Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Water Temple is actually good

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Water Temple has long been seen as the epitome of an agonizing, obnoxious dungeon: winding and confusing, with doors spread across three different water levels, a clunky required-item mechanic, and a Small Key that’s annoyingly hard to find.

The remake conversation is useful because Nintendo already fixed the two main complaints in the Nintendo 3DS version. The Iron Boots could not be mapped on the N64, forcing players to open menus every few seconds; the 3DS lets you map the boots to a button. The other issue was a Small Key hidden under a platform that was hard to spot until the water rose; the 3DS lingers the camera when levels change and offers better camera controls so the opening is far more obvious.

With those fiddly bits solved, the Water Temple’s strengths become clearer: its open-ended, three-dimensional structure with multiple branching paths off a central hub, and the challenge of tracking which doors connect on which levels.

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