Why the Water Temple stumped you

[@Nightblood_900]

It's literally hidden right under your nose 😂

[@The_Hanged-Man]

Bro, the newer version is like "See? You see it right?" *grabs your head and points their index finger aggressively* "IT'S THERE! LOOK! A HOLE OPENED, LOOK AT THAT, DO YOU P E R C E I V E WHAT WE ARE SHOWING YOU? HUH? YEAH????".

[@Wesinatah]

@@The_Hanged-Man that did not help me as a kid

[@GoogleUser-sk5tn]

@@The_Hanged-Man This made me laugh 😆 🤣

[@funkster007]

1998 me with "the newer version" would probably still go "duh what am I doing wrong? I keep going around and around in circles"

[@QueenofTNT]

11 year old me played the 3DS version, stared at the screen while that cutscene played, and then i got lost anyway. I was not a very smart child. (Notably, I never bothered getting the Lens of Truth either. Navi never told me to go back to Kakariko to start the well cutscene...so i just didn't go. Shoutout to the Sheikah Stone in the Temple of Time for letting me memorize where i was supposed to walk using the hints because even with the hints it still took me two days.)

[@KnoxTownsley]

No wonder I found the water temple so easy. . . I saw that opening on the first cutscene 😂

[@J0J0Jetz]

Long time no see!

[@KnoxTownsley]

@@J0J0Jetz Sorry I haven't been watching the streams I'm still watching the videos! Love you J0J0!

[@DylanYuhi]

Yo! is that KNOX TOWNSLEY?!?! 😱

[@KnoxTownsley]

@@DylanYuhi The one and only! 😂 I'm gonna try to catch more of the streams!

[@Oreo_cakester]

Yeah... We don't buy it 😂😂😂

[@zap2747]

This place was the bane of my existence as a child

[@DaGamingDinosaur]

Same here

[@phantomakuma1384]

@@zap2747 I gave my n64 to my nephews and I told them that when they got to the water temple I will let them suffer before helping them 😂😂😂

[@LabTech41]

The problem is that up until that dungeon, the game had never trained you to think of an environment in three dimensional terms; floors were distinct layers, but the Water Temple made it such that vertical movement between layers existed, so the layer cake became a three dimensional labyrinth.

[@cristiansaucedo4707]

@@LabTech41 I disagree. The Deku Tree requires you to go to the top floor and jump down to the web on the first floor, to go through it. The Dodongo Cavern requires you to drop bombs from the bridge on to the eyes of the Dodongo. The Fire Temple requires you to drop the pillar from the top floor, on to the bottom floor. I think it's that it's not done enough. Only those 3 moments, that I can think of right now. Also, a lot of people were probably just trying to beat it quickly without learning the map.

[@Birdsflight44]

This. I think its because they were coming off the previous games, (which employ a lot of verticality) and heck, as ​@@cristiansaucedo4707 points out, they even bring in some vertical elements in previous dungeons. The problem in the Water Temple is that the Water part muddies the delineation between the levels of the dungeon. In previous games, you hit screen transitions, and in earlier OoT dungeons, those different levels are huge drops. Meanwhile, the different levels are so subtle that its just not the same, and its so easy to accidentally drift up or down that you can just get disoriented. We now know they compressed the Water Temple drastically from the beta maps, but they shouldn't have here- people would have been compelled to explore in a taller shaft.

[@sthenelos1]

I personally loved this dungeon. I completed it without a guide in under an hour and I wondered why everyone thought it was so hard.

[@juanjobj3]

@@sthenelos1 were you using a crt?

[@erossenpai2884]

Same here. I think the problem stems from players not exploring at all and just trying to "finish a task" so to speak. I always looked around, even underwater. Especially with the shark in the laboratory and trying to find a way to release it into the lake 😂

[@ItsTheMagicMelon]

Same

[@FelixKaff]

I don't get either, have people even tried out the Majora's Mask's water dungeon when they were younger? I spend weeks trying to solve it. I think I was 7-8 years old and back then I didn't know that you could slow time down by repeating the notes twice of "Song of Time"... I learned that much, much later!..

[@Dborn93]

Weird flex

[@joerogan3079]

*THE WATER TEMPLE SLAPPED MY FACE AND STOLE MY GIRL* 🤕☹️

[@Psycho_Psy]

AND MY ASS LOOKED AWAY DURING THE REMADE CUTSCENE

[@tyronedadsmithjtother9718]

That was literally the only temple i felt proud about, because despite only being about 9 at the time, I was able to figure it out with the strategy guide my cousins got with it. I re-read the guide like a decade ago. They worded it way more confusing than they should have. Probably why I remember it and know the exact location of every heart piece, all 4 bottles, how to do every last side quest, and exactly where all 100 Gold Skulltullas are more than two decades later. I can do the same with MegaMan X, and Chrono Trigger lolz

[@ethanpopo5722]

I honestly had a harder time with jabu jabu than the water temple as a kid

[@rayking100]

damnnnnnn I forgot all about that level you unlocked some great childhood memories. Thanks man

[@NikkiTheViolist]

yeah i've seen people say the map and compass are useless items in Zelda games but literally I would spend dozens of minutes on map screens figuring out how to arrive at where I wanted and looking for secret rooms

[@glan9]

Yea like, if you just looked at the map (which you literally cannot miss in this dungeon), you could plainly see the room under there that clearly doesn't connect to anywhere else.

[@dylanthedestroyerofevilwizards]

This temple made me head butt my 3ds and now my charging port is goofy. Thanks dark link

[@arjanzweers6542]

Took me almost a year to find that hidden room as a kid

[@brokensights]

Surprisingly I find the master quest version of the water temple to be a lot easier compared to the original.

[@matthewshean1991]

@@brokensights same I thought most of them were easier idk why

[@thebestgummybear9744]

The water temple was always one of my favorite temples, but then again i played the 3ds version which is better in every way

[@slenderslayer59]

If only totk and botw had areas you could go underwater for like this masterpiece of a game

[@paxbaldurexe6590]

Unironically I never actually had this problem as a kid. I instead had problems doing the run up the ramp to the boss which infuriated me more than anything else in the temple it was my favorite temple because my favorite color was blue because I liked water and ice magic.

[@Ajsavage11]

As someone who played the 3ds version, the water temple still stumped me😂 Did finish it without a guide though so that's pretty cool

[@ethanbanks152]

Hot take but I love the Water Temple only problem I have with it was switching between the Iron Boots and Normal Boot but on the 3ds Version fix that so I think it's the perfect dungeon for me when I figured out what to do it felt rewarded instead of getting stuck on an easy puzzle.

[@jhamirh]

To this day i remember it was November 2004 i was playing the game and wiffed the jump having iron boots on. And fell to infront of the hole and just played going down the hole and now years later i understand why people were struggling cuz i made a task failed successfully moment

[@jjtheenton]

I spent at least 30 minutes going in that loop before I finally noticed the area below the platform.

[@carlosdelaguerra8302]

Terminal Montage showed me how to complete the Water Temple what is harder? Majoras Mask

[@DrunkJackal]

I recently replayed this on the Gamecube port. The most frustrating part was using a broken C-stick, which only allowed me to play a 🔼 note if I unplugged the contoller and plugged it back in. Now imagine doing that each time you need to change the water level.

[@nickabadee]

No way it was this simple

[@yang6642]

I don’t find the temple particularly hard per se, it’s just tedious af

[@leondosunmu8450]

the pain of selecthing and unselecthing your iron boots...

[@Ghost36365]

​@@leondosunmu8450well kids these days are probably going to use the ship of harkinian which makes it so that you can switch your boots with D pad

[@susiehaltmann3342]

Well it should be clear. It gives you a clue. “Oh the block lifted and shows a hole, I wonder whats down there”

[@PabloLink74]

Yes it should, but it wasn't clear, hence the change in the remake when the water raises

[@foxymetroid]

@@susiehaltmann3342 You have to remember that the vast majority of televisions back then were CRT. Images on a CRT TV were much muddier than images on a modern 4K LED TV. For all a 1998 kid could know, the cutscene was simply showing the platform raising instead of "OMG! Hole! Leading to a tunnel!"

[@Verticom10]

Gotta use that head

[@hastat7322]

The map was also really useful for this part.

[@Squirrel11-k3q]

I had the 3ds version so I loved the water temple

[@quesostuff1009]

I actually found this temple not hard. It was punishing for if you missed the route and used them metal boots now you gotta raise the water levels again I actually found the water temple in Majora far more challenging. Something about being on a timer and having to swim against the current got to me

[@Sci1211]

Some other reasons I think are -wasting a load of time trying to get to the optional skulltula room, why would anyone assume you can spin attack through a gate to get the switch? -forgetting to go back to the bombable wall on the first floor under the first water level change point, you need to go down to the ground floor and up while the water level is raised -after defeating dark link and getting the Longshot, the next thing uou need to do is when the water level is on the first floor, however there’s no way to know this and since you have to lower the water level to the ground floor before you can get it to the first floor, it’s reasonable to try to explore the final rooms on the ground floor first, you can actually get almost to the boss key doing this but you’re one key short, which means you’re going to have to raise the water level, grab the key on the first floor, raise the water level again, then lower it again and redo everything you’ve just done in order to get the boss key. Really recommend getting Farores Wind before this dungeon

[@Adventureruler]

Nahhhh hold up, now I feel dumb. Thats actually really cheeky but cool of Nintendo to hide a passageway in plain sight like that 👍🏽

[@FerociousMit]

As a kid it was always Dark Link and the Dungeon Boss that would get me stuck. It took me years to learn that Dark Link can be killed easily with Biggoron or Megaton since he can't stand on those. Then the final boss is annoying because I never liked fighting water enemies in Zelda until I played Twilight Princess where you can still use your sword in the water.

[@Linus_Lightsworth]

i was summoned?

[@borstenpinsel]

Morpha isn't super hard (compared to that fish from MM it's easy). But the pros still kill it before it can even start it's first attack, which is impressive.

[@misterturkturkle]

Another trick that helps with dark Link that I only learned the last couple of years is that he actually has the exact same amount of max health that you do going into the fight. So if you can avoid hunting for pieces of heart until after the water temple, he'll have that much less health

[@Nick70011]

Me and my dad back in the 2000s had to print out online guides on pieces of paper, brings back memories of being stuck on this temple for 3 months

[@Leatherman154]

The time block behind the Longshot chest is what stumped me everytime. I found that path under the floating platform, but never looked behind the chest. Then as I assumed I got everything in that room, took weeks to find it.

[@mylyfeyafizzlahyahnue]

Funny. When I was younger, I was able to find the hole. But my problem was finding the key in that hole. So I was still stumped lmfao

[@NickB283]

This one never got to me, the forest temple confused me more

[@MillennialBro]

I had to go back to this temple YEARS later after finding a step by step guide online deep in some forum. I hand wrote, Word for Word, in a little notepad how to complete this dungeon. Then, I took it to my babysitter’s Nintendo 64 and started over. This cut scene was the one thing stopping me from progressing in the game, for years! It was like I was the hero of time traveling back in time to complete my quest 😂

[@yozarian86]

I always had to have help. Older brother. Internet. At some point I always gave up and sought help.

[@teo_v]

Never knew why people hated this temple, i found thé water temple in MM much harder

[@chancemitchell4147]

As a kid, the Water Temple was awful. As an adult…it can be debated as the best temple in the game

[@Davtwo]

The water temple was easier for me than dodongos cavern 😂😂

[@soloquakez7441]

@@Davtwo lol no way

[@Davtwo]

I was stumped on the room where you use bombs to make the stair go down

[@soloquakez7441]

@@Davtwo oh damn 🤣 looking back was it that odd?

[@Davtwo]

​@@soloquakez7441it's funny I played the N64 version first got to dodongos got stuck. But then played on my 3ds and noticed I needed to put a bomb there. I never got the zora tunic tho. That's why I was stuck a little.

[@blakecoffman4280]

This is the reason I learned how to beat this temple with one less key. I reset back to the entrance and only enter the center room from the lit torch option on the 3rd floor. Never used the bottom door

[@Virtual01Gamer]

not gonna lie I spent HOURS trying to figure out where the hell to go after you go though the door. so I did the loop about 3 or 400 times just to finally figure out to look inside the tower and find the hole at the bottom:P I was 11 when I played it:P and it was on a big old tv too so I didn't see the hole at all lol

[@tomasanzulovichgreco]

The water temple from Majora's Mask was harder for me

[@TechnoBump]

I played this game when i was in my preteens. I always loved the water temple under the lake. It may have stumped me a couple times ngl. amazing gameplay tho at that time. Still very replayable.

[@constantlyphil]

I was stumped by the remaster..

[@RaphBlade7]

Personally, I think it's a combination of factors along with the fact that it is a three-dimensional dungeon that forces you to think in three dimensions as you can travel underwater! The central room is a perfect example of this as some players who realize they can sink downward to investigate and where the platform used to be before the water raised it up! Most just follow the platform up without investigating down below! Of course, there is underwater combat (never was bothered by opening the menu to equip the Iron Boots as I just accepted that's the way they worked), raising the water level at three points, Dark Link (one of the hardest mini-bosses in the game if you use the Master Sword or Megaton Hammer, though the Biggoron Sword is pretty much available as the trading quest line requires King Zora to be freed which if you did so before going to the Water Temple, means the Eyeball Frog is easy to get once you jump Gerudo Valley with Epona after trading Cojiro for the Odd Mushroom to get the Odd Potion, then Poacher's Saw which you give to the Boss Carpenter for the Broken Goron Sword, to show to Biggoron on Death Mountain Summit, deliver the Prescription to get the Eyeball Frog from King Zora and deliver it to the Lakeside Scientist in Lakeside Science Lab to get the Eyedrops to exchange with Biggoron for the Claim Check & wait three days or use the Sun Song to speed up the process if you learned it from the stone tablet in the Royal Family Crypt of Kakariko Graveyard for him to finish more quickly the Biggoron Sword which permanently replaces any Giant's Knife intact or broken in Link's Sword inventory) even potentially more frustrating than the Water Temple's main boss due to his ability to jump on top of the Master Sword, which is why the Biggoron Sword is really helpful as it has a longer reach than the Megaton Hammer & Dark Link can jump atop it (it also inflicts twice the damage which can be helpful especially if Link has a large number of Heart Containers as Dark Link's health is the same as Link's own, thus the boss can be harder if you've completed many a heart piece)! There are also unique bombarded walls in Water Temple that have a small hole in the wall that could stump some players! Then there are all the areas that spring out from the central hub on multiple floors! It's also easy to get lost!

[@superdaveozy7863]

Its not hard. The Temple intended for you to pay attention and read a map.

[@Sly88Frye]

Yeah that's most definitely quite the brutal dungeon

[@MReginaldGoldstein77]

I remember getting stuck a lot because I didn’t know about that hole. I eventually learned that the key door at the bottom of the tower is easily skippable by getting to the middle level with the water at its lowest level and lighting the torch to open the middle door. Getting to the middle level is pretty trivial by using Farores Wind or save & reset to get to the top and then jumping down to the middle.

[@Oldmanbeard]

I just replayed the water temple. I actually remembered that little nugget and still ended up raising and lowering soo many times. Very frustrating but man I love OOT.

[@moniqueferguson9322]

Is it bad that when I got to the water temple, I figured that out on accident, I was wearing the iron boots and fell down the hole.

[@SilenceManifests]

That's exactly what I kept missing during my first playthrough. It was that tunnel underneath the block! Once you find that, then the rest of the temple is no harder than any other in OoT.

[@ItiswhatitisOKY]

I played the 3DS one with a friend and watched him breeze through the water temple and it made me feel insane. Said, it wasn’t bad at all and got too much hate. I cry 💀 IT WAS NOT EASY ON N64

[@spiritsong4026]

Well they did do things to make the water temple easier in the 3DS. You don't have to go into the menu to put on boots, you can't get lost/forget the rooms to go into to change the water level, and like this video said you can now see that there's a secret opening under the block. Me and my siblings struggled when we played the N64, but when we played the 3DS it's super fast and easy.

[@spiritsong4026]

And either my comment got deleted or I just can't see it for some reason

[@QueenofTNT]

If it's any consolation, I grew up with the 3DS version and my dumb ass still got lost multiple times trying to figure out where to go. 🗿

[@ladydjiv]

That chest was the BANE of my 9 yr old existence. And the constant level raising ESPECIALLY if you forgot something so you have to go back? No other temple in ANY other game has ever driven me to a DEEP RAGE like that one.

[@abfdy]

I was one of those kids looking at the CRT TV in 1998. The picture was clear and fine; not blurry at all. The issue is, if you weren't paying close attention to the cutscene, it's easy to miss. Interestingly, I never experienced the Water Temple as being particularly different from the others. It wasn't until I was an adult that I started hearing this meme that the Water Temple was so hard.

[@jadonhaley8942]

OoT was the first game I play when I was like 5, it took me like a year of on and off playing to get to the water temple, then it took me 3years (granted half the time I got bored left the temple and went to explore) but still I was stuck on the thing for so long, still tho when I go back to play OoT again it’s one of my favourites, idk if it’s the nostalgia from spending so long there as a kid, but I genuinely love the atmosphere and puzzles now

[@VicHD]

That and the room with a crack on the wall above the room where you meet princess ruto. Zelda developers have a bad habit of hiding things under players' noses in other games too. Be it a switch hidden under a bridge in a SS temple or a hidden shrine in a tundra accessible through a cave at the edge of a cliff in BOTW!

[@coltgosney944]

The Shadow Temple is what got me.

[@mistydolphin2524]

Another reason is the bombable wall above where you see ruto that you can only access when the water is at mid level. A lot of people forget its there. Also, a friend was playing this for the first time recently. Ironicly, the water temple was his favorite dungeon of the game. Go figure.

[@gamingwithelgameico559]

That hidden entrance got me for so long I was going insane then I found it and was ok with the rest of the game after that

[@haydenwoodyard3624]

You forgot to mention that one key that I’m sure we all spent 3 freaking weeks looking for.

[@travishood1163]

All the water temples in Zelda games are difficult.

[@QueenofTNT]

The N64 version was released three years before I even started existing so I grew up playing the 3DS version. The improved cutscene wasn't enough to overcome my natural 11 year old stupidity and I got stuck on the dungeon for a whole day. Ironically Great Bay in MM was easier for me; I just stumbled around and followed the pipes as much as I could. I also never figured out how to drain the well and did the Fire Temple before the Forest Temple by accident. Needless to say, yes, you CAN clear the Shadow Temple without the Lens of Truth. A whole two days of me playing through the temple, hitting an invisible obstacle i couldn't see, warping out to the Temple of Time, watching the hints at the Sheikah Stone to try and memorize where I was supposed to walk, warp back to the Shadow Temple, go ALL the way back through it to where I got stuck, and try to remember where the hell I'm supposed to walk wearing the Hover Boots without voiding out. I was a very, very dumb 11 year old.

[@MrOligi3003]

You also have to remember to go back to the previously flooded room with the crack in the wall (underneath the first water switch)

[@jasoya_gaming]

One playthrough, what stumped me was the room with the chest after defeating Dark Link. For the life of me I didn't see the Time Block located behind the chest but below the platform I was standing on. I was wandering for a couple of hours trying to remember what I could've missed as I was short one dungeon key. I actually had to pull out my player's guide and go through step by step until I found what I overlooked. 😅

[@RabidNemo]

I always find the water temple funny because when I initially come back to it it gives me a little trouble but when I finish it up It seems easier because I remember where you're supposed to change the levels for the water. However I did recently discover a little glitch where you can get back up to the top more easily without having to get every single key which significantly cut down on the time

[@donaldlacy7887]

My first time going through this game I breezed through the water temple. After that I've never gone through it without being stuck for at least an hour

[@DanielMWJ]

I'm so glad that I immediately caught it on my first playthrough. My second playthrough months later? Days and days.

[@EternalAnkh]

It took me a year to figure out how to enter the water temple because I forgot you could take the iron boots off.

[@Nathan-mu1pz]

I'd call that a test of situational awareness, not a design flaw. That said, I missed it too as a kid. After wandering in circles it forces you to think differently which makes for a good lesson on its own

[@Adam-Mei]

I had a crt I got free when the hospital updated to a newer and smaller 240P monitor. It was a 300 lb 45 inch so I was able to see it. I do not miss those days.

[@cassowary1817]

I'd like to give a runner up for having the guts to hide a block of time in the floor behind the dungeon item. That's something I'd expect from Master Quest.

[@Jeb.07]

Oh no, my heavy metal boots are making me sink, i'm gonna put them in my backpack or whatever and then i should be light enough to float! 😅

[@petermitchell5796]

It took me over 30 minutes to realise that u had to put the iron boot's on and dive in the water..but if you put sunglasses on it was easy to see the entrance under the block 😮

[@Levacque]

Honestly, the Forest Temple is at least as difficult regarding missing keys. How many of us have made it all the way through the gauntlet of locked doors and twisting hallways just to reach that last door and realize you missed a goddamn key?

[@karlhernandez617]

So true. This is exactly what happened to me in the 90s

[@Snicketbar]

I remember back in the day. My friend having troubled this level for this exact reason. I ended up going under the floating box my first try. After figuring they want to draw an attention to it, it had not been important.

[@aellalee4767]

I remember being stuck trying to figure out where to go next and doing this loop over and over 😂

[@TOGade-dj6jh]

I remember how I almost went mental before I saw that opening. Once I saw the opening I did a face slap 🤦🏼 😂

[@Zeldacollector]

This caused me to not beat the game until 2 years after I got it lol. But it was worth it. It became my all time favorite game and made me become a collector

[@CPT85]

I was stumped for about two months before I realized that.

[@IOSARBX]

J0J0Jetz, nice content keep up the amazing work

[@FixationwithCarnage]

that was literally the last door key that i just could not find forever when i was a younger!!!

[@DuckThePoet]

I played this game hundreds of times and always forget about this part 😂

[@vlover15OO]

This was never a problem for me. I always saw the opening. The problem was shadow link always whipping my ass as a kid

[@bobboberson12555]

It’s that one key everyone forgets that’s In the middle building after you raise the water inside it everyone forgets to use iron boots in there KEKW

[@BastiatC]

Funny thing is the water temple that gave me trouble was jabu jabu. That ledge hallway up the vertical shaft. I somehow missed it and it took SO long.

[@troybeck5226]

Facts. When I very first played the have through (and even a couple times after) I missed that shit. Had to see in the map how to get to the lower floor, and that was how I finally figured it out. And then I finally saw it in the cutscene

[@GRiznitDShiznit]

Crazy I still know this one by heart. Beating this game as a kid lost without a strategy guide will do that to ya haha. I know this specific spot had me angry and lost for a long time lol. I'll never forget it.

[@Swampgurl777]

I just used the guide book 😂😂😂

[@Hellwolf36]

Constant randomizers have turned this into an easy dungeon for myself. The only annoying thing is constantly having to switch boots via the pause menu in vanilla. Randos you can press the dpad button for the Iron Boots.

[@ryangarcia3912]

The part I got stuck on was not knowing you’re supposed to go behind the chest after beating Dark Link to move the block

[@HamidGhatel]

Interesting because at first when I was playing the game, I was 10 and was really frustrated by the temple and just couldn't progress through it. Then I played it again in 3 years without remembering a thing, but due to visibly seeing the hole underneath I completed it with ease and was so shocked and proud about it. I said to myself: How the heck did I find that hard 3 years ago?!

[@skinbaby293]

I only found that opening from over analyzing the map until I figured it out

[@vcrbetamax]

We didn’t have this issue and was confused with my classmates. I didn’t realize they couldn’t see it. My Dad played resident evil and because of the sewer part, cranked up the saturation on the TV. We didn’t realize until a buddy came over and was like “why is your TV so bright?”.

[@etiennetheriault8953]

I had to wait for an older friend to clear the temple for me.

[@elishaschoonover8914]

I played the Nintendo 3DS version and it was still Hell in a puzzle.

[@exist_to_resist7414]

I used to have nightmares about this dungeon.

[@amaliosaenz23]

Its just the water levels that mess with players heads

[@ShadowSora8491]

There's also that cracked wall on the way to the area where ya lower the water to level 1 that can be easy to forget about.

[@dizzer182]

Never had an issue with this temple.