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Badass Decay and Chickification: Zelda was hit with this the moment she was kidnapped by Ganondorf after revealing herself to Link, for no explained reason; especially if you take account that she spent seven years as a Sheikah warrior. Thankfully, she gets better once she's freed.
Complete Monster: Ganondorf. While Wind Waker gave him a Hell of a Freudian Excuse and quite a few sympathetic qualities, he is definitely this in this game. After seven years of his rule, the previously lively Hyrule Castle Town lies in ruins, and is inhabited solely by zombies. (And some of Ganondorf's minions, if you count his castle as part of the town.) And while the rest of his villainy happened off-screen, you still see the effects of it all over the world. Kokiri Forest has been turned into a breeding ground for all sorts of dangerous monsters, Goron City is almost completely empty due to Ganondorf locking them up in the Fire Temple to be fed to a dragon (Ganondorf did this so they could serve as an example to those who won't follow his orders), Zora's Domain has become completely frozen over, the people of Gerudo Valley are now oppressed and Nabooru brainwashed against her will into serving Ganondorf's will, and even Lon Lon Ranch has become the Evil King's property, with Ingo raising horses that he can sacrifice to Ganondorf and living in fear of what might happen if he displeases him. Hell, even before the timeskip he does quite a few awful things: cursing and killing the Deku Tree, murdering the composer brothers, starving the Gorons for refusing to hand over their Sacred Stone by sealing off Dodongos Cave, and ultimately attacking the royal family and people of Hyrule Castle (you can even find and talk to a soldier who dies from having fought him) being among the worst of them.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Dark Link. Despite being a mini boss with absolutely no characterization or personality, he's became insanely popular among the fanbase.
The Biggoron's Sword is arguably one of the most broken weapons in the entire series. Huge reach, equally high attack power, and every bit as fast as your other swords. This sword turns boss fights into a joke. In skilled hands, even Ganondorf goes down in one combo. The real kicker is that you can get this weapon as early as the Forest Temple WITHOUT Sequence Breaking.
Hell, you can get it before you even go INTO the Forest Temple. The only thing you might want the Bow for is the Skullwalltulas on the cliff before Biggoron, and they can be killed with the Hookshot if you allot yourself a little extra time to climb up to each of them.
The sword is so powerful that it can actually damage Armos Knights. You know, those creatures made from solid rock that are completely immune to all other sword attacks?
It does, however, require a two-handed hold, so Link can't use his shield. For the most part, this isn't a big deal, but it does lend preference to the Master Sword in certain situations.
In Master Quest there's a glitch that allows you to get through the locked boss door of the Water Temple using a jump attack. And, since the Longshot was moved to a room you can get into almost immediately after entering the level and you'll be done in less than 10 minutes (you'll probably spend more time on the boss than on the level itself).
In the sink hole alongside the Castle gate there is a Gold Skulltula which you can kill, catch its token with the boomerang, and then go to the exit before the game can register that the Gold Skulltula has been killed while you still get to keep the token you received. As frustrating as it can be to find all the Gold Skulltula in the game this can be quite a relief for gamers who just want to get the 100 Skulltula requirement out of the way as fast as possible.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: After Skyward Sword, the scene where the Master Sword glows after Zelda tells Link to deliver the final blow to Ganon becomes much more awesome. Even beyond the grave, Fi is still looking out for Link.
Hell Is That Noise: Plenty of examples, from the sound effects to the BGM itself; specific examples outlined on that trope's video games section. The Redead's scream is perhaps the most infamous example though.
It's hard to imagine looking back on it today, but many of the game's dungeons and levels were quite mind-blowing to first-time players. The Shadow Temple's ghost ships come to mind: the temple itself is creepy enough without this boat appearing. You board it, and it moves. Suddenly, Stalfos! You begin to fight them, exchange a few blows, when the entire boat starts to tremble and shake! What is going on? Games don't do this! Holy shit, it's sinking! I'm going to die! How the hell do I get off?!
The boss battles were also made to wow players, what with each having grandiose set-pieces and creature designs as well as clever strategies. The Final Bossstill regularly pops up on Top Ten Lists for "Greatest Boss Battles of All Time" alongside Mother Brain and Sephiroth.
Hype Aversion and Hype Backlash: Due to the countless praises heaped upon this game, it's rather to be expected.
Moral Event Horizon: It's hard to tell where Ganondorf crosses this line, but it's probably at trying to have several Gorons fed to a dragon as a "warning" to those who would oppose him. Sure, killing the Great Deku Tree to steal what it was keeping from him, or deceiving the established authorities as a means of power, are evil actions, but attempting to massacre several members of a peaceful tribe when he GETS his power is far worse.
In certain areas, such as the outside of Ganon's Castle, there's a high-pitched plaintive bird cry that is endlessly repeated. It sort of ruins the creepy atmosphere.
The sound King Zora makes as he scoots to the side to let you pass into the Jabu-Jabu area behind him. And he does it like twenty times!
Padding: Hyrule Field has become notorious to some players for just how long it takes to get anywhere across it. There's a reason you can get a horse as Adult Link, after all...
Rated "M" for Manly: The fight with King Dodongo, when Link, just 11 years old, blasts a dinosaur 50 times his size into a giant pit of lava with bombs and a sword!
Ron the Death Eater: Navi. While she can be annoying, given her high-pitched voice and the absence of any scripting that makes sure her suggestions are in line with any plot threads you may have triggered (i.e. If you complete the ice cavern as part of obtaining the Biggoron's Swordbefore the Forest Temple, Link will already know Zora's Domain is frozen over and that the monster maintaining the cursed ice is in the Water Temple, but Navi will just wonder about what's going on in the forest, followed by concern about the cloud over Death Mountain, until you've finished the Forest and Fire Temples. And even then, she doesn't suggest going to the Water Temple to break the curse, but instead point out the icy wind blowing down from Zora's River.) , she's never really anything more than a temporary nuisance to players who know what they're doing. Going by her reputation, however, you'd think she repeatedly halted the game to remind you that bombs explode and you can swing your sword by pressing B.
Though she does give several bits of long exposition about Z-Targeting till about the middle of the game, and there's no way to skip those.
And Kaepora Gaebora as well, who speaks in long, often pointless (and unskippable) monologues, and always asks you if you want to hear it again. Annoyingly, the option "Yes" is the default, meaning that button-mashing can increase the odds of going through it again. Also, half the time he asked if you wanted to hear what he said again, meaning you had to press "no" to skip, but the other half of the time, he asked if you understood what he said, meaning that you had to press "yes" to move on. This meant if you didn't read carefully, you often chose the wrong option. It's brilliant parodied in thisBrawl in the Family comic.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: A consequence of the above since 1.) Most of the major supporting cast is female and 2.) Many of them have Ship Tease with Link.
So Cool Its Awesome: 12 years. Countless games released, including 10 more in the Zelda series, with another on the way. Still one of the most popular games ever, to the point that a remake can still be a Killer App for a console.
Squick: More than a few people have seen the Great Fairies' skimpy attire not as leaves but as their bodies rotting.
Tainted by the Preview: The revelation that Ocarina of Time 3D won't have updated music was a deal breaker for those who were on the fence of getting the remake.
Twinrova can be an extremely frustrating, or worse, impossible fight unless you know exactly what you're supposed to do.
Morpha can become surprisingly hard if you remain on the centre four platforms, he also becomes one of the funnest bosses in the game as well, Morpha actually seems to be programmed to combat the player if he remains on the platforms, as he will constantly attack from behind and attempt surprise the player if you remain on the platforms, but many prefer the easy way.
Dark Link is probably the best (worst?) example of this in the game.
Both at the same time, really. He's a pain if you lock onto him and try to fight him with your sword, and a cakewalk if you don't and use the Megaton Hammer (or Biggoron's Sword).
The Water Temple, with its confusing layout, water level controls, and long stretches forcing you to go about underwater, where you have to repeatedly pause the game and fiddle with the menu system in order to equip and un-equip the Iron Boots needed to keep from floating to the surface and can only fight using the hookshot. It's so infamous that Eiji Aonuma apologized for it 11 years later. (Even though he wasn't even the one in charge of the series yet, though he first got involved with Zelda here), as did Miyamoto. Well, he actually apologized for how long it took to change boots, but that is seen as one of the worst parts of it.
Also notable: The Master Quest version of other dungeons were rearranged to make them more difficult for seasoned players. The Master Quest version of the Water Temple, though, was considerably easier than in the original. The creators have also fixed the Water Temple in the 3DS remake by means of two main changes: making the Iron Boots an item button item (an innovation from later Zelda games), and putting squiggly lines on the walls to lead players to the water-level changing rooms.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Some fans prefer the N64 version of the fight with Ganon superior to the fight in the remake, due to the fact in the original version Ganon appeared in shadows save for his Glowing Eyes of Doom, while in the remake he's in full view all the time.
Tough Act to Follow: Especially when said act is widely considered to be the greatest video game of all time.
Ugly Cute: For short, long-snouted dryad-like creatures and malevolent ghosts, both of which are trying to kill you, Deku Scrubs and Poes are both awfully adorable.
Uncanny Valley: Ganondorf. There's something about a humanoid with greenish skin that's rather off-putting.
What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: Mass graves, death, war, hideous monsters, a giant monster collapsing into a heap of pulsating flesh before your very eyes, green blood (and a little red blood). You know, for kids!
The Gorons. A race of peaceful, welcoming mountain dwellers, who in the future are reduced to imprisoned, quivering wrecks after Ganondorf tries to feed them all to Volvagia to set an example for everyone else.
The Zoras can also count, considering something happened to their deity figure Lord Jabu-Jabu, and they were all trapped and left to die in their frozen home.
↑First, the Iron Boots were moved to the item screen, like in wind waker, making puzzles involving putting them on and off a lot less tedious. They also added glowing symbols on the walls leading to the water level switches.
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