The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-6.5 Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Z-targeting (a fairy (navi) locks on to enemies when nearing them, can strafe while it's locked on and keep facing the target)
Some good puzzles (forest temple's twisting rooms and falling roof with holes, light reflection in the spirit temple, floating platforms in the water temple, ganon's castle, using one chicken to hover jump to others in Kakariko, you can find skulltulas by listening for them)
More distinct dungeons throughout than in ALttP
Pretty nice ambient design (you can hear which location certain creatures are in and battle music starts and stops dynamically when near enemies)
New friendly race (Gorons) and the Zoras (who are good here) have more personality and lore
Much more expressive characters
Satisfying feedback from attacking enemies and from bombs
Walk or run based on how far you pull/push the analogue stick (Mario 64?)
Music element to gameplay (play three notes of a song on an ocarina to cast spells, unlock doors or contact certain NPCs - no regard to beat or length of notes but still pretty cool (see Monster World III (MD) for an earlier example), you can also make your own short ditty and record it as one of the songs (Scarecrow song))
Horseback riding (about a third of the way through) - can shoot arrows while on it and there's an archery range mini-game using the feature
Context sensitive actions (pushing/climbing blocks, reading signs, climbing ladders, entering narrow paths/holes, etc. - Zelda 3, Shinobi)
Warp magic (dungeons only) and warp songs (dungeon entrances, temple of time)
Time travel element (kid/adult time periods, plant seeds as a kid and then use the grown plant as an adult to reach new places, spirit temple entrance) - unfortunately you can only travel back and forth in the temple of time (should've worked like in ALttP)
New responses from NPCs when equipping masks (some say the same thing though) as well as small hidden bonuses
Some sequence breaking through more advanced techniques (bomb jump, invincibility frame jump (go through firewalls)
Longer jump by rolling before jumping and then attacking mid-jump?) - plenty more using glitches
If an arrow passes through a torch it is set ablaze
More interesting hookshot uses (mainly due to the 3D level design)
Scarecrow song can be used to spawn a scarecrow (to hookshot swing to) but only in certain spots (some places where Navi moves to and turns green but you can't "check" with the A button)
New things to catch in a bottle (bug and poe/ghost, blue fire; no bees though)
Ice floe physics (Mario 64)
More open ended structure after becoming an adult and beating the forest temple (gerudo fortress - after epona (don't need to beat the forest temple?), bottom of the well - after time travel, water temple - after iron boots+bow, spirit temple - after longshot+bow, shadow temple - after lens+bow+fire temple (and longshot?), gerudo training - after longshot+hover boots)
New gear (hover boots, iron boots, underwater breathing (blue tunic) and heat resistance (red tunic), lens of truth (shows fake walls and invisible paths over pits), longshot (hookshot upgrade), manually aimed mirror shield, stick (limited torch), )
Some dialogue choices besides yes and no answers (can't say no to major friendly NPC requests and keep going though - why include the response then?)
Some good bosses (ganon's second form, phantom ganon, twinrova's second form, iron knuckle, dead hand, barinade, bongo bongo)
Cool escape sequence before the final boss
Nice boss introductions
Nice ending cutscene
+/-
Respawning bushes (makes some of the game easier when you can farm for hearts though it takes some time)
Can't attack NPCs
Navi can't lock on to certain enemies (golden skulltulas)
Very linear structure in the first third of the game
Can't light sticks on certain torches
Day/night cycle (some enemies appear at night time only, sadly there's no option to quickly wait/rest until morning or evening (leads to some parts early on where you're just waiting around doing nothing - pretty soon you'll get a song that lets you skip ahead to midday/midnight but you need more exact timing for several quests)) - a full day is just a few minutes long in-game
Need certain items before you can buy items that you can find sooner (bomb bag for bombs, bottle for various stuff, bow for arrows)
Pretty obvious clues to some puzzles (sneaking into the castle, finding Saria in the lost woods, convincing the Goron chief, block puzzle in the forest temple (arrows on the floor))
Can't shimmy along platform edges
Loading puts you back at Kokiri village (or at the beginning of a dungeon?) until you're an adult (there's a shortcut between it and gorgon's city and zora's domain but still)
Easier laser eye traps
Can't blow up various objects that are weaker than stone (and you can only blow up certain rocks blocking your progression)
Can't dive from land unless from a greater height
Fall damage from great heights (unless you hold the jump button to roll - if there's no space in front of Link to roll on then you'll still take damage)
Annoying shield destroying enemies (can't get it back if a firebat hits the wooden shield - need to buy it back though there is a shop in the first dungeon you meet them (dodongo's cavern) and an extra one in the other one (below the well))
A bit odd how soft soil patches are also used to lure out more gold skulltulas with bugs
Can't visit Hyrule castle after meeting up with the princess (you have a letter, the royal song and Impa guided you out earlier)
Pretty easy to get money/rupees (castle drawbridge chain, sell bottled bugs in hyrule market, sell poes as an adult - less efficient for some reason)
Time travel element could've been more developed in dungeons
No non-dungeon use for the gorgon tunic
Underused hammer item (you can smash harder rocks and make regular enemies fall over with it but it's not used in a particularly interesting way in its dungeon - could've been used to fling something into the air using a teeter maybe? (or for a wack-a-mole mini-game))
The golden skulltulas are too easy to kill
Dark Link is too easy with the hammer and kind of cheap without using it or Din's Fire
Stalfos in the forest temple can walk on air and you don't need to bomb them to kill them
Need a rumble pack to find some golden skulltulas (stone of agony makes the controller vibrate when near some secret areas)
It's possible to get all gold skulltulas from one spot by using a glitch (under the lone tree at Hyrule castle - play the song of storms to get there)
The giant's knife isn't worth it (breaks after just a few hits even after upgrading it)
Can't win the race against the running man
Some gore/horror elements (blood and torture devices in the bottom of the well dungeon, re-deads)
Middle eastern symbols representing the gerudo?
Song of storms could've been an alternative to the lens of truth? (the rain)
Many NPCs stand in place without really doing anything
Need the goron bracelet to pick up bushes/weeds while you can pick up small rocks by default
Very easy ice cavern boss/mini-boss
Silent protagonist (a bit awkward when NPCs reply to things Link says that the player can't read)
Rooms reset when exiting them
Odd that you meet cows in hidden caves
Some recoil when smashing things with the hammer
No bees in the beehives?
Enemies tend to attack one at a time
Pretty silly that the gorgons are starving because they're picky about which rocks to eat
Longer dungeons overall
Some segments are timed (some training ground rooms, some puzzles, mushroom delivery)
Missing gear and spells from previous games (raft, cross (see eye ghosts), ladder, magic key (fits all locks), magic cape (invisiblity/protection vs spikes); jump, life (healing), fairy (transform into a fairy - could've been used for controlling navi and scouting), thunder (smart bomb))
Optional ice arrow (can't stand on frozen enemies)
-
Unskippable cutscenes (including "opening a big chest" or "entering a dungeon" animations) and no message/quest log or journal feature
Non-stop beeping when at low health
Plenty of dead space
Some movement delay when perfoming some actions (before diving, after jumping backwards in Z-mode, readying your hookshot with z-targeting, rolling into a wall, picking up a small stone, need to wait for ~2 seconds before putting away a stick, )
Need to take out your sword after targeting an enemy to perform the jump attack
Need to stand at a distance from the enemy when performing a jump attack or you'll get hit
Can't speed up or skip story text (nor the tutorial text in the beginning) and speeding up dialogue text sometimes skips the entire message instead of one text box/paragraph at a time
Somewhat slow start (can't ask anyone about the sword location (?) and only Saria about the shield, pointless detour into the lost woods (need a slingshot and/or shield))
Some collectathon tendencies (need to collect at least 10 golden skulltula tokens to carry more than 99 rupees (which is needed to buy later gear and items), need to do a sidequest to carry more bombs, etc.)
Some trial & error (can't use a bomb/bombchu instead of a torch/fire arrow/fire spell for some puzzles - web roof in ganon's castle for example, figuring out which song to play when navi goes green and you can't use "check", can only kill hostile skull kids with the biggoron sword, need to "use" the pocket cucco in front of the woman you got it from to finish that part of the item trading quest, some fairy types can't be kept in a bottle, can swing your sword through fences and even hit some enemies inside blocks and rocks, finding out a mask's use and who to trade give it to (there's usually an NPC giving you a clue for the latter but finding it can take a long time), bottom of the well dungeon's floor traps (need to find the lens of truth before you can see them), can roll into certain wooden boxes to break them but not cut them with your sword, soldier detection FoV, treasure box mini-game - can use the lens of truth here though, need to stand behind a gravestone to see that you can pull it, finding a heart piece by having the gravedigger dig it up for you - also takes quite a while since he moves so slowly, some golden skulltula locations)
Can't use the top down view option in dungeons (could've been done via Navi; most of the game has simpler puzzles than in LA or ALttP though so it might've made the game too easy)
Some camera issues (zoomed out view when diving, can sometimes see through walls in tight spaces, suboptimal angles at times (you can pretty much always re-align the camera quickly to behind Link or go into FP look around mode but occasionally the camera ends up behind a wall or obstacle - happens more frequently in the shadow temple))
Somewhat stiff/unresponsive targeting in FP mode (should've worked more dynamically like with movement and it makes the archery range mini-game (need 1500 points for a quiver) very hard)
Can't press Z to look straight ahead indoors and in some tighter areas
Can't use the sword indoors (nor certain sub weapons in some houses such as the chicken house in lon lon ranch)
The game's picky about your positioning when interacting with objects and NPCs (need to stand directly in front of a chest or NPC to interact, standing slightly off near ladders or signs makes the game not trigger the context sensitive actions, too easy to get stuck on some objects when riding Epona)
No control or sound config ("hey, listen!")
Can't walk/jump over/climb certain lower objects for seemingly no reason (Kokiri village, Lon Lon Ranch, )
Some tedious parts (waiting/repeating the sun song for the biggoron sword to become finished, having to get the compass for each dungeon gets a bit old, some unnecessary use of the hookshot in the water temple (before the boss room for example - the challenge is in finding the key and not getting to the room), can't see some treasure on the mini-map in the water temple (only in the menu), water temple boss's (morpha) and bongo bongo's grab attacks (and how you picky the game is about positioning when trying to drag morpha's core onto land as it's bouncing around on its own), some detours/dead ends with crappy items at the end of them, having to redo several longer segments if you fall down, jabu-jabu's belly (escort mission (have to carry a princess throughout the dungeon and she'll teleport back to where you found her if you leave the room she's in or if she ends up in water) + kind of annoying enemies (manets need to be stunned here) + boring mini-bosses), waiting for slow platforms, having to bomb multiple walls in succession at one point, redoing the stealth segments if you get detected - first one's fairly short though, slow block/box pushing - getting the gauntlets doesn't help)
Some hit detection problems (when grabbing heart pieces with the boomerang as they're coming towards Link, vs. Dark Link, the moblins before the forest temple)
Can't use the top down view where it would be helpful in dungeons (block sliding puzzles, some cramped maze parts)
Z-targeting is a bit unreliable around flying enemies above Link (could've been made to work better by FP looking at them and then hitting Z to go back to TP targeting)
Can't add you own notes to the map
Can't look around or use z-targeting in some outdoors areas (for example Hyrule Castle town - pre-rendered backgrounds areas basically (at least you can often use an alternate top down view in houses))
Can't sell items in shops
Link can now get knocked down for a second or two by various attacks
Some backtracking early on (the owl helps a bit but isn't flexible enough (you could've been able to call it with a song and pick from more locations to go to)
At Zora's domain you get warp magic (set warp points to warp to) but it doesn't work in dungeons without a map inside nor outside of dungeons, for golden skulltula tokens after you get the boomerang) - about a third of the way through you get a horse to ride on
The game repeats certain tutorial and direction messages several times
Rather limited bomb throwing controls (either put it down when still or throw it a set distance when moving)
Makes no sense that you can't use for example the boomerang as an adult (the slingshot would've made the bow mostly redundant though)
Sometimes generic art style (Hyrule town and objects like torches - most of the game is more stylized/cartoony)
Somewhat blurry pre-rendered areas, Some blurry textures and objects like fences and vines are completely flat
Can't switch between some gear without going into the menu (iron boots, hover boots, shield)
Annoying forest temple music
No gameplay use for the gorgon/zora/gerudo masks (can't use the gerudo mask to get into gerudo valley for example)
The game is inconsistent about stealth in the gerudo fortress (you can't fight regular guards but can fight prison guards (until they do a certain amount of damage to Link anyway)) - this segment would've been more fun if they had to surround you to catch you or if you had to run and hide for a while after detection (due to high difficulty) like in Metal Gear instead of getting thrown in the cell immediately
You'll keep getting more of an item from pots etc. that you've already fully stocked (slows down farming/grinding)
Some invisible walls (some low fences that Epona can't jump over, above the cell in the Gerudo fortress (can't hop over the low fence despite being able to longshot over it to a chest nearby))
No shovel/cane of somaria (the song of time does create blocks but only in a few set spots)/flipper items
Blue fires are basically keys in a different shape
The FP camera when looking around goes back to default forward view when you let go of the analog stick (doesn't happen when shooting)
Some backtracking for specific shop items
Redundant golden scale upgrade (iron boots)
Some repeated puzzles and one repeated mini-boss
Easy and repetitive fight against ganon's first form
Bugs/glitches:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time/Glitches
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
+
Z-targeting (a fairy (navi) locks on to enemies when nearing them, can strafe while it's locked on and keep facing the target)
Some good puzzles (forest temple's twisting rooms and falling roof with holes, light reflection in the spirit temple, floating platforms in the water temple, ganon's castle, using one chicken to hover jump to others in Kakariko, you can find skulltulas by listening for them)
More distinct dungeons throughout than in ALttP
Pretty nice ambient design (you can hear which location certain creatures are in and battle music starts and stops dynamically when near enemies)
New friendly race (Gorons) and the Zoras (who are good here) have more personality and lore
Much more expressive characters
Satisfying feedback from attacking enemies and from bombs
Walk or run based on how far you pull/push the analogue stick (Mario 64?)
Music element to gameplay (play three notes of a song on an ocarina to cast spells, unlock doors or contact certain NPCs - no regard to beat or length of notes but still pretty cool (see Monster World III (MD) for an earlier example), you can also make your own short ditty and record it as one of the songs (Scarecrow song))
Horseback riding (about a third of the way through) - can shoot arrows while on it and there's an archery range mini-game using the feature
Context sensitive actions (pushing/climbing blocks, reading signs, climbing ladders, entering narrow paths/holes, etc. - Zelda 3, Shinobi)
Warp magic (dungeons only) and warp songs (dungeon entrances, temple of time)
Time travel element (kid/adult time periods, plant seeds as a kid and then use the grown plant as an adult to reach new places, spirit temple entrance) - unfortunately you can only travel back and forth in the temple of time (should've worked like in ALttP)
New responses from NPCs when equipping masks (some say the same thing though) as well as small hidden bonuses
Some sequence breaking through more advanced techniques (bomb jump, invincibility frame jump (go through firewalls)
Longer jump by rolling before jumping and then attacking mid-jump?) - plenty more using glitches
If an arrow passes through a torch it is set ablaze
More interesting hookshot uses (mainly due to the 3D level design)
Scarecrow song can be used to spawn a scarecrow (to hookshot swing to) but only in certain spots (some places where Navi moves to and turns green but you can't "check" with the A button)
New things to catch in a bottle (bug and poe/ghost, blue fire; no bees though)
Ice floe physics (Mario 64)
More open ended structure after becoming an adult and beating the forest temple (gerudo fortress - after epona (don't need to beat the forest temple?), bottom of the well - after time travel, water temple - after iron boots+bow, spirit temple - after longshot+bow, shadow temple - after lens+bow+fire temple (and longshot?), gerudo training - after longshot+hover boots)
New gear (hover boots, iron boots, underwater breathing (blue tunic) and heat resistance (red tunic), lens of truth (shows fake walls and invisible paths over pits), longshot (hookshot upgrade), manually aimed mirror shield, stick (limited torch), )
Some dialogue choices besides yes and no answers (can't say no to major friendly NPC requests and keep going though - why include the response then?)
Some good bosses (ganon's second form, phantom ganon, twinrova's second form, iron knuckle, dead hand, barinade, bongo bongo)
Cool escape sequence before the final boss
Nice boss introductions
Nice ending cutscene
+/-
Respawning bushes (makes some of the game easier when you can farm for hearts though it takes some time)
Can't attack NPCs
Navi can't lock on to certain enemies (golden skulltulas)
Very linear structure in the first third of the game
Can't light sticks on certain torches
Day/night cycle (some enemies appear at night time only, sadly there's no option to quickly wait/rest until morning or evening (leads to some parts early on where you're just waiting around doing nothing - pretty soon you'll get a song that lets you skip ahead to midday/midnight but you need more exact timing for several quests)) - a full day is just a few minutes long in-game
Need certain items before you can buy items that you can find sooner (bomb bag for bombs, bottle for various stuff, bow for arrows)
Pretty obvious clues to some puzzles (sneaking into the castle, finding Saria in the lost woods, convincing the Goron chief, block puzzle in the forest temple (arrows on the floor))
Can't shimmy along platform edges
Loading puts you back at Kokiri village (or at the beginning of a dungeon?) until you're an adult (there's a shortcut between it and gorgon's city and zora's domain but still)
Easier laser eye traps
Can't blow up various objects that are weaker than stone (and you can only blow up certain rocks blocking your progression)
Can't dive from land unless from a greater height
Fall damage from great heights (unless you hold the jump button to roll - if there's no space in front of Link to roll on then you'll still take damage)
Annoying shield destroying enemies (can't get it back if a firebat hits the wooden shield - need to buy it back though there is a shop in the first dungeon you meet them (dodongo's cavern) and an extra one in the other one (below the well))
A bit odd how soft soil patches are also used to lure out more gold skulltulas with bugs
Can't visit Hyrule castle after meeting up with the princess (you have a letter, the royal song and Impa guided you out earlier)
Pretty easy to get money/rupees (castle drawbridge chain, sell bottled bugs in hyrule market, sell poes as an adult - less efficient for some reason)
Time travel element could've been more developed in dungeons
No non-dungeon use for the gorgon tunic
Underused hammer item (you can smash harder rocks and make regular enemies fall over with it but it's not used in a particularly interesting way in its dungeon - could've been used to fling something into the air using a teeter maybe? (or for a wack-a-mole mini-game))
The golden skulltulas are too easy to kill
Dark Link is too easy with the hammer and kind of cheap without using it or Din's Fire
Stalfos in the forest temple can walk on air and you don't need to bomb them to kill them
Need a rumble pack to find some golden skulltulas (stone of agony makes the controller vibrate when near some secret areas)
It's possible to get all gold skulltulas from one spot by using a glitch (under the lone tree at Hyrule castle - play the song of storms to get there)
The giant's knife isn't worth it (breaks after just a few hits even after upgrading it)
Can't win the race against the running man
Some gore/horror elements (blood and torture devices in the bottom of the well dungeon, re-deads)
Middle eastern symbols representing the gerudo?
Song of storms could've been an alternative to the lens of truth? (the rain)
Many NPCs stand in place without really doing anything
Need the goron bracelet to pick up bushes/weeds while you can pick up small rocks by default
Very easy ice cavern boss/mini-boss
Silent protagonist (a bit awkward when NPCs reply to things Link says that the player can't read)
Rooms reset when exiting them
Odd that you meet cows in hidden caves
Some recoil when smashing things with the hammer
No bees in the beehives?
Enemies tend to attack one at a time
Pretty silly that the gorgons are starving because they're picky about which rocks to eat
Longer dungeons overall
Some segments are timed (some training ground rooms, some puzzles, mushroom delivery)
Missing gear and spells from previous games (raft, cross (see eye ghosts), ladder, magic key (fits all locks), magic cape (invisiblity/protection vs spikes); jump, life (healing), fairy (transform into a fairy - could've been used for controlling navi and scouting), thunder (smart bomb))
Optional ice arrow (can't stand on frozen enemies)
-
Unskippable cutscenes (including "opening a big chest" or "entering a dungeon" animations) and no message/quest log or journal feature
Non-stop beeping when at low health
Plenty of dead space
Some movement delay when perfoming some actions (before diving, after jumping backwards in Z-mode, readying your hookshot with z-targeting, rolling into a wall, picking up a small stone, need to wait for ~2 seconds before putting away a stick, )
Need to take out your sword after targeting an enemy to perform the jump attack
Need to stand at a distance from the enemy when performing a jump attack or you'll get hit
Can't speed up or skip story text (nor the tutorial text in the beginning) and speeding up dialogue text sometimes skips the entire message instead of one text box/paragraph at a time
Somewhat slow start (can't ask anyone about the sword location (?) and only Saria about the shield, pointless detour into the lost woods (need a slingshot and/or shield))
Some collectathon tendencies (need to collect at least 10 golden skulltula tokens to carry more than 99 rupees (which is needed to buy later gear and items), need to do a sidequest to carry more bombs, etc.)
Some trial & error (can't use a bomb/bombchu instead of a torch/fire arrow/fire spell for some puzzles - web roof in ganon's castle for example, figuring out which song to play when navi goes green and you can't use "check", can only kill hostile skull kids with the biggoron sword, need to "use" the pocket cucco in front of the woman you got it from to finish that part of the item trading quest, some fairy types can't be kept in a bottle, can swing your sword through fences and even hit some enemies inside blocks and rocks, finding out a mask's use and who to trade give it to (there's usually an NPC giving you a clue for the latter but finding it can take a long time), bottom of the well dungeon's floor traps (need to find the lens of truth before you can see them), can roll into certain wooden boxes to break them but not cut them with your sword, soldier detection FoV, treasure box mini-game - can use the lens of truth here though, need to stand behind a gravestone to see that you can pull it, finding a heart piece by having the gravedigger dig it up for you - also takes quite a while since he moves so slowly, some golden skulltula locations)
Can't use the top down view option in dungeons (could've been done via Navi; most of the game has simpler puzzles than in LA or ALttP though so it might've made the game too easy)
Some camera issues (zoomed out view when diving, can sometimes see through walls in tight spaces, suboptimal angles at times (you can pretty much always re-align the camera quickly to behind Link or go into FP look around mode but occasionally the camera ends up behind a wall or obstacle - happens more frequently in the shadow temple))
Somewhat stiff/unresponsive targeting in FP mode (should've worked more dynamically like with movement and it makes the archery range mini-game (need 1500 points for a quiver) very hard)
Can't press Z to look straight ahead indoors and in some tighter areas
Can't use the sword indoors (nor certain sub weapons in some houses such as the chicken house in lon lon ranch)
The game's picky about your positioning when interacting with objects and NPCs (need to stand directly in front of a chest or NPC to interact, standing slightly off near ladders or signs makes the game not trigger the context sensitive actions, too easy to get stuck on some objects when riding Epona)
No control or sound config ("hey, listen!")
Can't walk/jump over/climb certain lower objects for seemingly no reason (Kokiri village, Lon Lon Ranch, )
Some tedious parts (waiting/repeating the sun song for the biggoron sword to become finished, having to get the compass for each dungeon gets a bit old, some unnecessary use of the hookshot in the water temple (before the boss room for example - the challenge is in finding the key and not getting to the room), can't see some treasure on the mini-map in the water temple (only in the menu), water temple boss's (morpha) and bongo bongo's grab attacks (and how you picky the game is about positioning when trying to drag morpha's core onto land as it's bouncing around on its own), some detours/dead ends with crappy items at the end of them, having to redo several longer segments if you fall down, jabu-jabu's belly (escort mission (have to carry a princess throughout the dungeon and she'll teleport back to where you found her if you leave the room she's in or if she ends up in water) + kind of annoying enemies (manets need to be stunned here) + boring mini-bosses), waiting for slow platforms, having to bomb multiple walls in succession at one point, redoing the stealth segments if you get detected - first one's fairly short though, slow block/box pushing - getting the gauntlets doesn't help)
Some hit detection problems (when grabbing heart pieces with the boomerang as they're coming towards Link, vs. Dark Link, the moblins before the forest temple)
Can't use the top down view where it would be helpful in dungeons (block sliding puzzles, some cramped maze parts)
Z-targeting is a bit unreliable around flying enemies above Link (could've been made to work better by FP looking at them and then hitting Z to go back to TP targeting)
Can't add you own notes to the map
Can't look around or use z-targeting in some outdoors areas (for example Hyrule Castle town - pre-rendered backgrounds areas basically (at least you can often use an alternate top down view in houses))
Can't sell items in shops
Link can now get knocked down for a second or two by various attacks
Some backtracking early on (the owl helps a bit but isn't flexible enough (you could've been able to call it with a song and pick from more locations to go to)
At Zora's domain you get warp magic (set warp points to warp to) but it doesn't work in dungeons without a map inside nor outside of dungeons, for golden skulltula tokens after you get the boomerang) - about a third of the way through you get a horse to ride on
The game repeats certain tutorial and direction messages several times
Rather limited bomb throwing controls (either put it down when still or throw it a set distance when moving)
Makes no sense that you can't use for example the boomerang as an adult (the slingshot would've made the bow mostly redundant though)
Sometimes generic art style (Hyrule town and objects like torches - most of the game is more stylized/cartoony)
Somewhat blurry pre-rendered areas, Some blurry textures and objects like fences and vines are completely flat
Can't switch between some gear without going into the menu (iron boots, hover boots, shield)
Annoying forest temple music
No gameplay use for the gorgon/zora/gerudo masks (can't use the gerudo mask to get into gerudo valley for example)
The game is inconsistent about stealth in the gerudo fortress (you can't fight regular guards but can fight prison guards (until they do a certain amount of damage to Link anyway)) - this segment would've been more fun if they had to surround you to catch you or if you had to run and hide for a while after detection (due to high difficulty) like in Metal Gear instead of getting thrown in the cell immediately
You'll keep getting more of an item from pots etc. that you've already fully stocked (slows down farming/grinding)
Some invisible walls (some low fences that Epona can't jump over, above the cell in the Gerudo fortress (can't hop over the low fence despite being able to longshot over it to a chest nearby))
No shovel/cane of somaria (the song of time does create blocks but only in a few set spots)/flipper items
Blue fires are basically keys in a different shape
The FP camera when looking around goes back to default forward view when you let go of the analog stick (doesn't happen when shooting)
Some backtracking for specific shop items
Redundant golden scale upgrade (iron boots)
Some repeated puzzles and one repeated mini-boss
Easy and repetitive fight against ganon's first form
Bugs/glitches:
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time/Glitches