dismount from the horse and change his pattern, floating in the air and throwing electric spheres that can be deflected back and forth in a Tennis Boss sequence.
  • Then, Twinrova. When you start the battle, they fight separately and attack with long streams of ice/fire magic that does a boatload of damage. Link needs to reflect the magic at the opposite twin with the Mirror Shield. After doing enough damage, a cutscene plays that has them combine into Twinrova, and now you need to absorb the attacks with the shield; get three of the same element in a row and then rush forward to blow it back. Then you can start slashing.
  • Iron Knuckles are a mini-boss example in that each one Turns Red and starts running at Link once at half HP.
• Shall I Repeat That?: The owl Kaepora Gaebora gives Link advice throughout the game, giving Link the option to have him repeat himself afterwards. That's all well and good, though — wait, what do you mean that the default is 'Yes, I do want to hear that again' and 'No, I don't understand'? It is very easy to rush through his text and make him repeat himself over and over and over again, especially when you consider how slow the text scrolls unless you mash the A button (Or skip it with the B button).
  Kaepora Gaebora: Did you get all that?
  No ←
  Yes
  Kaepora Gaebora: Do you want to hear what I said again?
  Yes ←
  No
  • Thankfully, he gets better in Four Swords Adventures, where this doesn't even come into play as badly. His optional words of wisdom are so optional that you have to call him to get him to talk. Otherwise, you don't have to be in talking range to trigger his mandatory lines.
• She Is All Grown Up :
  • Link goes from Adorably Precocious Child to hot Bishōnen over the course of seven years, much to Nabooru's delight.
  • Malon, Zelda, and Ruto also grow from precious children into gorgeous adults after the seven years.
• Shielded Core Boss: Barinade is a bio-electric tumor that wants to kill you, but killing it first requires ridding it of the protective jellyfish that've attached themselves to it. It's the boss of Jabu-Jabu's Belly, the third and final Spiritual Stone dungeon.
• Shifting Sand Land: The Haunted Wasteland, and the Desert Colossus after it. The former has a sandstorm that makes the environment more difficult to look at, as well as quicksand. The latter is more stable terrain-wise, but also overrun by Leevers.
• Short-Distance Phone Call: Averted; if you use Saria's Song right next to Saria herself, she'll comment on it and wonder why you use it, since she's right there.
• Shout-Out:
  • The four Poe Sisters are named Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth.
  • In the German translation, the four carpenters (Ichiro, Jiro, Sabooro and Shiro) are called John, Paul, George and Ringo.
  • Also in the German translation, Ingo is referred to as Basil, though the Manual still calls him Ingo.
  • Also there are five Mario references: outside Link's house is a drawing of a knight fighting Bowser with a mushroom dropping from above him, Malon and Talon have Bowser head brooches and there are pictures of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Yoshi in the Castle Courtyard. Not to mention Sharp and Flat, Poe versions of Mario and Luigi who appear if you examine the graves on either side of the Royal Family's Tomb. Then there's Talon andIngo themselves...
    The remake does away with the paintings in the Courtyard, but looking through the window does show what looks like a level from New Super Mario Bros..
  • The Kokiri race has various allusions to Peter Pan, such as them being accompanied by fairies, their child-like image and playfulness, and the fact that they can't grow up. Also, Miyamoto has stated that Navi has a crush on Link and is jealous of Zelda, an allusion of Tinkerbell being in love with the eponymous main character and being jealous of Wendy (coincidentially, this kind of relationship was also in the Western animated series).
  • The BGM in the Forest Temple includes the leitmotif for the titular alien from Predator.
• Sigil Spam: The Triforce symbol is on almost everything, and the Gerudo symbol is on every block and switch in the game. And there are many blocks with the Door Of Time's design on it, and guess how you deal with those?
  • How ridiculous is the Triforce symbol spam? The 3DS version had the Triforce show up on the effing MOON of all things!
• Signpost Tutorial: The game contains a number of literal signposts in a maze near the cave that leads to the Kokiri Sword. These cover basic jumping and attack maneuvers. You can ignore them if you want to (and most people do, as unlike some tutorials, the game doesn't say You Shouldn't Know This Already if you use them) and still be able to do everything.
• The Slow Path: While you time travel, everyone else has to live through all seven years of Ganondorf's rule.
• Songs in the Key of Lock: Just as when its predecessors in the franchise often removed something barring your progress (except in A Link to the Past), Link's ocarina can be used for the same purpose. Zelda's Lullaby will trigger mechanisms if Link stands on 'the Crest of the Royal Family' aka the Triforce; the Song Of Time removes and summons blocks with the Door Of Time's design on it, starting with the Door Of Time itself; and the Song Of Storms opens up the Bottom Of The Well.
• Source Music: That organ playing in the background in Ganon's Castle? Ganondorf himself is playing it. It even stops when he does!
• Spoiler Opening: The artwork on the side of the box reveals adult Zelda. Likewise, the title screen and most official art shows Adult Link doing things. The one twist that is preserved is HOW this is brought about.
• Sprite/Polygon Mix: Outside, sprites are used for effects and some flat-but-detailed objects. Most building interiors have 3D characters and objects, but a totally 2D background with fake perspective which hides parts of Link to allow him to walk 'behind' objects. Averted completely in the remake, where all backdrops are polygonal models due the more powerful hardware on the 3DS and to it being obviously fake when viewed with stereoscopic vision.
• Stable Time Loop: In the future, Link meets an irritated musician who accidentally teaches him a song a young boy played in his windmill seven years ago by recollecting it. Of course, it's then your mission to go back and play it to him so he can later teach it to you in the future.
  • Master Quest has an inversion: In the Spirit Temple, you create a chest as Adult Link then go back in time where it's somehow still there. Note that it wasn't there the first time you visited the temple.
• Standard Hero Reward: For defeating Barinade, Ruto basically proposes to you. Of course, you're both kids at the time, so it doesn't quite turn out that way. That said, Ruto still takes the proposal, and Link's alleged acceptance, seriously seven years later.
• Start of Darkness: This was the first game in the series to explore Ganon's origins and introduced Ganondorf, who would become Ganon when he took the Triforce of Power.
• Stay on the Path: At night, if Young Link leaves the path while travelling through Hyrule Field, he will be attacked by Stalchildren. Oddly enough, when Link awakens after seven years, no Stalchildren will appear; instead, Poes appear.

• Stealth-Based Mission: Getting past the guards at Hyrule Castle. Also, rescuing the carpenters from the Gerudo's Fortress. And, to a lesser extent, the maze to get to the Forest Temple, in that getting caught doesn't lead to a Stupid Surrender.
• The Stinger: Young Link once again finds Zelda at the exact moment that she's spying on Ganondorf's meeting with her father. She turns to face him, followed by a Fade to Gray. ^note
• The Story That Never Was: Zelda resets the timeline to just before Link met her and she sent him off to try to stop Ganondorf on his own. They realize that Ganondorf would've never have risen to power if they had simply turned him over to the proper authorities instead of unlocking the Sacred Realm, which gave him the opportunity to steal the Triforce. However, in doing so she actually failed to fully erase everything and created at least two timelines - one where Link simply vanished from existence after defeating Ganon as an adult (The setting of Wind Waker and its sequels), and one where he exposed the conspiracy as a child. (The setting of Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures) Word of God is that despite being able to live out his childhood, Link retained memories of the events of the plot and lived an unfulfilled life because he never got to be the Hero of Time.
• Stupid Surrender: When sneaking through either Hyrule Castle or the Gerudo's Fortress, Link will remain rooted to the spot if a guard sees him, rather than letting you run away or use any of your numerous weapons. This makes no sense at Gerudo's Fortress, since the guards can be knocked out with a single arrow, and there are times when Link actually has to fight some of them, so why he throws up his hands and surrenders goes unexplained.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Sheik is Zelda.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Master Sword, again. It is presented to you just as you unveil what you think is going to be the Sacred Realm, and pulling it out....causes your plan to fail, Ganon's to win, evil to reign for seven years, and you to fall asleep for the whole thing.
• Symbolic Blood: After you defeat Ganondorf he falls to the ground, his red cape unfolding around him in a way that makes it look like blood is flowing out of him.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: Koume and Kotake, as well as their combined form, Twinrova. If the sisters never passed by each other during the fight (allowing them to be hit by their counterpart's attack), they'd be invincible. Meanwhile, Twinrova doesn't mind hitting you with spells your Mirror Shield can absorb and throw back at her, making her vulnerable.
  • Ganondorf uses a Desperation Attack that leaves him open to a free Light Arrow shot if you're just getting good, or speed-running.
• Temporal Paradox: You learn the Song of Storms from the man inside the windmill, who tells you that 7 years ago, some kid played the song and screwed things up. You warp back 7 years and play the song, letting the guy learn it when you do so. At no time is a legitimate origin of the song established.
  • However, the same song turning up in Majora's Mask may provide some degree of closure.
• Tennis Boss: Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf, to the extent that this trope is sometimes referred to as 'Ganonball'. At least as far as the franchise is concerned, the OoT version is the Trope Codifier.
• Tentacle Rope: The Water Temple boss, Morpha, can grab Link and swing him around before throwing him against the wall. This is even shown in Morpha's official art, except Link doesn't lose his weapon.
• Theme Naming:
  • The four kidnapped carpenters are named after Japanese numbers: Ichiro (Ichi, 1), Jiro (Ni/Ji, 2), Sabooro (San, 3), Shiro (Shi, 4).
  • The Poe Sisters in the Forest Temple are named after the sisters from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
• This Cannot Be!: See Villainous Breakdown.
  Ganondorf: The Great Evil King Ganondorf... beaten by this kid?!
• This Is the Final Battle: Spoken by Navi.
• Time Travel: Putting the Master Sword back in its pedestal allow Link to travel back in time, which is needed both story-wise and gameplay-wise.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: The Master Sword allows you to travel back in time. Sometimes you actually can change the past from the future (such as Heart Pieces and other collectibles), other times you can't. One plot event depends on creating a Stable Time Loop. Eiji Aonuma confirms that the time travel at the end of the game created a split in the timeline explicitly because Link used Back To The Future-based time travel; one timeline where Link returned to the past (and arrested Ganondorf, altering a fixed event), one timeline where Link disappeared to the first timeline (thereby altering only flux events), and one timeline where he disappeared from past and present (a logical interim timeline between existing in the present and then using time travel to exist in the past). These three timelines have their own sequels.
• Tree Trunk Tour: The first dungeon in the game, Inside the Great Deku Tree.
• Tsundere: Ruto. Decidedly tsun-tsun type. She acts harshly towards Link at the start of the game, but her feelings gradually become more affectionate, culminating in a marriage proposal.
• Turns Red: You know Ganondorf is about to go down when they foolishly lower their guard to use an attack that is guaranteed to score a hit on newcomers. Pros and speed-runners take advantage of the opportunity for a free hit. Master players charge up a Spin Attack and time the release to when he unleashes his attack.
  • Iron Knuckles, as detailed under Sequential Boss, lose the heavy parts of their armor and start running at Link when they're at about half HP.

Buy Legend Of Zelda Ocarina

• Ultimate Blacksmith: Biggoron. His little brother is the penultimate blacksmith, too.
• Unbreakable Weapons: All swords except the Giant's Knife, and all items except the Deku Stick.
• Underground Monkey: Many enemies come in assorted colours, sometimes indicating vulnerability to elemental attacks, others just to indicate they're not the same enemy.
• Unending End Card: The game leaves you hanging after the final cutscene with a still image of young Link warning Princess Zelda about Ganon.
• Unholy Ground: The Shadow Temple. Monsters like Redeads, Gibdos and Stalfos roam its halls and the temple itself is a gathering place for Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend:
  • Saria, who apparently has her ownUnlucky Childhood Friend in Mido.
  • Navi counts too since you've known her since the beginning of your journey and the developers have said that she has feelings for Link.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: Link's 'attack' default move is a short forward roll. It can break crates, knock stuff out of trees, and give you some extra distance in jumping, but that's about it. The only combat purpose it is good for is rolling under Ganon's legs. It gets you in position to attack his tail without shooting him in the face or taking time to circle around.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: This may exist between Link and Zelda during the end of the game.
• Unwinnable Joke Game: The infamous Marathon Man challenge. Don't listen to any fans claiming to have done it or have found some way to do so, or even people who have cheated and beaten it with 0:00 on the time or less, the Marathon Man will always beat you to the Kokiri Forest bridge—even the developers have confirmed that he cannot be beaten. They claim the reason for it was because they couldn't figure out a good reward to give the player for winning it, so they rigged it into a harmless, optional joke challenge instead.
• Unwitting Pawn: By getting all of the Spiritual Stones and taking the Master Sword, Link allows Ganondorf's plans to come to fruition.
• Updated Re-release: A version of the game that was packaged with certain copies of The Wind Waker, and in other regions was a preorder bonus, featured 'Master Quest', which is similar to vanilla Ocarina of Time but reorganizes puzzles inside the dungeons, making them more difficult. This mode was later included in the 3DS remake with a few additional changes.

• Variable Mix: In Hyrule Field, the music is made up of 21 different segments that are about 15 seconds long and shift around depending on whether Link is standing still, moving, or near an enemy. According to the developers, the Variable Mix program for the music was quite intensive on the N64's hardware.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: After the Sages you spent most the game bringing together make that light bridge leading to Ganon's castle, it's pretty obvious the plot ends here.
• Video Game 3D Leap: This is the first 3D Zelda game in the series, and uses the graphic engine that brought Super Mario 64 to life.

• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • The Cuccos, of course. This time around, you can laugh at Video Game Cruelty Punishment in one location by trampling over them in Lon Lon Ranch with Epona and watching the entire flock chase after you from horseback — they can't actually harm you as long as you're on your horse.
  • The Poes. Link can move a grave, disturbing the soul's rest; he can then defeat it and trap it in a jar. From there he can either sell off the soul, or consume it to (have a chance to) revitalize himself.
  • The Skulltula family can be attacked from behind just like any other Skulltula, which makes them cry out in pain and be stunned for a bit. Of course, if you get close to them after they're stunned, they'll attack in retaliation.
  • Inverted with Epona. You have a limited amount of times you can slap her to make her go faster, but Ingo has an unlimited amount during the race.
• Video Game Remake: For the Nintendo 3DS.
• Villainous Badland, Heroic Arcadia: Ganondorf hails from the harsh Gerudo Desert, while Link spent his whole life in the idyllic - albeit somewhat muted — Kokiri forest. Sure enough, when Ganondorf takes over Hyrule, it turns into a wasteland of death. Lampshaded in The Wind Waker: Ganondorf admits that his initial reason for wanting to conquer Hyrule was the the land was green and fertile with winds that brought life while in the desert the wind brought nothing but death.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Ganondorf has one of these after the first round of his final battle with Link. After he's defeated and his castle collapses around him while Link, Zelda, and Navi escape, he bursts out of the rubble in a rage. He then uses the Triforce of Power to change into the feral, dual-sword-wielding, boar-like Ganon. His breakdown continues even after he reverts back to his human form as he angrily vows revenge against Link, Zelda, and the sages as they imprison him in the Sacred Realm.
  • A really weird example happens to Ingo after beating him in a horse race with Epona. First he becomes desperate because Link gets to keep the mare that was originally meant to be a present for Ganondorf, so he locks him up. What happens after Link escapes, anyway? He suddenly becomes nice the next time you enter the ranch. According to Miyamoto, the plan was to have Ingo burn down the ranch in a fit of madness after you beat him, but then someone asked what would happen if you re-entered the ranch, so it was dropped.
• Violation of Common Sense: There's an unusual method to avoiding ReDeads: Equipping the Iron Boots before getting close. Re Deads detect you based on sound, not sight. The Iron Boots are clunky and noisy...to the player. But the Re Deads will ignore you. This is because the game registers the sound of Link's slower walking animation differently from that of his regular walking. As long as you don't pull out or put away a weapon, you'll be completely invisible to them.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Completely inverted at one point: when Ganondorf's human form is defeated, Zelda calls him a 'pitiful man' and remarks that without a kind and righteous heart he could not hope to control the Triforce. She'd have gone on, but then the castle started coming down.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When Ganondorf dies. In the gold-cartridge version, he vomited up red blood, which was bowdlerized to green in subsequent versions.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Barinade. He's the first boss battle to have multiple 'stages' to it, as well as taking far more hits to kill. A player who's familiar with their attack patterns and weaknesses can easily beat Gohma and King Dodongo in about 20 and 40 seconds respectively without taking a single hit, but Barinade will likely take at least a minute-and-a-half or more, with a much higher chance of inflicting damage to the player in the meantime.
• The Walls Are Closing In: There's a room in the Shadow Temple where rickety wooden spike-walls slowly close in on you. (Hint: Smokey The Bear will forgive you THIS time.)
• Warp Whistle: Adult Link learns six songs that teleport him to various places throughout Hyrule. They also double as an Escape Rope in the sense that they will even work when played inside a dungeon (they won't work in boss rooms because the player is barred from using the ocarina at all when in a boss room).
• Weapon Jr.: The child Link gets a slingshot as his first dungeon item. It functions like a weaker version of the bow (which he can only use as an adult), hitting distant enemies and switches.
• Weaponized Offspring:
  • Gohma lays eggs as you fight her which, if not destroyed, hatch into baby spiders.
  • Sleeping Peahats send out a swarm of larvae when attacked at night. During the day, instead of spinning their slicey-dicey propeller leaves at Link, some take off when approached, hovering well out of bow range showering Link with larvae.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: With Princess Ruto in Jabu-Jabu's belly. She chews you out for following her, then for leaving her, and then tricks you into accepting her marriage proposal.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • The King is mentioned in the cutscene where you meet Zelda for the first time and later by Darunia (who refers to him as his 'sworn brother'.) The soldier in the Back Alley tells Link that Ganondorf betrayed the King. He's never mentioned after, not even in the context of what happened to him when Ganon took over. Akira Himekawa decided that Ganondorf killed the King in his coup d'état. Considering that's what Agahnim did in his gig, it's a relatively safe bet.
  • Lord Jabu-Jabu seems to have met some undefined fate in the future.
  • Navi. She just flies away. It's likely she goes to the new Deku Tree's side, since Majora's Mask begins with Link searching for her in the Lost Woods.
  • As Link enters the barren wasteland of the Market, several people Link normally sees seems to have disappeared until the credits.
• Wicked Cultured: Ganondorf. He's playing the organ while awaiting being confronted by Link but aside from that, he has strong knowledge of both the societies and the supernatural phenomena of the in-game world.
• Windmill Scenery: It is hard to miss the Kakariko Village windmill. It is actually a windpump that draws up water from the nighmarish well sitting in front of it. It would've taken a few years to pump out the water barring Link from the Bottom Of The Well, but the Song Of Storms makes it go so fast that it pumps all of it out in a few minutes. Then, once inside, Link drains the rest in order to confront Dead Hand.
• Wise Tree: The Great Deku Tree, guardian of Kokiri Forest and father figure to the Kokiri.
• Womb Level: Jabu-Jabu's Belly, which is a dungeon whose location is inside the titular Jabu-Jabu.
• Wrecked Weapon: Using the Giant's Knife several times will cause the blade to fly off, leaving you with a 200-rupee pocket knife. The real Infinity +1 Sword is unbreakable.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe:
  • The Great Deku Tree speaks like this, probably to signify just how old he is. The ad campaign (linked to in the first page quote) also liberally applied this trope.
  • The trailer shown for the remake at the 2011 E3 (and downloadable to the 3DS) is a remake of the above trailer and thus also uses it.
• You Already Changed the Past: The keeper of the windmill hut says that a kid ruined his hut with the Song Of Storms. He then teaches you the song the kid used, and you go back in time, realize said kid is you, and use the song to wreck his hut... ^note
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The Bombchu Bowling girl. Non-blue hair examples include Saria with green hair and Fado with blonde hair, when all the other Kokiri have reddish-brown hair^note ; and lastly Impa retains her gray hair despite being much younger than her previousappearances. A case could be made for the Gerudo, since flame-red hair on desert folk is an oddity in itself.
• You Have to Burn the Web: Thanks to this game, no one knows that spider webs aren't actually flammable — not even other game developers.
• You Shouldn't Know This Already: Even if you hit the right notes, the special effects associated with a given ocarina song (like the Sun's Song, which changes from day to night) won't activate until you've been officially taught the song by another character. Likewise, although the Scarecrow lets you play him a song as a kid (which becomes the Scarecrow's Song as an adult), it has to be a custom song — if you play a song that you're supposed to learn later (such as the Bolero of Fire), he won't remember it, but only tells you he can't say why. (He also says this to any song that's fewer than eight notes long.)
• Younger Than They Look: When Link turns into an adult, he looks about 20 or 21. However, Miyamoto states that he's only 16. His title of 'Adult' Link didn't really help.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime

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Ocarina of Time is the fifth entry in The Legend of Zelda series, originally released for the Nintendo 64. It is the first 3D game in the series and the first Fifth Generation title, and it set the standard for all the later games in the series, with its then-unheard of style of cinematic presentation and introduction of many mainstay elements of the franchise.

The story follows a young boy named Link, the only member of his forest village without a fairy. Following some prophetic dreams, he is gifted a fairy named Navi by the Great Deku Tree — the guardian of the forest — and asked for his help to remove an evil curse. This is merely the start of an epic journey that takes Link from the sanctuary of his Hidden Elf Village to the magnificent Hyrule Castle and then to all points of Hyrule in a quest to stop the evil thief-king Ganondorf from seizing the power of the omnipotent Triforce.

Unfortunately, things don't go according to plan. Link is sealed away, and when he wakes up seven years later, Hyrule has become a dark and twisted version of its former self. All is not lost though: there exists one final hope in Link, who is now old enough to wield the Master Sword and accept his true destiny as the Hero Of Time. Using his new powers, Link must travel across the broken Hyrule, and across time, to re-assemble the shattered forces of Good for an epic final showdown with the King of Evil.

According to Hyrule Historia, this game takes place fourth in the overall timeline of the series and its events cause a three-way split in time, with each Alternate Timeline branching off from its events. Its immediate chronological sequel starring the same Link is Majora's Mask, which takes place after Link has been sent back in time and is transported to Termina while on a search for Navi.

The game has had numerous rereleases — in particular, Master Quest, a preorder bonus for The Wind Waker which included the original game along with a second version (originally intended for release on the 64DD add-on) with harder dungeons.

The game had a remake produced by Grezzo for the Nintendo 3DS, titled The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, which updated the visuals and controls, but left the story, music^note , world, and even some of the glitches and bugs intact. The Master Quest version of dungeons was also an unlockable in the 3DS remake^note - this time adding extra twists by flipping the entire game world horizontally in the tradition of the Wii version of Twilight Princess, but also doubling the damage Link takes from enemies and obstacles.

Unmarked spoilers ahead.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time provides examples of:

Ocarina Of Time Monsters

• 11th-Hour Superpower: After Link has the Golden Gauntlets from the final dungeon, he can go back outside to find the final Great Fairy, who gives him 'damage reduction.' Or, in simpler terms, doubles his health. Since Ganondorf is balanced for Link not doing this, things don't exactly go well for him.
• Ability Required to Proceed: A staple of all Zelda games, you'll need certain items to advance further in each dungeon. Most notoriously, the Hookshot, without which you cannot even enter the Forest Temple.
• Accidental Proposal: Inverted - when Ruto gave the Zora Sapphire to Link, in the eye of a Zora, his acceptance of it would mean that Link accepts her proposal. However, Link only needs the sapphire to open the inner chamber of the Temple of Time. So Ruto proposed to Link, but he interpreted it in a different way.
  • She still thinks it counts when you meet her in the Water Temple!
    Ruto: This is a request from me, the woman who is going to be your wife!
• Action Girl:
  • Zelda in her Sheik form (though not for combat). She also has hints of this in the final battle, when she uses a spell to freeze Ganon in place and calls the Sages to seal him away.
  • Impa, who apparently taught Zelda (as Sheik) all she knows.
  • The Gerudo race as a whole, as attested by the guards that Link fights when rescuing the carpenters from the Gerudo Fortress, as well as the others' expertise in the training areas.
• Adipose Rex: King Zora, to the extent that moving a few feet away from his throne requires a really long cutscene.
• After Action, Villain Analysis:
  Zelda: Ganondorf, pitiful man. Without a strong, righteous mind, he could not control the power of the gods, and - (is cut off by the castle starting to collapse)
• After Boss Recovery: After fighting each boss, you get a Heart Container. In the remake, all of your health is restored after fighting Ganondorf (as well as before).
• All of the Other Reindeer: Link is the Boy Without A Fairy, and thus teased by all the 'other' Kokiri...in the Backstory, at least. The game begins with Navi bonding to Link. Though most of the Kokiri are happy for him; only Link's rival Mido continues to be a douche about it. In the future, on the other hand, Link is still the odd one out as the only outsider who does have a fairy.
• All There in the Manual: The Kokiri girl with blonde hair is named Fado. Her name was only ever revealed on the old Zelda 64 site.
• Alternate Timeline: As noted above, confirmed with Hyrule Historia. Later games confirm a split in the Zelda universe's timelines, as a result of the Time Travel in this game's ending—one where Young Link returns to his own time and grows up normally, the other where Adult Link disappears (when he returns to his own time as Young Link). The former leads into Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures, while the latter leads into Wind Waker and its sequels. Hyrule Historia also revealed a third timeline, created if Link LOST to Ganondorf in this game, which leads to A Link to the Past, the 'Oracle' games, Link's Awakening, and the two NES games.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Ocarinas existed before this game's release (though they did become more popular afterward, to the point where you can buy ones that look just like Zelda's).
  • The rotating ice floes found by Jabu Jabu's altar in the adult timeline also happen to be an actual and naturally occurring phenomenon.
• Always Close:
  • No matter how much time you have left, Link and Zelda always manage to get out of Ganondorf's castle immediately before it explodes and crumbles into itself.
  • When racing the Running Man, he will always reach the goal one second before you do.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Fado, the blonde Kokiri girl. She has a childish and innocent quality to her, and often relies on Mido. Yet once you reach adulthood she disappears from the forest, with no reference from anyone. You only see her during the Biggoron's Sword quest, where she makes you give her a dead guy's medicine. She then gives you his item, with an eerie statement about people lost in the forest becoming Stalfos, complete with her giggling about it.
• Ambiguously Gay: The four carpenters from Kakariko Village. Made more obvious in the remake. Sabooro outright flirts with Link, calling him a cute kid.
• And I Must Scream: The ultimate fate of Ganondorf in the ending. He's sealed away into the former Sacred Realm (now the Evil Realm thanks to Ganondorf, a man of ultimate evil, being the one to claim the Triforce from it) by the sages, but it's implied he will eventually escape (And in Wind Waker, he does).
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Shields are affordable if a bit pricey, and each tunic requires its own wallet upgrade to actually buy, so they're at least pretty expensive. However, in almost every instance where it's possible to lose your shield and sometimes your tunic, it's possible to find a new one right next to you. If you haven't lost either, you'll know the chest that would've contained one because it will instead house a blue rupee.
  • The Sun Song cuts down the long length of time it takes for day to change to night and vice versa, and it lets you change time without having to go out into an adventure area. Though this can be frustrating as, in time freeze areas, playing the Sun's Song will advance the game clock to either noon or midnight, depending on which time of day you play it at.
  • In the future, getting Epona and learning the warp songs from Sheik considerably cuts down on the amount of backtracking you'll have to do. The songs still work when you're a kid, too.
  • Finding and using Farore's Wind also makes backtracking in the dungeons quicker and easier, especially in the Water Temple.
  • There's also Pierre. Almost anywhere that requires a magic bean sprout to go, can be reached by summoning him instead. He also allows you to bypass the nerve-wracking and frustrating experience with the Moblins in the Sacred Meadow and some hellish backtracking in the Water Temple... provided you visited Bonooru at Lake Hylia to record the notes you want to use immediately after getting the Ocarina Of Time, and went back after arriving in the Future to activate the song.
  • In Ganon's Castle, underneath the bridge you can't reach in the main area, there's a secret room. Inside, there are several fairies in pots, as well as business scrubs that sell you bombs, arrows, shields, etc. just in case you run out and need to get more, so that you don't have to go all the way to Kakariko to buy and stock up.
• Anti Poop-Socking: In the remake, Navi will complain about feeling tired periodically. This becomes silly when she tells you to take a rest as you reach the door to the final boss, after all the Sages have been urging you to hurry.
• Apathetic Citizens: In Kakariko Village, after Bongo Bongo wreaks havoc in the village, no one seems to care that it happened after you came back over there.
• 'Arabian Nights' Days: The Gerudo seem to be very loosely based off of this trope, where the harem girls are thieves. Also, their king, happens to be the main antagonist in the series, and he happens to be skilled with sorcery, as his previousappearances suggest.
• Art Evolution: Compare the original official art of Link, Zelda◊, and Ganondorf with their◊3DS◊counterparts◊.
• Artistic License – Physics: Red Ice and Blue Fire are both magically charged elements that you first encounter in the Ice Cavern. Red Ice is warm and cannot be melted by normal fire. However, Red Ice will melt when exposed to Blue Fire which is cold.
• Ascended Glitch: The 3DS remakes retains (and in some cases, recreates) many of the glitches from the original that weren't Game Breaking Bugs, as a nod to players who felt it made the game fun.
• Astral Checkerboard Decor: The Temple of Time has some checkerboard tiles in the outer parts of the main room. The Forest Temple gives us the falling ceiling room.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Every single boss. Navi usually points it out for you (except for Ganondorf, whose weak point she cannot tell).
• Badass Cape: Ganondorf has a wine-colored cape that adds to his menacing, imposing appearance after he takes over Hyrule (it's also seen when he appears in the great Deku Tree's narration after completing the first dungeon).
• Bad Future: Once Ganondorf takes over, everything in Hyrule gets a lot worse. Hyrule Castle Town is an abandoned ruin with a perpetually dark sky, the castle itself is gone and replaced with Ganon's own dark castle (which is also the Very Definitely Final Dungeon), the Kokiri Forest has been overrun due to the death of the Deku Tree, the Gorons have been captured and face extinction via a dragon, Zora's Domain has been frozen over^note , and Lake Hylia has nearly dried up.
• The Bad Guy Wins: One of the few games in history in which dying invokes a canonical timeline. There is no in-game indication that this is the case, however. Canonically, Link lost the final battle against Ganondorf, but even then, it's not clarified which phase of the battle did him in.
• Ball of Light Transformation:
  • Seen when Link uses the Ocarina to warp to the various temples. The Sages also seem to be able to do this as well.
  • Ganondorf also gets a bit shiny when he transforms into Ganon.
• Banishing Ritual: Since Ganondorf has become effectively immortal so long as he possesses the Triforce of Power, the Sages defeat him by sealing him away inside the Dark Realm after Link has weakened him enough with the Master Sword.
• BFS: The Biggoron Sword. It requires both hands to wield, and, at least in the remake, it's about as long as adult Link is tall. Its also the deadliest weapon in the game.
• Big Bad: Ganondorf, the evil foreign king who seeks to use the mystical Triforce to reshape Hyrule in his own image.
• Bigger on the Inside: Most dungeons have so many floors and rooms so large that they outnumber their external size. In particular, Jabu Jabu's Belly is an entire dungeon made of extremely large intestinal tracts, which you might not expect from looking at Jabu-Jabu's relatively small exterior.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The residents at Lon Lon Ranch: Talon (big), Ingo (thin), and Malon (short). However, this trope does not apply seven years later, when Malon is an adult and as tall as Talon.
• Big 'YES!': Part of Darunia's reaction to 'Saria's Song'. He even dances to it for half a minute!
• Bishōnen: Adult Link is said to look pretty dang good. The Poe Collector says he could run a different sort of business (what he means is not clarified) if he had Link's looks, while Nabooru regrets getting captured and failing to keep her promise in the Past once she sees what Link grows into.
  • And this gets a bit creepy when you save Sabooro, who calls Link a cute kid.
• Bittersweet Ending: You manage to defeat Ganondorf and restore peace to Hyrule, but a lot of people are lost in the future. Ruto, Darunia and Saria become Sages and their friends and loved ones mourn their absence. Zelda says goodbye to Link and sends him back to the past; while this fortunately means that one timeline's Hyrule will be protected from Ganondorf thanks to Link thwarting his plans before he even puts them into place, that timeline has its own bittersweetness: Navi leaves Link once sent back to the Temple of Time; and the Great Deku Tree remains dead. The final scene of the game is Young Link entering Zelda's courtyard and her pleased expression at seeing him.
• Bizarrchitecture: The Forest Temple has some wonderful mind-screwing corridors that can twist 90 degrees. Depending on if the corridors are twisted or not, the gravity in the rooms immediately after can go in two separate directions.
• Bleak Level: Kakariko's Well and the Shadow Temple are really creepy. Seems like they were used in the past to torture or even execute people. The foes there are also nightmarish. It doesn't help that a lot of traps are invisible unless you have the Lens of Truth.
• Blinding Bangs:
  • The beggar that buys bottled fish and bugs.
  • Some of the Kokiri children, particularly the guard at the entrance to Hyrule Field.
• Blob Monster: Morpha plays with this. It's actually a nucleus, but it forms a watery tentacle blob around it to protect itself.
• Block Puzzle: No Zelda game should be without them.
• Blood from the Mouth: Ganondorf, upon defeat of his first form. In the 1.0 version of the game it's red, but in every other release it's green, making it look like he instead either a) hocked a tremendous loogie or b) got beaten so bad he vomited.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Compared to most Zelda titles before or since. While many Zeldas since have featured incredibly dark themes, they usually don't have mass graves and torture chambers for you to explore...
• Blue Means Cold: The magical blue flames are said to provide 'refreshing coolness'.
• Bonus Dungeon: The Gerudo Training Grounds — a series of puzzles and challenges that earn you keys to access the final prize: Ice Arrows. Useful for 100% Completion and extra attack power, not particularly useful for anything else in the game. ^note Downplayed with the Bottom of the Well- you're required to go in to get the Lens of Truth, but most of the rest of the dungeon is optional, just containing some Gold Skulltulas.
• Bookends: Link's meeting with Zelda in the castle. Possibly even the same one, only this time it will turn out differently...
• Boss Arena Recovery: There's frequently junk around the periphery of boss arenas that can be used to restore health.
• Boss Banter: Koume and Kotake chat with you before doing their Transformation Sequence. They also bicker with each other after they're defeated and realize they're dead.
• Boss Corridor:
  • Phantom Ganon, Morpha, Twinrova, and Ganondorf all have one. The last one is noteworthy, since it's a long staircase lined with stained glass windows.
  • Regarding minibosses, the first two Iron Knuckles in the Spirit Temple are each preceded by one.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: The Iron Knuckles, which you fight three times in the Spirit Temple and twice in Ganondorf's castle. They move slow as molasses while walking, but they swing their axes hard and can knock four hearts off you in one swing and send you flying across the room. On top of that, unless you fight them with the Biggoron Sword (which takes them down in a few hits), they are very resilient and take a long time to wear down. Making matters worse is that the heavy armor falls off at half health, letting them run at you. It is strongly recommended that you bring bottled fairies with you for these fights if you're new to the game.
• Boss Rush: The remake adds an option to rechallenge previous bosses, with only the number of hearts gained from the previous bosses and minimal items, with the ability to save your best time to beat each boss. Beating all the bosses in this way unlocks the Boss Gauntlet mode, in which you fight every boss from Gohma to Twinrova, starting with only five heart containers and some items and earning one item per boss, which becomes three hearts in the MQ version, in which enemies also inflict double damage, just to make things interesting..
• Boss Subtitles: Every boss is described with one, starting with 'Parasitic Armored Arachnid: GOHMA'. It also plays with this it to great effect at the end of the game; as the final boss towers over Link, it's as though the game itself is incapable of describing the behemoth as anything else than 'GANON'.
• Bowdlerization:
  • Originally, Ganondorf coughed blood shortly before the castle escape, and Ganon also bled with the final few hits. This was recolored green in later versions of the game, so when Ganondorf coughed up that blood... it looked more like throw-up, and green slime poured out of Ganon in the final blows. Surprisingly, all blood when Link is hit, as well as the bloody spots and skeletons in the Bottom of the Well, as well as the bones in the graves, are kept, E-Rating and all!
  • In the Fire Temple, the original version specifically sounds like the Arabic for the First Pillar of Islam ('There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet') and 'God is great.' All of these changes were only made in game v1.2, not the gold cart (v1.0) and first run regular carts (v1.1). A Gametrailers video elaborates on this slightly.
  • The Gerudo crest and the Mirror◊Shield◊, much like the Fire Temple theme, were altered because the Gerudo Crest was too similar to the Islamic Crescent Moon. There's ONE spot in the game where they forgot to change the symbol: the ceiling of Dampe's tomb in the room where he gives you the Hookshot (it was changed in the 3DS version).
  • The 3DS remake keeps all of the changes made in v1.2 but goes even further by making the blood on the Dead Hands no more than a pale pink tone, and removing blood on the floors of the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: One of the Iron Knuckles you fight is a brainwashed Nabooru.
  • The manga removes Nabooru being an Iron Knuckle (she's still brainwashed) while explaining Ingo's strange return to good by having him be brainwashed as well in an extra scene after Link frees Epona. Both are done with the Gerudo forehead jewel (Ingo's was in his ear).
• Brats with Slingshots: The first dungeon item is a slingshot. And true to the trope, you can only use it as a child.
• Broad Strokes: The general plot is similar to the back story for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The official timeline confirms that the earlier game takes place in a timeline where the Hero of Time LOST to Ganondorf in the Final Battle.
• Broken Bridge: The bridge to Gerudo Valley is out, requiring either Epona or the the Longshot to cross.
• But Thou Must!: Many of the characters will ask Link yes or no questions; however, choosing no will either lead to an infinite loop or being forced to do it anyway. There is even a literal example where the Deku Tree asks Link to listen to a story and if you pick no he says, 'but thou must listen'.
• Butt-Monkey: What did that poor musician in the windmill ever do to you?

• Call-Forward:
  • A castle guard says 'KEEP IT A SECRET FROM EVERYONE,' not unlike the friendly Moblin in the first game.
  • At one point, Mido says 'Grumble, grumble...', an infamous line uttered in the first game at a frustrating Guide Dang It! moment.
  • The Sages and Mido are named after the towns from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The same game is also the source of Volvagia^note , Dark Link, and Iron Knuckles (which are used instead of the Darknuts used in 2D games other than the second game as well as later 3D games).
  • In the remake, the Happy Mask Salesman has the masks that were attached to his pack in Majora's Mask.
  • In the remake, when you visit the bedroom of Lon Lon Ranch, you can see on the wall some of Malon's paper drawings. One of them is Marin.
  • In the remake, Impa's house has a book on the table that resembles the Book of Mudora from A Link to the Past.
• Camera Centering: An effect of Z-Targeting.
• Camera Lock-On: If not the Trope Maker, then the Trope Codifier.
• Cape Swish: Ganondorf does one of these right before you fight him, and every time he recovers from Link managing to stun him, whether he gets a Light Arrow in or not. That said, the second version, when he gets back up after Link gets the Light Arrow in and pounds on him, has more flair.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Ganondorf is called the King of Evil at several points, and 'Great' is added on at the start of his boss fight. He calls himself as the Great Evil King when defeated, while Malon, in an utterly optional conversation about Ingo, uses 'the Evil King' to refer to him.
• Cave Behind the Falls: Zora's Domain. There are some in Gerudo Valley as well.
• Chain of Deals: How you get Biggoron's Sword. It's a fairly lengthy one with all sorts of objects, from eye drops to funny smelling mushrooms. Some of the trades even have a time-limit.
• Character Tics: OoT Link is well-known for his inability to drink anything without dramatically wiping his mouth with his arm afterward.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Link might need quest items to perform some feats of strength, but as a boy he can already pick up football-sized boulders, hold them above his head, and hurl them a good ten feet.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Both the Skull Kid in the Lost Woods whom you teach Saria's Song to and the Happy Mask Shop owner become pivotal characters in Majora's Mask.
• Cherry Tapping: A lengthy yet surprisingly effective method of battling Dark Link is using the broken Giant's Knife. Using the stab attack with Link's default sword will make Dark Link jump onto the blade and deliver an unavoidable attack. However, since the broken sword has no blade to jump on, the stab will always hit. Just be prepared to do it a lot. Just bring Biggoron's Sword instead. He goes down faster.
• Chick Magnet:
  • While Ruto and Nabooru are the only ones actively expressing romantic interest in Link in the game, it's speculated that Zelda, Saria, and Malon might be into him as well. Also, Shigeru Miyamoto claimed that Navi was in love with Link too.
  • Incredibly early discussions of the design of the game hinted that there would be a 'choose your girl'-style romantic subplot between the number of girls. Likely scrapped not long later when the story would make most of the girls unreachable for the last majority of the story.
• Childhood Marriage Promise:
  • Thanks to the Time Skip, Link gets confronted with his wholly accidental promise sooner than the trope would normally require. Luckily, Ruto being the Sage of Water means it has to be called off.
  • The player can choose to agree to marry Malon if they talk to Talon as a kid. Talon laughs that Link is too young for marriage; and later when Link ages, he doesn't bring it up again.
• The Chosen Zero: Navi wakes Link up, not succeeding for a while, then wonders out loud if Hyrule is really supposed to be saved by such a lazy boy.
• Collapsing Ceiling Boss: Volvagia, and that is one of his attacks, causing boulders to fall from the ceiling onto your head.
• Combat Tentacles: Morpha has one or two at a time, and in the latter case, one of them has its core.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: The manga by Akira Himekawa.
• Company Cross References: There are several references to Super Mario Bros.. For example, Malon and Talon have brooches of Bowser's head, and portraits of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser can be found in the Castle Courtyard.
• Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Navi is perhaps most known for her habit of routinely nagging the player about the current major quest objective, regardless of where (or when) they are or what they're currently doing. This can result in her telling Link to check out the strange clouds over Death Mountain when he's already standing at the summit, or when he's a child and there are no strange clouds yet.
• Continuing Is Painful: If you die during the final battle with Ganon, you have to start the Tower escape sequence again.
• Continuity Snarl: The game itself is possibly the biggest retcon in the franchise, and one that greatly affects the whole timeline. The backstory of A Link to the Past establishes that Ganondorf got the whole Triforce and that the Master Sword remained unused until the arrival of Link ^note in the present day. Ocarina of Time is based on that backstory but introduces a predecessor Link who did wield the Master Sword, and ends with Ganondorf being sealed away with only the Triforce of Power in his possession. The incompatible nature only got worse when new Zelda games such The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are established as direct sequels to Ocarina of Time but diverts further away from the setting of A Link to the Past and the NES games. It's only when Nintendo creates an Alternate Timeline where the Hero of Time is defeated that Ocarina of Time is finally reconnected to A Link to the Past as the prequel it was originally intended to be.
• Convection Schmonvection: Played straight in most of the game (especially Dodongo's Cavern) but despite the series's track record with this trope, it's averted in Death Mountain's crater, in which it's so hot that Link requires the flame-retardant Goron Tunic to be able to survive for more than a minute or so, and touching the lava is an instant void out, just like outside Ganon's Castle.
• Cool Horse:
  • Epona, of course, making her series debut.
  • Ganondorf's demon horse counts as well. It's last seen being used by Phantom Ganon to scare Link, then vanishes when Phantom Ganon starts his second phase.
• Corridor Cubbyhole Run: In the Sacred Forest Meadow as well as the Forest Temple (the part with the Descending Ceiling).
• 'Could Have Avoided This!' Plot: The entire game from acquiring the Master Sword onwards is a result of Link and Zelda being in over their heads for trying to take on Ganondorf and directly foil his plans, instead ending up giving him exactly what he wants, which Zelda painfully admits post-Time Skip. The correct solution was to simply expose Ganondorf's conspiracy to the proper authorities before it started. After the final battle, a now less-naive Link is sent back in time to before he first met Zelda, and he does exactly that.
• Coup de Grâce Cutscene: At the end of the final battle.
• Covers Always Lie: Promotional official artwork (and hype) in Nintendo magazines showcased Link and Sheik joining forces against Ganon's entire army. Such an event was never featured in the game.
• Cowardly Boss: Morpha. Most of the difficulty is in trying to hookshot it while it spins and whirls and winds and does everything to evade you. Also features Murder Water and Combat Tentacles.
• Crapsack World: All of future Hyrule, Castle Town especially.
• Creepy Mortician: Dampé. He himself dies during the Time Skip, but he took his treasure, the Hookshot (which is later upgraded), to the grave, and invites anyone who reads his diary to visit him. But he's not a bad guy at all. He gives you the Hookshot if you can keep up with him in a race, and a Heart Piece if you finish in under a minute.
• Critical Annoyance: A high-pitched beeping noise will sound when you get down to two hearts or below.
• Critical Existence Failure: Played straight in most enemies, with the usual 'wheeze and limp when injured and standing still' cosmetic touch.
• Cue the Sun:
  • When Link shoots an arrow at the morning sun at Lake Hylia, a Fire Arrow descends from the sky.
  • Also, playing the Sun Song at night will literally cue the sun.^note
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
  • Anyone used to the Ocarina controls from the original version may have trouble getting used to the Ocarina controls for the 3DS remake, as the button layout for each note is totally different.
  • And of course, the mirrored Master Quest in the 3DS remake also messes with long-time players' reflexes.
  • One for veterans of the first game involves Peahats, which went to only being vulnerable when still to only being vulnerable when moving. If the player forgets it, they're almost sure to take a hit or two.
• Damsel in Distress: Zelda double subverts it during the game, when you are being assisted by Sheik... who is Princess Zelda... and then gets captured after that reveal.
• Dance Party Ending: A sequence during the ending credits roll shows all secondary characters (even the Kokiri, although they'd already been living just as dangerously during the Time Skip) partying in the Lon Lon Ranch.
• Darker and Edgier: Ocarina of Time is easily darker than the previous games in the Zelda franchise, as it deals very explicitly with subjects like war and the large-scale devastation caused by it. It is especially prevalent in the latter half of the game with Adult Link: the moment you first step into Hyrule Market seven years after drawing the Master Sword is quintessential nightmare fuel. And from there, you rediscover Hyrule in its newly distorted form, with perennially ominous skies consuming the land and at least one genocide in the making (ie. the Gorons on Death Mountain are slated to become lunch for the ancient dragon Volvagia, revived by Ganondorf as a warning to any who would dare oppose him). Then you come across such settings as the Forest Temple, Shadow Temple, the nether regions of Kakariko Village's well, and Ganon's Castle (erected where Hyrule Castle once stood). Although it was subsequently surpassed by its direct sequel Majora's Mask in terms of overall darkness, there can be little doubt that the first 3D Zelda had plenty of creepiness to go along with the softer nuances it carried over from the NES/SNES games.
• Dark-Skinned Redhead: The Gerudo people, including Ganondorf prior to his becoming Ganon, although even at the beginning Ganondorf's skin has a sickly/undead-looking greenish cast, which becomes outright Hulk green or even blue in many of his appearances (not all of which are humanoid, of course) later on in the series's chronology.
• Dead Character Walking: By a glitch, you could walk Zombie Link in a dim world. A different method allows Zombie Link to walk around in regular lighting, but nothing can be done anyway and everything are all frozen and many features are disabled.
• Deadly Dust Storm: The Spirit Temple is beyond a stretch of desert that has a constant sand storm. Link needs the help of the Phantom Guide (just a Poe that isn't programmed to be hostile) to lead him through safely. Or, alternately, you can figure out on your own where to turn and in which direction, and once you reach the crate in the sand, you can leave the Poe behind and make a beeline for the exit since following it in the loop isn't necessary to get in.
• Death Mountain: This is a game in the Trope Namer's series, so players should expect it by now. This is also the game that started the trend of combining this trope with Lethal Lava Land.
• Degraded Boss: Lizalfos, Stalfos, White Wolfos and Iron Knuckles are presented as minibosses in their respective dungeons (or Mini-Dungeon, in the case of the White Wolfos), and eventually refought as mooks in later areas and dungeons.
• Departure Means Death: Kokiri apparently can't survive outside the forest. Subverted in that they only thought that was the case, apparently, as they can be seen partying at Lon Lon Ranch during the credits.
• Developers' Foresight:
  • Normally, when adult Link enters the Gerudo Fortress and gets caught, he gets tossed into a prison cell that can only be escaped by using the Hookshot. If you engage in a bit of Sequence Breaking and get Epona before the Hookshot, and enter the Gerudo Fortress by jumping over the broken bridge, you won't get trapped in the cell if caught — the guards just throw you outside the entrance to the village. Because Link cannot enter the Gerudo Fortress from Gerudo Valley as a child (at least, not without exploiting a glitch or two), some players might try to enter the Gerudo Fortress as a child through the back door: by travelling backwards through the Haunted Wasteland from the Desert Colossus. Crafty players who manage to do so (which is impossible without a glitching OR cheating as child Link cannot cross the River of Sand) will find that the gate is closed and a Gerudo guard is standing in front of it, telling the player that children are not allowed to enter.
  • Even though it's impossible to acquire Nayru's Love before beating Dark Link without glitches, he is still programmed to respond to it by becoming very defensive, keeping his shield up and retreating.
• Diabolus ex Machina: When Link pulls out the Master Sword, it (or possibly Rauru) puts him in a coma until he is an adult, which allows Ganondorf to take the Triforce unopposed. While Rauru claims afterwards that the Sword demands an adult wielder, this is not foreshadowed beforehand, and it is contradicted in both earlier and later games.
• Die, Chair! Die!: Most forms of object only react to being picked up and smashed or hit with your sword.
• Difficulty Spike: Most players who played this game as kids would agree that the first couple of dungeons are relatively straightforward, and the bosses both have a single, exploitable weakness. Jabu Jabu's Belly is the first dungeon where it isn't as clear as to which direction to head and takes a bit more intuition.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The official name of the boss theme that plays when you fight King Dodongo and Volvagia is, according to the official soundtrack, 'Dinosaur Boss Battle', in spite of the latter being a dragon and not a true dinosaur.
• Disc-One Final Dungeon: Hey once you get through this fish's insides, you'll have all the stones and can save Hyrule now, right? ... Right?
• Disc-One Nuke:
  • Of all weapons, the Deku Sticks count as this. One would think they're a joke weapon due to how flimsy they look and how fragile they are, but not only do they deal more damage than the Kokiri sword, they can actually deal Biggoron Sword level damage in the right hands. For example, King Dodongo can be killed in two dive attacks from them. Sadly, the 3DS port nerfed them into being a genuine Joke Weapon.
  • The Biggoron Sword. The fetch quest for it can be completed before you even set foot in the Forest Temple, and it rewards you with THE strongest weapon in the game, which shreds through normal enemies and turns the boss fights into a cakewalk. With jump attacks and spins, even Iron Knuckles go down in mere seconds, and Bongo Bongo, of all bosses, can go down in a single cycle of its AI.^note
• Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Kaepora Gaebora, the wise but verbose owl, is active during the daytime as well as the night, always ready to give you pages and pages of trivial, useless information. 'Hoo hoo hoot! Do you want me to repeat?'
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Great Fairies' poses exist to make you uncomfortable playing the game around friends and family members.
• Downer Ending: As mentioned in the Hyrule Historia, one of the timelines involves Link failing to defeat Ganon here.
• Down the Drain: The Water Temple is a quite infamous example, featuring most of the general annoyances found in those types of levels.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Zelda has prophetic dreams, specifically one where dark clouds engulf Hyrule. She's convinced the dream is a warning against Ganondorf.
• Dream Intro: Begins with a scene of Ganondorf chasing Princess Zelda on horseback, which turns out to be a nightmare that Link is having. This ends up occurring for real later in the game.
• Drop the Hammer: Adult Link gets to mess around with the Megaton Hammer. It's a bit more powerful than the Master Sword, can open up holes in the ground like bombs do, can destroy rocks you can't destroy with bombs, and is useful for caving in several of the tougher boss' skulls (it is needed to defeat Volvagia, the boss of the Fire Temple, where you find the hammer, but you don't need to use the Master Sword or Biggoron's Sword for this fight; the hammer alone will kill the dragon. In the Final Boss fight, you will need to use the hammer for the first stage against Ganon if you don't have Biggoron's Sword).^note
• Dual Boss: Twinrova, of the complementary variety. They're evil witches that fight you together. They can only be harmed by absorbing and reflecting their attacks. When they merge, Link has to charge his shield with three attacks from Twinrova that are of the same element before he can attack her again.
• Dual-World Gameplay: You can use the Temple of Time to go back and forth to do things like plant seeds that grow into flying platforms to get Pieces of Heart. You also have to trick out time to get the Song of Storms and get through the Spirit Temple.
• Dude, Where's My Reward?: For every ten of the first fifty Gold Skulltulas you find, you get a significant reward.^note For finding the other fifty, a task that requires you to scour every nook and cranny in the land, you get... money. By that time you'll essentially have done everything in the game that requires money anyway.
• Dummied Out:
  • Quite a few things. Most notably the Wind and Ice Medallions (and their associated Temples, although the Wind Temple survived in a somewhat altered state as the Forest Temple, and the Forest portion of Ganon's Castle and the Ice Cavern have more in common with the scrapped Wind and Ice Temples than the Forest and Water Temples) and... an Arwing as a fightable enemy, which was originally used to test Volvagia's attack pattern and Z-Targeting.
  • The Medallions were going to be C-items, but their effects were either removed or recycled as different items. Example being Din's Fire, and a puzzle that requires it having the Fire Medallion's design present on the spot where you're supposed to use it (it was removed in the 3DS version).
  • Gerudo's Fortress has an extra Heart Piece that is inaccessible except with cheats/hacking — it's only present when Link is a child, but Link can't enter the area until he's an adult because a guard blocks his path when he's a child.
  • The English-language release contains the original Japanese version, which can only be accessed by using a cheat device or an emulator to change the game's region code. The same is true for both GameCube rereleases as well as Master Quest.
  • Some code from the abandoned 64DD development remains in the game- using hacks to activate the code only causes the game to crash, however. The code seems to be intended to allow the cartridge to access the disk drive.
  • The game also contains leftover code for an interesting attack - shooting beams from Link's sword! Some hacks have partially restored the ability, which can harm or kill distant enemies but doesn't actually appear to hit them: the projectile briefly appears in front of Link and fades away without moving. Also, it is used the same way as a spin attack (holding down the button and charging up), rather than being at full health. It isn't immediately clear if this was intended to replace the spin attack when Z-targeting was used, or why exactly it was taken out.
  • In Zora's Fountain, there is a cliff behind Lord Jabu-Jabu that is completely inaccessible. There's a spawn point there, and the cliff textures extend quite a bit beyond the masking trees, but none of it is used. There's also a dummied-out ocarina pedestal that was supposed to appear in front of Jabu-Jabu. It was also originally possible to jump off the waterfall in Zora's Fountain to go to Zora's River, but it was blocked by a fence for unknown reasons in the final game, as seen here with an also-unused Triforce area transition.
  • In both this game and Majora's Mask, Navi/Tatl has a description for Gold Skulltulas, but it's unused since they can't be Z-Targeted. The same is true for Dead Hand's Hands in OoT.

• Early Game Hell: Downplayed. The 3DS version's Master Quest mode not only has the harder dungeon layout from the titular expansion, but also doubles the damage Link takes and flips the entire world horizontally. This makes the normally-easy first dungeon a lot more challenging, as Link has no way to heal himself without finding hearts at that point, and even the lowly Keese deal a full heart of damage at a point Link only has three. However, the game gets more manageable once you complete the Deku Tree and find bottles, allowing you to carry Milk and other helpful stuff.
• Easter Egg:
  • In Dodongo's Cavern, the infamous 'L is Real 2401' texture from Super Mario 64 was reused as an in-joke to tease people who still belived the sign means something (per Word of God, it doesn't mean anything) and as a nod to Ocarina of Time being built on a heavily modified version of Mario 64's game engine.
  • In the remake, one of the rooms of the Thieves' Hideout (specifically, the one that is above the room closest to the cell you are thrown into if you are caught) contains a poster of the Link from Skyward Sword behind two crates. Similar posters can be found on the wall of the Bombchu Shop in Hyrule Castle Town, and in the bedroom at Lon Lon Ranch as an adult.
  • When using the ocarina, you can shift the pitch with the analog stick. This isn't mentioned anywhere in the instruction manual, and has absolutely no effect on gameplay, but it's a nice little touch that makes it closer to the real thing.
  • There are portraits of Mario, Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and Yoshi viewable from the castle's courtyard. These were replaced with a New Super Mario Bros.-like scene in 3D. You can even shoot the window for rupees!
  • There is a disturbing and downright depressing easter egg. After retrieving the Ocarina of Time from the castle's moat a telepathic message from Princess Zelda tells you to go to the Temple of Time. Just in case you don't understand this message, there is a guard in one of Hyrule Castle Town's back alleys who was supposed to give you the same message. For most players this is unnecessary so they never even look for him, but if you do you'll find the guard, hear his message, then see him die. Most players never knew he was there, so the majority of the time he'll die without ever completing his mission and without any hope that Princess Zelda or Hyrule can be saved.

• Easy Level Trick: Getting the Gold Scale from the fishing minigame makes navigating the Water Temple much less tedious, since you can simply dive through several passages instead of having to constantly equip and deequip the Iron Boots all the time. Getting the free Blue Tunic by unfreezing King Zora beforehand helps too, since using it means you won't have to worry about drowning anymore.
• An Economy Is You:
  • Everyone sells things that are handy for your quest, and all trading between other people is done via Link moving goods and money around.
  • Played straight with the Fisherman (the guy in the Fishing Hole at Lake Hylia), who actually tells Link that he's his only customer.
• Eldritch Abomination: Bongo Bongo. This 'Phantom Shadow Beast' is by far the most alien enemy Link faces throughout the game. Although it takes on a vaguely anthropomorphic form, it's doubtful if it was ever even remotely human. Considering it manifests itself as a super-fast liquid monster outside of the Shadow Temple, it may not even have a true form. The only upside is that since it is a boss, it can be defeated.
• Eldritch Location:
  • Ganon's Castle.
  • The Forest Temple also qualifies. It's an anomaly in the context of the game—whereas all of the other temples look like, well, temples, the Forest Temple is more like a giant, derelict mansion frozen in time and slowly being reclaimed by nature, and it has some truly bizarre architectural choices. Oh, and it's inhabited by the undead on top of that.
  • The Shadow Temple under the well certainly has shades of this too.
• Enemy Without: The return of Dark Link as an opponent.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Nabooru is quick to distance herself from Evil King Ganondorf. Which may even be an indicator of her real destiny, considering all the other Gerudo blindly follow Ganondorf because he's both a Gerudo and a man.
  Nabooru: Though we're both thieves, I'm completely different from Ganondorf. With his followers, he stole from women and children, and he even killed people!
• Everything's Better with Cows:
  • Link can win a cow from the horse race with Malon, which would appear inside Link's house in Kokiri Forest. How did it get up the ladder? Malon mentions she's sending a present to his house and he'll get it when he goes home. Maybe she has superpowered ranch hands hidden somewhere?
  • The Master Quest version of the Jabu-Jabu dungeon. Apparently Jabu-Jabu has a taste for beef in addition to fish (and also swallows them whole). All of them except for one are somehow embedded in Jabu-Jabu's flesh, and they usually hide a switch that you have to activate by shooting the cow with the slingshot. This comes out of nowhere.
• Evil Knockoff: Dark Link. Even in 2018, OoT marks his first chronological appearance so far.
• Expansion Pack: Ura Zelda for the Nintendo 64DD was supposed to be this for this game, but it never got finished. Its levels were eventually turned into Master Quest.
• Exposition Fairy: Navi. The Trope Codifier if not the Trope Namer. She is a fairy, and her very job and destiny is to tell you things about what's happening. Note that she's blue, which signifies 'wisdom' in Zelda lore.
• Extended Gameplay: 'Master Quest' is a version of the game that comes with different and harder dungeon designs, for people who like challenging puzzles. The 3DS version takes it Up to Eleven by making Link take double damage, and mirrors the environment, to mess with your muscle memory.
• Fade to White:
  • Multiple times, such as when Link encounters Ganondorf in the Temple of Time, and when Ganondorf is finally defeated and sealed in the Dark Realm.
  • Also whenever Link uses the secret passages between the Lost Woods and either Goron City or Zora's River (or Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia), complete with a cool sound.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The Running Man. No matter how fast you finish the race, he will always beat you by one second.
• Fast-Forward Mechanic: The 'Sun's Song' moves time to the next time of day. In certain areas, it just speeds up the progression of the sun and moon to the next 6 o'clock. In places where time is frozen, it instead advances to the next TWELVE o'clock, which screws you over if you were supposed to be there earlier than that, like at 9 o'clock.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • 'What a worthless creation that ghost was! I will banish it to the gap between dimensions!!'
  • Which becomes ironic when, upon defeat, Ganondorf is banished himself, just to the Sacred Realm instead of the void between dimensions.
• Final Boss: Ganondorf, after being defeated and failing to crush Link and Zelda with his crumbling castle, morphs into a massive monster, taking the name 'Ganon' for the first time EVER, to make one last attempt, Ring of Fire free of charge.
• Final Boss Preview: The scene where Link encounters Ganondorf in front of the Castle Town drawbridge and gets thrown off his feet with a magic bolt. The next boss after that scene is literally a preview of the final boss. Phantom Ganon's 2nd stage fights exactly the same as Ganondorf, but lacks a few attacks and is weaker.
• Fishing Minigame: A damn fine one too.
• Flunky Boss: Gohma will summon flunkies in the form of Gohma larvae.
• Foreshadowing: If you look around the outside of Link's House, you'll find a graffiti scribble depicting a battle between a monster and a knight.
• Free Sample Plot Coupon: The objective for Adult Link is to rescue and help awaken the Six Sages. Fortunately, the first sage (Rauru) is already in the Sacred Realm, having been part of the previous generation of Sages, and after telling Link about the importance of rescuing the other sages, he proceeds to give him the Light Medallion.
• Freeze Sneeze: If you do nothing in a cold area for a certain amount of time, it triggers an idle animation where Link (be he young or an adult) has one of these.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: One of the canon timelines is triggered if Link loses to Ganon in the final battle here. Naturally, (and perhapsthankfully), losing the final battle only respawns you before it begins and you can keep trying until you beat Ganon.
• Gainaxing: Twinrova, right after transforming. The 3DS version makes it even more obvious.
• Gender Rarity Value: The Gerudo have only one male child every century, who becomes their king. This is literally the only reason any Gerudo are loyal to Ganondorf.
• 'Get Back Here!' Boss: King Dodongo. The arena is a giant ring with most of it inaccessible due to lava. Link will have to chase him around the ring or cut him off—get there too slow, and he'll either repeat the process, or blast you with a massive fireball.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar:
  • The Poe collector suggests they could run a 'different sort of business' if they were as attractive as Link.
  • Nabooru promising to 'do something great for [Link]' if he can get her the Silver Gauntlets. It seems innocent enough until you're an adult and, upon seeing Link All Grown Up and looking so handsome, she expresses regret that she didn't get to keep her promise. Just what was she going to do if Twinrova hadn't captured her, assuming she didn't wait until she'd succeeded before doing it, and/or had succeeded and thus there was just the matter of doing it?
  • You can Hookshot onto the nipples of the statue in the Spirit Temple (the one at the entrance of the boss room). Only the nipples and only while directly looking at them.
• Giant Hands of Doom: Bongo Bongo. Also, the Wallmasters.
• Giant Mook: Kill enough Stalchildren in Hyrule Field at night and a bigger one appears. Ditto for Leevers in the desert and Guay at Lon Lon Ranch at night.
• Girly Run: All the carpenters do this. It's quite unsettling.
• Go for the Eye:
  • The bosses Gohma and Bongo-Bongo.
  • The Beamos enemies can sometimes be stunned by shooting them in the eye with the slingshot, hookshot, or fairy bow.
  • The eye switches. To trigger one, you have to shoot an arrow into it. Similarly, the 'blind the eyes of the statue' stage in the Gerudo Training Complex.
  • You can't reach King Dodongo without bombing the eyes of a huge Dodongo skull.
• Good Bad Bugs: Invoked in the remake: non-Game-Breaking Bugs were intentionally left in the game to add charm and replay value.
• Good Is Dumb: Despite that basic Gerudo guards are one of the weakest enemies in the entire game (taking one hit from anything to knock out) and Link could probably take on the entire Gerudo Fortress and win, if he's spotted he will always raise his hands and let himself be carted back to his cell. Though since the Gerudo themselves aren't evil (except for Ganondorf and Twinrova) it comes full circle, as they just throw him with all his gear into the same pit he's escaped from the last sixteen times they did that.
• Good Morning, Crono: Navi flies into Link's house to wake him up in the beginning.
• Gotta Catch 'Em All: The three Spiritual Stones and six Sage Medallions are mandatory, the one hundred Gold Skulltula Tokens and thirty six Pieces of Heart are not.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: The Hookshot.
• Ground Punch: The Din's Fire spell involves Link punching the ground to create a large dome of flame around himself.
• Guide Dang It!
  • How were you supposed to know you could walk past ReDeads or Gibdos and they wouldn't notice you?
  • How were you supposed to know you could jump the outer wall of Lon Lon Ranch to escape from Ingo? ^note
  • How were you supposed to know you needed to play the Sun's Song where the lone ReDead was to get his Piece Of Heart?
  • How were you supposed to know Bonooru even remembered which ocarina you used to record a song? ^note
  • Stuck in the Water Temple? Did you remember to check behind the chest that contained the Longshot? There's a Song of Time block lodged in the floor there, which, when dispelled, opens up a secret passage.
• He Was Right There All Along:
  • Several bosses, particularly Gohma where the boss fight won't trigger until you look up into her eye.
  • Dark Link takes the cake, as he is Link's reflection, literally having been with Link his entire life until the Water Temple brought it to life. When you enter the room (which has an illusion cast on it by Ganondorf to resemble a foggy lake), there is a lone island in the centre of the lake. Link's reflection is blatantly visible on the mirror-like surface of the water until he steps on the island, after which point his reflection has completely vanished. Dark Link appears by the tree on the island as soon as Link turns his back, attacking only once Link either locks on or gets close enough. And once he's been defeated, the illusion fades, revealing that the very solid island, which you could physically stand on - was never there to begin with; it was a spell that served to turn Link's reflection against him.
• Heroic Mime: Yaaah! Hiehht! Hwahh! Wahhhh...HEYAHHHHHHH!
• The Hero's Journey: Even more literal than usual. The 'Belly of the Whale' stage of the journey is a dungeon inside a giant fish, and the hero, thanks to the Time Travel, literally comes of age when he draws the Master Sword from its pedestal and sleeps away seven years.
• Hidden Elf Village: The Kokiri Forest is supposedly protected by a barrier to keep outsiders away. Considering this is only mentioned in the opening scenes, and enemies appear either deep enough into the forest or once you start actually approaching the Deku Tree, it's likely that Ganondorf did something to it.
• Holy Hand Grenade: The formerly silver arrows in the previous games become arrows of weaponized light here.
• Hover Skates: The Hover Boots. Unlike most examples, they don't propel Link forward on their own, so he still has to walk normally while wearing them. Well, normally except for the 'hovering in midair' part.
• 100% Completion: If you want to get everything in the game, you had better scour every single area with the most precise attention to detail and logic possible, or have a trusty player's guide at your side - you have a LOT of ground to cover. Besides the crucial items, there are the side-quests, finding all of the fairy fountains, the bonus items like a bigger arrow bag and the bottles, the heart pieces, the mask subquest, and let's not forget those bloody Gold Skulltulas.

• Ice Magic Is Water: The Water Medallion was intended to be the Ice Medallion during development. In the final product, this shows by the mini-dungeon preceding the Water Temple being the Ice Cavern, and the Water Temple's room in Ganon's Castle is likewise ice-themed.
• Idle Animation: Link will: fidget, glance about, tap his feet against each other, yawn, hike up his belt, swing his blade if it's unsheathed, shiver and sneeze (inside cold areas), or wipe sweat from his brow (inside hot areas). (Put on the Iron Boots and the boot tapping animation becomes particularly funny.) Link may also fiddle with his shield when he has his sword out as well, or gasp for breath when he's low on hearts.
• Imminent Danger Clue: Although he doesn't notice it himself (the player might, if the camera is positioned correctly), Link's reflection disappears right before the fight with Dark Link.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Rather surprisingly not only is it done in an E-rated game, but it's done by Link of all people. His finishing blow to Ganon is to shove the blade of the Master Sword into his forehead.
• In the Back: Doing this to a Wolfos with your sword will kill it immediately.
• Infinity -1 Sword: The Master Sword is gained just from pulling it from its pedestal.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Biggoron's Sword requires a number of fetch quests to get. It's possible to complete the quest run before even entering the Forest Temple as Adult Link, although it's much easier to do afterwards once you have the bow.
• Insecurity System: The entrance to the Sacred Realm has some pretty nifty security features, such as needing three magical Plot Coupons, a magical ocarina, a magical song and to top it off a final seal that can only be broken by The Chosen One.... but with the option of putting said Chosen One in stasis for however long it takes to make him mature enough, the fact that the entrance stays open while the Chosen One is in stasis, and apparently a lack of documentation on those little tidbits of information. At least, Zelda didn't know about it. Epileptic Trees and Wild Mass Guessing abound as to whether that was Justified or not.
• Insurmountable Waist-High Fence: Used to keep Epona out of town areas; it's reasonable enough that a horse can't climb stairs to get to Kakariko village, but Hyrule Castle's busted drawbridge is a particularly weak case since Epona can jump over a canyon elsewhere.
• Interchangeable Antimatter Keys: A standard for the series; the 'small keys' do this, though there's sometimes one-off puzzles requiring more specific keys.
• Interspecies Romance: Link and Ruto. It's confirmed in the sequel that Zora lay eggs.
• Invulnerable Horses: Because no hit-detection or collision-detection was scripted into the game, Link is completely invincible while on the back of Epona. Some may consider it appropriate, considering his trusty steed is named after a Celtic goddess.
  • Ascended in Four Swords Adventures where grabbing a carrot made a horse appear under the Links, and the game says the respective player is invincible.
• Irony: Every Goron locked up in the Fire Temple has a chest containing a key in their cell.^note Too bad for them these particular cells can only be opened by switches on the outside.
• Item Get!: The most famous version is born in this game, to the point where it's reached levels of Memetic Mutation. It's even lampshaded with Ruto who obtains the Sapphire and performs the pose while the game questions why Ruto of all people got the stone.
• 'Jaws' First-Person Perspective: Used with Morpha, the boss of the Water Temple. Played with a bit, since the boss actually is the water.
• Jerkass: Mido. His walk seems designed to say 'I have a stick up my ass', at least until you meet him in the future, where he seems to regret how mean he was to Link.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Mido has a slight example of this, although his 'point' is not intentional; at the beginning of the game, Mido refuses to let Link see the Great Deku Tree until Link gets a sword and shield. Mido made up that requirement on the spot just to be a thorn in Link's side; however, it turns out there are Deku Babas in the way who attack Link, so Link ended up needing that shield and sword after all! Saria even lampshades this if you speak to her afterwards. Thanks for being a jerk, Mido!
• Joke Item:
  • The Giant's Knife, an optional weapon you can buy as Adult Link in Goron City. It costs 200 rupees, it does as much damage as the Kokiri Sword, you can't spin attack with it or use your shield with it, and it breaks and becomes useless after three hits. You can repair it up to 8 times for 200 rupees apiece, but these only allow one more attack each time. Thankfully, you can replace it with the truly useful Biggoron Sword.
  • Zig-Zagged with the Stone of Agony. It would make the controller rumble when Link was near a hidden treasure chest or grotto. However, the Virtual Console rerelease removes the rumble feature, making the item useless. Even the operations guide says that it's useless in context. Thankfully, its 3DS counterpart, which serves the same purpose, instead chimes and shines on the screen when it reacts.
  • Played straight with empty bottles which you can use to reflect Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf's attacks instead of using your sword.
• Just Friends: Saria. As a sage, she will remain forever out of touch with the corporeal world.
  • Even in the past, where she either hasn't yet, or isn't going to, become a Sage, she admits she had no chance with Link because he's not a Kokiri and was always fated to leave the forest, where she must stay or else she will perish.
• Kick the Dog: This is how Ingo in the Bad Future is able to coerce Malon into doing whatever he wants; either Malon does what Ingo says, or Ingo will 'mistreat the horses!' (probably by refusing to feed them, whipping them, etc.)
• Kid Hero: Link and Zelda, at first. This is actually a deconstruction; while Zelda is very clever and knowledgeable, her plan turns out to be Awesome, but Impractical and actually ends up aiding the villain because she didn't know as much as she thought she did. While 9-year-old Link racks up an impressive kill count, Ganondorf painfully establishes that he's still not strong enough in a Final Boss Preview. The kids thought they could be heroes and save the day, but they were defeated by their inability to acknowledge the gaps in their understanding or their delusions of grandeur. In other words, they didn't have the maturity to be heroes yet. Perfectly understandable kid behavior, but because they were playing with forces they didn't understand, the consequences were severe. Zelda acknowledges all of this after Ganondorf is sealed away, and it might be why the Master Sword insisted on Link growing up before wielding it.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: This is a major point with Link. Not only does he grow up (albeit in some kind of limbo), but he has the ability to go back to his childhood to do things there that he can't do as an adult.
• Kill the Lights: Ganondorf drains all the light out of the room when casting his evil magic. To the viewer, this almost silhouettes Ganondorf in darkness.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: In classic RPG tradition, Hyrule lacks any laws against casually ransacking a stranger's house just because you can. The closest you get is a guy in Impa's house (you never find her there though) who demands to talk to Link's parents if spoken to.
• Lady Land: The Gerudo Fortress. Only one male is born every century, and by tradition, that male must become their king. Only Nabooru saw through it, and that's a sign that she's special.
• Last Villain Stand: After all of Ganondorf's temple bosses are destroyed, his soldiers have all been eliminated, and even his castle is demolished, he flies into a Villainous Breakdown fueled rage and uses the Triforce of Power to transform into Ganon for one last battle with Link.
• Laser Sight: The Hookshot/Longshot is aimed with a red laser-like dot. Upgraded in the remake: the red laser-like dot was changed to a red laser line showing the path of the chain. The dot itself was also changed to indicate if something can be latched onto.
• Last of His Kind
  • Impa, and supposedly Sheik later on, or so you're led to think.
  • Zelda herself is the last of the Royal Hylian Bloodline.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you've played any Super Smash Bros. title from Melee onward, or Hyrule Warriors, there's about a 99.9% chance you know that Sheik is Zelda.
• Lethal Joke Weapon:
  • The Deku Sticks. Sure, they're fragile and require refilling, but they're also stronger than the Kokiri Sword and the strongest of your early weapons(in the Nintendo 64 version, anyway—the 3DS port nerfs them into being a genuine Joke Weapon).
  • A Bottle, of all items, unintentionally became this in the Ganondorf fight due to a design oversight—normally, they have no combat purposes at all, but when you fight Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf himself, the Bottle can actually deflect their attacks back at them. On top of that, the Bottle moves faster and has slightly more range than the Master Sword, effectively making the fight easier than if you used the sword. And unlike the Deku Sticks, this was not changed in the 3DS port.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Just before the second to final battle between Link and Ganondorf.
  • And again after Link gets the Master Sword back in the final phase.
• Light and Mirrors Puzzle: Many of the puzzles in the Spirit Temple.
• Light Is Good:
  • One of the Sages, Rauru, is the Sage of Light and works with Link and the rest of the Sages to help defeat Ganondorf.
  • The only arrow upgrade that Link has to receive (from Zelda herself) is the Light Arrow, and the player has to use it against the battle against Ganondorf.
• Limited Wardrobe: Everyone is still wearing the same clothes after seven years, meaning either Hyrule is an extremely smelly place to live, or there are a lot of nudist wash days going on behind the scenes.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Ganondorf invokes this after you defeat him, using the last of his strength to collapse the castle around you. Of course, he then turns out to be Not Quite Dead...

• MacGuffin Delivery Service: Ganondorf is seeking the three Spiritual Stones which unlock the way to the Triforce. Link obligingly collects them, opens up the door, and leaves it wide open for Ganondorf to swoop in and grab all the power he ever wanted. It's been joked that the easiest way to win the game is to get the first Spiritual Stone, save, turn off your console and never play again.
• Made of Incendium: The Keese are extremely flammable. In fact, they'll often deliberately light themselves on fire to do more damage to the player!
• Magic Missile Storm: Ganondorf does this as a Desperation Attack. It's basically the same attack as usual, just five at once in a wide spread and homing in on Link. As the missiles are the same as usual, you can just reflect all five back if you do it right. If you're feeling bold, charge up a Spin Attack and release it when he launches it. Otherwise, use this chance for a free Light Arrow shot.
• Magic Music: The two ocarinas, which allow Link to perform a variety of spells and effects. The titular Ocarina of Time in particular is one of the keys to open the Door of Time leading to the Master Sword.
• Malevolent Architecture
  • There is a trap that looks like a door and will fall down to damage Link if he either tries to open it or hits it with a weapon. You can use the latter effect to reveal these while keeping Link out of harm's way.
  • Because of how two elevators in Dodongo's Cavern work, you could mis-time your jump and wind up in a pit of lava that hurts Link as he stands on it. Newcomers will often die to this.
  • Jabu-Jabu has some strange red... nerve... things... that start wiggling about when Link approaches, and don't stop until he leaves. You need the Boomerang to stun them and make them platforms, but if you hit it with another weapon, or otherwise touch it yourself... well...
    • Also in Jabu-Jabu, there are the differently-colored 'slimy things' connected to Barinade's Parasitic Tentacles that will zap Link silly if he touches them and even emit electricity if a ranged weapon hits them without zapping Link. They don't move or actively attack Link, but trying to push past them WILL hurt. A lot. So go hunt down those Parasitic Tentacles if you want to remove them.
• Mini-Boss: All dungeons except the first one (two in the case of the Forest Temple, namely Stalfos and Meg), and some of them (the Lizafos in Dodongo's Cavern, the Stalfos in the Forest Temple, who are first fought as a duo and then a sequential trio, the Flare Dancer in the Fire Temple) are fought twice (in the case of Iron Knuckles in the Spirit Temple, three times; Deadhand is fought in both the well and the Shadow Temple, and you have to contend with four Gerudo guards with double swords in the Thieves' Hideout, which, besides them and wandering guards that need to be avoided, are the only enemies in the building). Notably, the Water Temple has Dark Link (formerly the Final Boss of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link), and Ganon's Tower has three pairs of prior mini-bosses (the Dinafols, who you will be meeting for the first time if you didn't enter the Gerudo Training Grounds, the Stalfos, and the Iron Knuckles, who thankfully can be woken up one at a time) before reaching Ganondorf, and an additional mini-boss pair of Stalfos for your escape after defeating Ganondorf.
• Mini-Dungeon:
  • Ice Cavern is necessary as Link earns there the Iron Boots, which are required for tackling the Water Temple.
  • In the Bottom of the Well, the Lens of Truth lies within, and is necessary for navigating the Shadow Temple and reaching the Spirit Temple ^note .
  • To a lesser extent, there's the Thieves' Hideout, inside which the young hero has to rescue the four carpenters before he can proceed into the desert.
• Mirror Monster: Dark Link is Link's reflection that was brought to life through an enchantment Ganondorf cast on a room in the Water Temple. Also an example of Mirror Boss, since its swordplay is based on Link's.
• Mood Whiplash: Full of it:
  • Walking through the cheery castle town and either (a) finding the poor dying guard left to tell you what was going on or (b) going to the future where it's been razed to the ground by Ganondorf's evil.
  • Learning a rather unpleasant fact about your previously-harmless home village during the Biggoron's Sword quest. Specifically, that every non-Kokiri who gets lost in the woods becomes a Stalfos. You know, those things you've been killing without a second thought? And, oh, hey, Link isn't a Kokiri either! Which does seem to imply that fairies are what protect people. So what would happen if a Kokiri and their fairy were separated? It's implied that they become Skull Kids, just like the human kids who wander into the forest without their parents or a fairy.
  • Go strolling through the completely happy and normal Kakariko Village and into the graveyard, which is fairly harmless as well (it even has a cute child playing in it in the daytime). Then fall down a tomb when you visit at night and meet your first ReDead(s).^note
  • When you first go out into the sunny, wide-open, and peaceful-looking Hyrule Field, you find that when the sun sets, creatures come out of the ground and start attacking you. And they are simply the more famous example. The 'daytime' enemies, the peahats are only slightly better in that they likely won't be seen if you just run straight for the major residential areas. Encounter one and the music becomes more frantic as it chases you to the ends of the field or till sundown.
  • In addition, when you first leave Kokiri Forest and are awestruck by the wide open world, the first thing you are likely to investigate is the pretty giant flower immediately outside the forest. Soon after you spend about a minute running and screaming from whirling blades of death.
  • The triumphant obtainment of the Master Sword...followed by dire consequences.
• Money for Nothing: Rupees are easily and rapidly obtained from the surrounding environment, whether from breaking pots, killing enemies, or occasionally even finding them in treasure chests. The same goes for every form of ammunition except the seldom-used Bombchus. Combine this with the fact that nearly every piece of equipment in the game can be obtained for free, and money becomes very nearly useless. Even if you're going for 100% Completion, the only other places where you need to spend money are a handful of minigames. Money can still be useful if you want to buy potions, which you can't get any other way, or if you manage to use up all of the Bombchus you get from treasure chests.
• Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: Ganon's Castle is built up on top of Hyrule Castle.
• Mook Bouncer: The Wallmasters are back in spades, and this time, they're at their scariest yet. Their grounded cousins, the Floormasters, avert this (but only once. In future games, they pull this trope off as well).
• Motion Capture: Some of Link's moves were mo-capped from live actors performing his stunts.
• Ms. Fanservice: The Great Fairies. All of them wear no clothes and instead have vines covering their bodies.
• Mundane Made Awesome: 'Saria's Song' is an upbeat little tune. Darunia, the Goron leader, reacts to it like someone just dropped a rock concert on his head.
• Murder Water: The boss of the Water Temple.
• Musical Nod:
  • While the original Zelda theme is largely absent from the Nintendo 64 version of the game (but reinstated for the credits of the 3DS port) the Hyrule Field theme includes seven notes from the iconic song.
  • Kakariko Village reuses the same theme for it from A Link To The Past. Ganondorf's theme is also a remix of Agahnim's theme from the same game.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: The Gerudo only follow Ganondorf because he is a male Gerudo, which is only born once every century, and by their law, he was crowned their king.
• Nature Spirit: The Deku Tree is both a sapient tree and the guardian of the forest. His blessing gives the Kokiri their immortality and eternal youth, while keeping monsters out. It counts as Five-Second Foreshadowing that the Deku Babas near him are USUALLY the first enemies Link faces. You can fight Mad Scrubs and a Wolfos in the Sacred Forest Meadow if you know the route, though why would you go there so early in the game?
• Never Grew Up: Saria and the rest of the Kokiri.
• Never Land: The Kokiri Forest area. The Kokiri who live there never age past their childhood.
• New Game+: In the 3DS remake, completing the game unlocks the Master Quest mode.
• Nice Day, Deadly Night: Being caught outside of Hyrule Town at night as young Link will cause the drawbridge to be raised (preventing you from entering) and cause 'Stalchildren' to rise from the ground and attack if you step off the path. They aren't particularly strong (and have Super Drowning Skills), but they constantly keep coming until dawn (and every 12th one will be progressively larger).
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: After you unseal the Temple of Time and grab the Master Sword, Ganondorf shows up to claim the Triforce ahead of you, thanking you for doing all the heavy lifting for him. Oops. Zelda laments this as well: She didn't expect the Master Sword to suddenly spirit Link away seven years into the future while Ganondorf conquers all of Hyrule in the meantime. In fact, you opening the door was literally the only way Ganondorf could have ever gotten his hands on the Triforce, though Zelda did not know that at the time.
  • And then does it again by sending Link back to his childhood. Though this leads into theChildTimeline, it causes there to not be a Hero to oppose Ganondorf when he does break out as promised, leading to the backstory of The Wind Waker.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: As painful as it is to say it, but thanks for being a prick and not letting us see the Great Deku Tree without a sword and shield, Mido! While Mido was doing it just to be a pest to Link and bar his way like a schoolyard bully, the sword and shield do turn out to be necessary both to kill the Deku Babas on the way to the Great Deku Tree, as well as the plethora of enemies inside it.
• Nintendo Hard: As explained before, the remake adds the Boss Rush mode. The Master Quest version does away with recovery items between bosses. Made even worse when you're only given three hearts to fight all bosses who can potentially kill you with one hit due to double damage. Yes, the game is forcing you to do a Minimalist Run.
  • Master Quest in general, which redesigns the dungeons to produce trickier puzzles and more confusing layouts (with the major exception of the Water Temple, which was made easier).
• No Fair Cheating:
  • Using a teleport song while delivering a time-sensitive item as part of the Biggoron Sword quest will reduce the timer to 1 second upon arriving at your destination, causing it to immediately spoil. Likewise, if you use a teleport song during the Running Man contest, the timer will skip ahead to several seconds before the time you're supposed to beat.
  • For Dampé's game and the Fire Arrows, you have to manually wait for the time of day to change.
• No Flow in CGI: The designers at least have Zelda's dresses warp a little to show some animation. Ganondorf's cape also animates quite well during the fight against him. When he's beaten, though, it moves straight through his body as he collapses. Played Straight with Link's hat, which is stuck in the same downward arc no matter how he positions his head, which is noticeable as all games following Majora's Mask made sure to have it very fluidly animated (issues with clipping into his shield not withstanding).
• Non-Mammal Mammaries: Even though she's a fish humanoid, Princess Ruto obviously has breasts, which was Bowdlerized in the 3DS version by giving her an Organic Bra.
• No OSHA Compliance: It's no wonder the Sheikahs aren't around anymore if their idea of a good place to build a settlement is the base of an active volcano and then keep it there on top of a reasonable facsimile of hell.
• Novelization: The strategy guide was sort of written as one of these. There was also a more straight-up novelization.
• Oblivious Adoption: Link isn't a Kokiri. He's the son of a Hylian woman who gave Link to the Deku Tree so he watched over him until the time for his heroic adventures came. It takes half the game for him (and the player) to find out.
• Obviously Evil: Ganondorf, and Ingo after the Time Skip, are quite evil-looking, and they do turn out to be bad. Subverted in Ingo's case, as he strangely goes back to good without explanation after Link escapes from the ranch.
  • Akira Himekawa played Ingo's case, see Brainwashed and Crazy above.
• Oh, Crap!: The moments right before the final boss battle. You watch Ganondorf die, you escape the tower and watch it collapse on him. As Link and Zelda are celebrating, they hear a noise, and Link goes to check it out. Suddenly, the pile of rubble explodes, and Ganondorf flies out of it. He flashes his Triforce, and then transforms. Then he knocks the Master Sword, the only weapon that can kill him, out of Link's hands and outside a wall of fire. Of course, it helps that this is one of the few times over the course of the game that Link's facial expression changes.
• Ominous Floating Castle: Ganon's Castle, hovering above a pit of lava where Hyrule Castle used to be.
  • Some Foreshadowing that Ganondorf's not dead yet? The Flying Island the castle is on is still afloat.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: When you confront Ganondorf in his chamber, he's playing one.
  • Left the Background Music On: And it's the BGM for the inner keep area.
• One-Winged Angel: Ganondorf's transformation to Ganon for the final battle, as well as Koume and Kotake's transformation into Twinrova in the second half of their boss battle.
• Only the Chosen May Ride: Epona is described by Ingo as being a 'wild horse'. The only ones she seems to be friendly with are Malon, who raised her; and Link, the only other to know her song, having learned it from Malon, who learned it from her mother, who composed it.
• Only Good People May Pass: The entrance to the Sacred Realm (also known as the Golden Land) where the Triforce dwells is hidden and requires four sacred objects (the Kokiri Emerald, Goron Ruby, Zora Sapphire and Ocarina of Time) that are each protected by the various nations that populate Hyrule. Only possessing all four and then playing the Song of Time in the Temple of Time will reveal the hidden entrance, but this is technically possible if the items are stolen through nefarious means. The final test, however, is pulling out the Master Sword, which can't be touched by someone evil. Unfortunately, there's nothing stopping someone evil from waiting for a good person to do all that, and then step inside and enter the Sacred Realm themselves.
• Organic Bra: Princess Ruto in the 3DS version, even in her youth.
• Overly Long Gag: King Zora moving aside. 'Wib.' <shuffle> 'Wib.' <shuffle> 'Wib.'
• Parental Abandonment: Link is an orphan raised as a Kokiri.
• Pause Abuse: You can use a variant of this when racing the ghost of Dampe. Since his tomb is one of the few locations that warp songs won't work in, you can abuse the error message playing one generates. You are free to move during the textbox, and it won't deduct time from the countdown.
• Permanently Missable Content: If you do not obtain the Deku Nuts and Deku Sticks upgrade from the Forest Stage before getting the Poacher's Saw in the Nintendo 64 version, due to a glitch, you will not be able to obtain them later, preventing 100% completion. This is fixed in the Nintendo 3DS version.
• Pimped-Out Dress: The first canonical appearance of Zelda's iconic dress.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Drop a tiny beetle on a patch of soil, and it will forcibly evict the Skulltula that was previously there.
• Pivotal Wake-up: With one exception, the Gibdos in the Bottom Of The Well are sleeping in coffins when Link comes in. None of them need to be defeated, though, as the key can be acquired without waking one up.
• Planet of Copyhats: Ganondorf had been established as a thief in A Link to the Past. This time around, he is revealed to have been part of the Gerudo tribe, who are all thieves.
• Platform Battle: Many of them, including with Ganondorf.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: The seven years Link spends in the Temple of Time.
• Plucky Comic Relief: The Gorons are, on average, probably the most cheerful, friendly race in the game. Which only makes it even more disturbing to see them begging for mercy in the Fire Temple, where they're about to be fed to a dragon, as a 'warning' to those who might oppose Ganondorf.
• Power Floats: After ascending from an Evil Sorcerer to a God-Emperor, Ganondorf gains the ability to levitate, most notably in his Final Boss fight with Link.
• Power-Up Food: Lon Lon Milk, which can be acquired by beating a simple minigame at Lon Lon Ranch. It instantly refills 5 hearts on drinking it, and you can get free refills of it any time you return, and you can take two drinks of it per bottle, even back to back, for a total of 10 hearts per bottle.
• Prequel: Set before A Link to the Past's Imprisoning War...so to speak. See Alternate Timeline above.
• Primordial Chaos: 'Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule...'.
• Prison Episode: The first time you get to Gerudo Fortress as an adult, the Gerudos arrest you and a prison break stage begins. You have to rescue a bunch of carpenters that were also locked in — but to do so, first you must defeat the same number of Gerudo fighters. It's worth noting that you keep all your inventory in this stage, and that as soon as a Gerudo sees you, you'll be locked in again.
• Purple Prose: Sheik's dialog.
• Puzzle Boss: Bongo Bongo. This guy has you shoot his hands to make his eye vulnerable, while the latter remains invisible and will ram you. Combining the Lens of Truth to see him when invisible and the Hover Boots to combat the constant bouncing is the key to taking him down. Though, experienced players don't even NEED the Lens Of Truth to know where his eye is.

• Reality Warping: The titular Ocarina of Time lets you manipulate time and weather, teleport, etc.
• Retcon: Prior to Ocarina of Time, it was firmly established in the backstory of A Link to the Past that although the people of Hyrule looked for a hero to wield the Master Sword to fight Ganon during the Imprisoning War, no such figure ever emerged. Ocarina of Time is based on that backstory but introduces a predecessor Link who did wield the Master Sword and fought Ganon. Consequently, future retellings of the Imprisoning War staring with Hyrule Historia mention that the Master Sword was wielded by the Hero of Time in a duel against Ganondorf (it's just that the hero lost the battle).
• Rewarding Vandalism: In Hyrule, money literally grows on trees. And under bushes. And, um, inside pottery and rocks. They have yet to perfect a method of getting into any of these without destroying them in the process. According to The Minish Cap, the Minish put them there.
• Roar Before Beating: The newly-transformed Ganon as he swings his twin blades around. He even lets one out after Navi says she's not gonna be held back again.
• Royal Blood: Princess Zelda, the Seventh Sage.
• Sailor Fuku: Malon's dress has a similar cut, but obviously isn't a school uniform.
• Same Content, Different Rating: The original N64 version was rated E for Everyone, and so were the ports directly based on this version (GCN and Wii). The 3DS remake is rated E10+, but most of the content is intact (and some is even softened, such as the removal of blood in some parts and Princess Ruto having an Organic Bra).
• Samus Is a Girl: The official 1998 Player's Guide talks about Sheik as a male, and having Sheik turn out to be Zelda was a HUGE plot reveal at the time.
• Scenery Gorn: The Bottom of the Well, Shadow Temple, and Castle Town post-Time Skip.
• Scenery Porn: The entire game has lovely scenery. Taken up a few levels in the remake.
• Scrolling Text: One of the game's major drawbacks; the speed of scrolling text is vexingly slow, coming up one letter at a time. There is no real way to speed it up; sometimes you can skip whole speechis (and completely miss what's said) by hitting the B button, but usually only if you have already spoken to the person in question, and sometimes not even then, and sometimes there is no way at all to skip the long-winded speeches.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Ganondorf's ultimate fate. Also, Bongo Bongo until Link clears the Water Temple.
• Sealed Good in a Can: What happened when young Link pulled the Master Sword out of its pedestal: He isThe Chosen One, but because he was too young to wield the sword properly, his spirit was sealed up until he was old enough, which took seven years. To the player, this is nothing more than a Time Skip (and Time Travel), but for the rest of the world... just see The Slow Path below.
• Self-Deprecation: In Desert Colossus, close to the Spirit Temple's entrance, a Gossip Stone alludes to the Ice Arrows and how they aren't a worthy reward for beating the Bonus Dungeon they're found in, since they don't actually serve much practical use.
  Gossip Stone: They say that the treasure you can earn in the Gerudo's Training Ground is not as great as you would expect, given its difficulty.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: Ocarina of Time is almost as popular for this as Super Mario 64, to the extent that there are several different types of speedrunning challenges for the game:
  • The first is the Vanilla Run, which is simply completing the game as fast as possible.
  • The second type is the Glitch Run, which requires exploiting glitches that allow insane amounts of Sequence Breaking in the game, such as skipping the child portion of the Spirit Temple early, skipping the Forest, Fire, and Water Temples entirely (save for acquiring the Fairy's Bow from the Forest Temple), only completing the Shadow and Spirit Temples, and skipping the trials in Ganon's Castle; or skipping every adult dungeon by using the 'reverse bottle adventure' glitch.
  • The third is the Mask and Skulltula Run. The goal is collecting all 100 Gold Skulltulas and the Mask of Truth in the fastest possible time.
  • The fourth is the 100% Completion run, which means grabbing every heart piece and finding the double heart fairy, getting every weapon and their upgrades, all four bottles, all 100 Gold Skulltulas, and learning all of the Ocarina songs, including the Scarecrow Song. Notably, the name of this run is somewhat misleading—unlike a true 100% run, you can skip a few things in it to save time (i.e. Farore's Wind, Nayru's Love, Dungeon Maps, Compasses, Masks, Biggoron's Sword and any requirement for Magic Beans).
  • And there are several different kinds of Minimalist Runs you can attempt, such as the Three-Heart Run.
• Self-Inflicted Hell: You can go the whole game without figuring this out, but talk to one Goron in particular about the starvation threat the Gorons face early in the game. According to what he says, the Gorons can eat other rocks and meet their dietary needs, they're just so used to the ones inside Dodongo's Cavern that they won't. Considering the fact that the Gorons live in a cave carved into rock, on a mountain, this is akin to 'starving' to death in a pantry because you're used to fine dining.
• Sequence Breaking: To the point that you could finish the game without going to any dungeon or temple if skilled enough... in less than 25 minutes.
  • 'Normal' sequence breaking includes finishing (not going to) Lord Jabu-Jabu before Dodongo's Cavern, doing the Fire Temple before the Forest Temple, doing the Water Temple before the Fire Temple, doing the Spirit Temple before the Shadow Temple, and completely skipping the Bottom of the Well. It's also possible to save all four carpenters and get the Gerudo Token before even setting foot inside any of the temples.
  • There are so many possibilities for sequence breaking in this game that speedrunners master different 'categories', such as complete (all 3 stones) Young Link runs, Any% runs where only getting to the ending matters, 100% runs where a player must complete everything, the list goes on. There's even bingo card generators with a series of objectives competing runners must complete.
  • To give an idea of the possibilities that people keep finding about, a speedrunner without any assistance beat the time of an early TAS of the game. By several hours.
  • There are, of course, more modest examples that don't involve speed runs or even severe glitches:
    • The N64 games allowed Link to jump over low fences or obstacles in a realistic fashion using backflips and side jumps, leading to some potentially unexpected situations. Starting with the Nintendo GameCube games, this isn't possible anymore- even low fences have invisible walls preventing Link from vaulting over them.
    • The first time that Link visits Kakariko Village, he can climb up the tower, line up a side jump, and just land on the roof with the man looking up at the sky. This man gives Link a Piece of Heart. What makes this sequence breaking is the fact that the man says 'Nice to see you again...' without having seen Link before.
    • Once Link gains the ability to throw Bomb Flowers, he can go up to the area overlooking Dodongo's Cavern with his back to a corner of the low fence. If he picks up/throws the bomb and quickly backflips before the flower reappears, he will land on top of the cave entrance (admittedly with some Falling Damage), which has another Piece of Heart. You're supposed to get there by planting a Magic Bean, then returning as an adult and riding it to the top of the cavern.
    • There's another Piece of Heart on a ledge in the Kakariko Village windmill that's meant to reached as an adult by going through Dampe's Grave. Child Link can get it with a very precise boomerang throw.
• Sequential Boss:
  • Barinade has three phases, all of which require the Boomerang or you will be fried.
    • The first phase has you severing Barinade from Jabu-Jabu's body with the Boomerang. Simple enough, just keep on the move or those satellite dish emitters will zap you.
    • The second phase has you destroying the special Bari circling Barinade, which can also be done by whaling on Barinade himself. Either way, you first have to stun Barinade with the Boomerang or you might as well be hitting an electrified fence with a key.
    • The third phase has Barinade moving around, but you can still stun him, and yet after 3 hits, Barinade will retreat into the ground, still zapping at you, and stay there a few seconds.
  • Phantom Ganon. In the first phase, he's riding a horse and attacks you with a powerful electric attack that splits upon contact with the floor. After giving him three hits with the arrows or the Hookshot, he'll dismount from the horse and change his pattern, floating in the air and throwing electric spheres that can be deflected back and forth in a Tennis Boss sequence.
  • Then, Twinrova. When you start the battle, they fight separately and attack with long streams of ice/fire magic that does a boatload of damage. Link needs to reflect the magic at the opposite twin with the Mirror Shield. After doing enough damage, a cutscene plays that has them combine into Twinrova, and now you need to absorb the attacks with the shield; get three of the same element in a row and then rush forward to blow it back. Then you can start slashing.
  • Iron Knuckles are a mini-boss example in that each one Turns Red and starts running at Link once at half HP.
• Shall I Repeat That?: The owl Kaepora Gaebora gives Link advice throughout the game, giving Link the option to have him repeat himself afterwards. That's all well and good, though — wait, what do you mean that the default is 'Yes, I do want to hear that again' and 'No, I don't understand'? It is very easy to rush through his text and make him repeat himself over and over and over again, especially when you consider how slow the text scrolls unless you mash the A button (Or skip it with the B button).
  Kaepora Gaebora: Did you get all that?
  No ←
  Yes
  Kaepora Gaebora: Do you want to hear what I said again?
  Yes ←
  No
  • Thankfully, he gets better in Four Swords Adventures, where this doesn't even come into play as badly. His optional words of wisdom are so optional that you have to call him to get him to talk. Otherwise, you don't have to be in talking range to trigger his mandatory lines.
• She Is All Grown Up :
  • Link goes from Adorably Precocious Child to hot Bishōnen over the course of seven years, much to Nabooru's delight.
  • Malon, Zelda, and Ruto also grow from precious children into gorgeous adults after the seven years.
• Shielded Core Boss: Barinade is a bio-electric tumor that wants to kill you, but killing it first requires ridding it of the protective jellyfish that've attached themselves to it. It's the boss of Jabu-Jabu's Belly, the third and final Spiritual Stone dungeon.
• Shifting Sand Land: The Haunted Wasteland, and the Desert Colossus after it. The former has a sandstorm that makes the environment more difficult to look at, as well as quicksand. The latter is more stable terrain-wise, but also overrun by Leevers.
• Short-Distance Phone Call: Averted; if you use Saria's Song right next to Saria herself, she'll comment on it and wonder why you use it, since she's right there.
• Shout-Out:
  • The four Poe Sisters are named Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth.
  • In the German translation, the four carpenters (Ichiro, Jiro, Sabooro and Shiro) are called John, Paul, George and Ringo.
  • Also in the German translation, Ingo is referred to as Basil, though the Manual still calls him Ingo.
  • Also there are five Mario references: outside Link's house is a drawing of a knight fighting Bowser with a mushroom dropping from above him, Malon and Talon have Bowser head brooches and there are pictures of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and Yoshi in the Castle Courtyard. Not to mention Sharp and Flat, Poe versions of Mario and Luigi who appear if you examine the graves on either side of the Royal Family's Tomb. Then there's Talon andIngo themselves...
    The remake does away with the paintings in the Courtyard, but looking through the window does show what looks like a level from New Super Mario Bros..
  • The Kokiri race has various allusions to Peter Pan, such as them being accompanied by fairies, their child-like image and playfulness, and the fact that they can't grow up. Also, Miyamoto has stated that Navi has a crush on Link and is jealous of Zelda, an allusion of Tinkerbell being in love with the eponymous main character and being jealous of Wendy (coincidentially, this kind of relationship was also in the Western animated series).
  • The BGM in the Forest Temple includes the leitmotif for the titular alien from Predator.
• Sigil Spam: The Triforce symbol is on almost everything, and the Gerudo symbol is on every block and switch in the game. And there are many blocks with the Door Of Time's design on it, and guess how you deal with those?
  • How ridiculous is the Triforce symbol spam? The 3DS version had the Triforce show up on the effing MOON of all things!
• Signpost Tutorial: The game contains a number of literal signposts in a maze near the cave that leads to the Kokiri Sword. These cover basic jumping and attack maneuvers. You can ignore them if you want to (and most people do, as unlike some tutorials, the game doesn't say You Shouldn't Know This Already if you use them) and still be able to do everything.
• The Slow Path: While you time travel, everyone else has to live through all seven years of Ganondorf's rule.
• Songs in the Key of Lock: Just as when its predecessors in the franchise often removed something barring your progress (except in A Link to the Past), Link's ocarina can be used for the same purpose. Zelda's Lullaby will trigger mechanisms if Link stands on 'the Crest of the Royal Family' aka the Triforce; the Song Of Time removes and summons blocks with the Door Of Time's design on it, starting with the Door Of Time itself; and the Song Of Storms opens up the Bottom Of The Well.
• Source Music: That organ playing in the background in Ganon's Castle? Ganondorf himself is playing it. It even stops when he does!
• Spoiler Opening: The artwork on the side of the box reveals adult Zelda. Likewise, the title screen and most official art shows Adult Link doing things. The one twist that is preserved is HOW this is brought about.
• Sprite/Polygon Mix: Outside, sprites are used for effects and some flat-but-detailed objects. Most building interiors have 3D characters and objects, but a totally 2D background with fake perspective which hides parts of Link to allow him to walk 'behind' objects. Averted completely in the remake, where all backdrops are polygonal models due the more powerful hardware on the 3DS and to it being obviously fake when viewed with stereoscopic vision.
• Stable Time Loop: In the future, Link meets an irritated musician who accidentally teaches him a song a young boy played in his windmill seven years ago by recollecting it. Of course, it's then your mission to go back and play it to him so he can later teach it to you in the future.
  • Master Quest has an inversion: In the Spirit Temple, you create a chest as Adult Link then go back in time where it's somehow still there. Note that it wasn't there the first time you visited the temple.
• Standard Hero Reward: For defeating Barinade, Ruto basically proposes to you. Of course, you're both kids at the time, so it doesn't quite turn out that way. That said, Ruto still takes the proposal, and Link's alleged acceptance, seriously seven years later.
• Start of Darkness: This was the first game in the series to explore Ganon's origins and introduced Ganondorf, who would become Ganon when he took the Triforce of Power.
• Stay on the Path: At night, if Young Link leaves the path while travelling through Hyrule Field, he will be attacked by Stalchildren. Oddly enough, when Link awakens after seven years, no Stalchildren will appear; instead, Poes appear.

• Stealth-Based Mission: Getting past the guards at Hyrule Castle. Also, rescuing the carpenters from the Gerudo's Fortress. And, to a lesser extent, the maze to get to the Forest Temple, in that getting caught doesn't lead to a Stupid Surrender.
• The Stinger: Young Link once again finds Zelda at the exact moment that she's spying on Ganondorf's meeting with her father. She turns to face him, followed by a Fade to Gray. ^note
• The Story That Never Was: Zelda resets the timeline to just before Link met her and she sent him off to try to stop Ganondorf on his own. They realize that Ganondorf would've never have risen to power if they had simply turned him over to the proper authorities instead of unlocking the Sacred Realm, which gave him the opportunity to steal the Triforce. However, in doing so she actually failed to fully erase everything and created at least two timelines - one where Link simply vanished from existence after defeating Ganon as an adult (The setting of Wind Waker and its sequels), and one where he exposed the conspiracy as a child. (The setting of Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures) Word of God is that despite being able to live out his childhood, Link retained memories of the events of the plot and lived an unfulfilled life because he never got to be the Hero of Time.
• Stupid Surrender: When sneaking through either Hyrule Castle or the Gerudo's Fortress, Link will remain rooted to the spot if a guard sees him, rather than letting you run away or use any of your numerous weapons. This makes no sense at Gerudo's Fortress, since the guards can be knocked out with a single arrow, and there are times when Link actually has to fight some of them, so why he throws up his hands and surrenders goes unexplained.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Sheik is Zelda.
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Master Sword, again. It is presented to you just as you unveil what you think is going to be the Sacred Realm, and pulling it out....causes your plan to fail, Ganon's to win, evil to reign for seven years, and you to fall asleep for the whole thing.
• Symbolic Blood: After you defeat Ganondorf he falls to the ground, his red cape unfolding around him in a way that makes it look like blood is flowing out of him.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: Koume and Kotake, as well as their combined form, Twinrova. If the sisters never passed by each other during the fight (allowing them to be hit by their counterpart's attack), they'd be invincible. Meanwhile, Twinrova doesn't mind hitting you with spells your Mirror Shield can absorb and throw back at her, making her vulnerable.
  • Ganondorf uses a Desperation Attack that leaves him open to a free Light Arrow shot if you're just getting good, or speed-running.
• Temporal Paradox: You learn the Song of Storms from the man inside the windmill, who tells you that 7 years ago, some kid played the song and screwed things up. You warp back 7 years and play the song, letting the guy learn it when you do so. At no time is a legitimate origin of the song established.
  • However, the same song turning up in Majora's Mask may provide some degree of closure.
• Tennis Boss: Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf, to the extent that this trope is sometimes referred to as 'Ganonball'. At least as far as the franchise is concerned, the OoT version is the Trope Codifier.
• Tentacle Rope: The Water Temple boss, Morpha, can grab Link and swing him around before throwing him against the wall. This is even shown in Morpha's official art, except Link doesn't lose his weapon.
• Theme Naming:
  • The four kidnapped carpenters are named after Japanese numbers: Ichiro (Ichi, 1), Jiro (Ni/Ji, 2), Sabooro (San, 3), Shiro (Shi, 4).
  • The Poe Sisters in the Forest Temple are named after the sisters from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
• This Cannot Be!: See Villainous Breakdown.
  Ganondorf: The Great Evil King Ganondorf... beaten by this kid?!
• This Is the Final Battle: Spoken by Navi.
• Time Travel: Putting the Master Sword back in its pedestal allow Link to travel back in time, which is needed both story-wise and gameplay-wise.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: The Master Sword allows you to travel back in time. Sometimes you actually can change the past from the future (such as Heart Pieces and other collectibles), other times you can't. One plot event depends on creating a Stable Time Loop. Eiji Aonuma confirms that the time travel at the end of the game created a split in the timeline explicitly because Link used Back To The Future-based time travel; one timeline where Link returned to the past (and arrested Ganondorf, altering a fixed event), one timeline where Link disappeared to the first timeline (thereby altering only flux events), and one timeline where he disappeared from past and present (a logical interim timeline between existing in the present and then using time travel to exist in the past). These three timelines have their own sequels.
• Tree Trunk Tour: The first dungeon in the game, Inside the Great Deku Tree.
• Tsundere: Ruto. Decidedly tsun-tsun type. She acts harshly towards Link at the start of the game, but her feelings gradually become more affectionate, culminating in a marriage proposal.
• Turns Red: You know Ganondorf is about to go down when they foolishly lower their guard to use an attack that is guaranteed to score a hit on newcomers. Pros and speed-runners take advantage of the opportunity for a free hit. Master players charge up a Spin Attack and time the release to when he unleashes his attack.
  • Iron Knuckles, as detailed under Sequential Boss, lose the heavy parts of their armor and start running at Link when they're at about half HP.

• Ultimate Blacksmith: Biggoron. His little brother is the penultimate blacksmith, too.
• Unbreakable Weapons: All swords except the Giant's Knife, and all items except the Deku Stick.
• Underground Monkey: Many enemies come in assorted colours, sometimes indicating vulnerability to elemental attacks, others just to indicate they're not the same enemy.
• Unending End Card: The game leaves you hanging after the final cutscene with a still image of young Link warning Princess Zelda about Ganon.
• Unholy Ground: The Shadow Temple. Monsters like Redeads, Gibdos and Stalfos roam its halls and the temple itself is a gathering place for Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend:
  • Saria, who apparently has her ownUnlucky Childhood Friend in Mido.
  • Navi counts too since you've known her since the beginning of your journey and the developers have said that she has feelings for Link.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: Link's 'attack' default move is a short forward roll. It can break crates, knock stuff out of trees, and give you some extra distance in jumping, but that's about it. The only combat purpose it is good for is rolling under Ganon's legs. It gets you in position to attack his tail without shooting him in the face or taking time to circle around.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: This may exist between Link and Zelda during the end of the game.
• Unwinnable Joke Game: The infamous Marathon Man challenge. Don't listen to any fans claiming to have done it or have found some way to do so, or even people who have cheated and beaten it with 0:00 on the time or less, the Marathon Man will always beat you to the Kokiri Forest bridge—even the developers have confirmed that he cannot be beaten. They claim the reason for it was because they couldn't figure out a good reward to give the player for winning it, so they rigged it into a harmless, optional joke challenge instead.
• Unwitting Pawn: By getting all of the Spiritual Stones and taking the Master Sword, Link allows Ganondorf's plans to come to fruition.
• Updated Re-release: A version of the game that was packaged with certain copies of The Wind Waker, and in other regions was a preorder bonus, featured 'Master Quest', which is similar to vanilla Ocarina of Time but reorganizes puzzles inside the dungeons, making them more difficult. This mode was later included in the 3DS remake with a few additional changes.

• Variable Mix: In Hyrule Field, the music is made up of 21 different segments that are about 15 seconds long and shift around depending on whether Link is standing still, moving, or near an enemy. According to the developers, the Variable Mix program for the music was quite intensive on the N64's hardware.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: After the Sages you spent most the game bringing together make that light bridge leading to Ganon's castle, it's pretty obvious the plot ends here.
• Video Game 3D Leap: This is the first 3D Zelda game in the series, and uses the graphic engine that brought Super Mario 64 to life.

Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Review

• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • The Cuccos, of course. This time around, you can laugh at Video Game Cruelty Punishment in one location by trampling over them in Lon Lon Ranch with Epona and watching the entire flock chase after you from horseback — they can't actually harm you as long as you're on your horse.
  • The Poes. Link can move a grave, disturbing the soul's rest; he can then defeat it and trap it in a jar. From there he can either sell off the soul, or consume it to (have a chance to) revitalize himself.
  • The Skulltula family can be attacked from behind just like any other Skulltula, which makes them cry out in pain and be stunned for a bit. Of course, if you get close to them after they're stunned, they'll attack in retaliation.
  • Inverted with Epona. You have a limited amount of times you can slap her to make her go faster, but Ingo has an unlimited amount during the race.
• Video Game Remake: For the Nintendo 3DS.
• Villainous Badland, Heroic Arcadia: Ganondorf hails from the harsh Gerudo Desert, while Link spent his whole life in the idyllic - albeit somewhat muted — Kokiri forest. Sure enough, when Ganondorf takes over Hyrule, it turns into a wasteland of death. Lampshaded in The Wind Waker: Ganondorf admits that his initial reason for wanting to conquer Hyrule was the the land was green and fertile with winds that brought life while in the desert the wind brought nothing but death.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Ganondorf has one of these after the first round of his final battle with Link. After he's defeated and his castle collapses around him while Link, Zelda, and Navi escape, he bursts out of the rubble in a rage. He then uses the Triforce of Power to change into the feral, dual-sword-wielding, boar-like Ganon. His breakdown continues even after he reverts back to his human form as he angrily vows revenge against Link, Zelda, and the sages as they imprison him in the Sacred Realm.
  • A really weird example happens to Ingo after beating him in a horse race with Epona. First he becomes desperate because Link gets to keep the mare that was originally meant to be a present for Ganondorf, so he locks him up. What happens after Link escapes, anyway? He suddenly becomes nice the next time you enter the ranch. According to Miyamoto, the plan was to have Ingo burn down the ranch in a fit of madness after you beat him, but then someone asked what would happen if you re-entered the ranch, so it was dropped.
• Violation of Common Sense: There's an unusual method to avoiding ReDeads: Equipping the Iron Boots before getting close. Re Deads detect you based on sound, not sight. The Iron Boots are clunky and noisy...to the player. But the Re Deads will ignore you. This is because the game registers the sound of Link's slower walking animation differently from that of his regular walking. As long as you don't pull out or put away a weapon, you'll be completely invisible to them.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Completely inverted at one point: when Ganondorf's human form is defeated, Zelda calls him a 'pitiful man' and remarks that without a kind and righteous heart he could not hope to control the Triforce. She'd have gone on, but then the castle started coming down.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When Ganondorf dies. In the gold-cartridge version, he vomited up red blood, which was bowdlerized to green in subsequent versions.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Barinade. He's the first boss battle to have multiple 'stages' to it, as well as taking far more hits to kill. A player who's familiar with their attack patterns and weaknesses can easily beat Gohma and King Dodongo in about 20 and 40 seconds respectively without taking a single hit, but Barinade will likely take at least a minute-and-a-half or more, with a much higher chance of inflicting damage to the player in the meantime.
• The Walls Are Closing In: There's a room in the Shadow Temple where rickety wooden spike-walls slowly close in on you. (Hint: Smokey The Bear will forgive you THIS time.)
• Warp Whistle: Adult Link learns six songs that teleport him to various places throughout Hyrule. They also double as an Escape Rope in the sense that they will even work when played inside a dungeon (they won't work in boss rooms because the player is barred from using the ocarina at all when in a boss room).
• Weapon Jr.: The child Link gets a slingshot as his first dungeon item. It functions like a weaker version of the bow (which he can only use as an adult), hitting distant enemies and switches.
• Weaponized Offspring:
  • Gohma lays eggs as you fight her which, if not destroyed, hatch into baby spiders.
  • Sleeping Peahats send out a swarm of larvae when attacked at night. During the day, instead of spinning their slicey-dicey propeller leaves at Link, some take off when approached, hovering well out of bow range showering Link with larvae.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: With Princess Ruto in Jabu-Jabu's belly. She chews you out for following her, then for leaving her, and then tricks you into accepting her marriage proposal.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • The King is mentioned in the cutscene where you meet Zelda for the first time and later by Darunia (who refers to him as his 'sworn brother'.) The soldier in the Back Alley tells Link that Ganondorf betrayed the King. He's never mentioned after, not even in the context of what happened to him when Ganon took over. Akira Himekawa decided that Ganondorf killed the King in his coup d'état. Considering that's what Agahnim did in his gig, it's a relatively safe bet.
  • Lord Jabu-Jabu seems to have met some undefined fate in the future.
  • Navi. She just flies away. It's likely she goes to the new Deku Tree's side, since Majora's Mask begins with Link searching for her in the Lost Woods.
  • As Link enters the barren wasteland of the Market, several people Link normally sees seems to have disappeared until the credits.
• Wicked Cultured: Ganondorf. He's playing the organ while awaiting being confronted by Link but aside from that, he has strong knowledge of both the societies and the supernatural phenomena of the in-game world.
• Windmill Scenery: It is hard to miss the Kakariko Village windmill. It is actually a windpump that draws up water from the nighmarish well sitting in front of it. It would've taken a few years to pump out the water barring Link from the Bottom Of The Well, but the Song Of Storms makes it go so fast that it pumps all of it out in a few minutes. Then, once inside, Link drains the rest in order to confront Dead Hand.
• Wise Tree: The Great Deku Tree, guardian of Kokiri Forest and father figure to the Kokiri.
• Womb Level: Jabu-Jabu's Belly, which is a dungeon whose location is inside the titular Jabu-Jabu.
• Wrecked Weapon: Using the Giant's Knife several times will cause the blade to fly off, leaving you with a 200-rupee pocket knife. The real Infinity +1 Sword is unbreakable.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe:
  • The Great Deku Tree speaks like this, probably to signify just how old he is. The ad campaign (linked to in the first page quote) also liberally applied this trope.
  • The trailer shown for the remake at the 2011 E3 (and downloadable to the 3DS) is a remake of the above trailer and thus also uses it.
• You Already Changed the Past: The keeper of the windmill hut says that a kid ruined his hut with the Song Of Storms. He then teaches you the song the kid used, and you go back in time, realize said kid is you, and use the song to wreck his hut... ^note
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The Bombchu Bowling girl. Non-blue hair examples include Saria with green hair and Fado with blonde hair, when all the other Kokiri have reddish-brown hair^note ; and lastly Impa retains her gray hair despite being much younger than her previousappearances. A case could be made for the Gerudo, since flame-red hair on desert folk is an oddity in itself.
• You Have to Burn the Web: Thanks to this game, no one knows that spider webs aren't actually flammable — not even other game developers.
• You Shouldn't Know This Already: Even if you hit the right notes, the special effects associated with a given ocarina song (like the Sun's Song, which changes from day to night) won't activate until you've been officially taught the song by another character. Likewise, although the Scarecrow lets you play him a song as a kid (which becomes the Scarecrow's Song as an adult), it has to be a custom song — if you play a song that you're supposed to learn later (such as the Bolero of Fire), he won't remember it, but only tells you he can't say why. (He also says this to any song that's fewer than eight notes long.)
• Younger Than They Look: When Link turns into an adult, he looks about 20 or 21. However, Miyamoto states that he's only 16. His title of 'Adult' Link didn't really help.