It’s hard to deny just how much The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess references Ocarina of Time. At its core, it’s the closest a 3D Zelda ꦦhas ever come to just straight-up serving as a direct mechanical sequel. Twilight Princess has Wolf Link, but𓆏 at its core, it really is just The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 2. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it is very much🅺 a thing.
Twilight Princess references Ocarina of Time more than any other game in the franchise, almost to an agg𝓀ressivꦑe degree. Those adverse to fanservice will most certainly hate how self-indulgent Twilight Princess can be, but it also creates a stro🔥ngerও sense of continuity within the series, which has plenty of value in and of itself.
10 Ganondorf’s Plan
Take🔴 one second tꦺo think about Ganondorf’s plan in Twilight Princess and it becomes abundantly clear he’s just rippin🌃g off his plan from Ocarina of Time. Why, though? Well, that’s simple: because the He📖ro of Time ratted him out before he could do anything after coming back from the future. Ganondorf is imprisoned, “executed,” and sealed away.
When he comes b🅘ack, he just picks up where he left off: the Gorons are targeted and the Zoras are frozen. If the Deku Tree were active, it’s entirely likely Ganondorf would have tried killing him all over again. The only key difference is Ganondorf’s manipulation of Zant and the Twilight Realm.
9 Howling Stones
Music has always played an important role in 3D Zelda and it’s no surprise that Twilight Princess incorporates it in an important way. But no🐈t nearly as important as in Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, or even The Wind Waker. Link is n🅠o longer in control of the music, rather, music spots are designated by Howling Stones.
While some Howling Stones featur꧒e new songs, most are arrangements 𒁏of his ocarina songs from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. From Ocarina, these include the Requiem of🤪 Spirit, 🦄the Prelude of Light, and Zelda’s Lullaby. From Majora’s Mask, only the Song of Healing returns.
8 Skull Kid
Those aren’t the only ocarina songs that r🃏eturn from Ocarina of TIme, though. Notably, the Skull Kid in the Lost Woods is accompani🔯ed by Saria’s song, a melody the Hero of Time teaches him in a side quest in Ocarina of Time. By that token, this Skull Kid would also be the same♒ Skull🥃 Kid from Majora’s Mask.
In Twilight Princess specifically, Skull Kid serves as something of a guardian for the Master Swo𒁏rd, suggesting that he and the Hero of TIme were able to maintain their friendship following 💃the end of Majora’s Mask. Link has to prove himself t💖o Skull Kid🧸 before he can even be tested for the Master Sword.
7 Spacetime And The Master Sword
Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker suggest that the 🐎Master Sword has some time-relaꦉted properties, specifically in relation to the flow of time, whether that be reversing it, forwarding it, or keeping it still. Come, Twilight Princess, that no longer seems to be the case as Link pulls the Master Sword and not🍸hin𒊎g time related happens.
But then Link uses the Master Sword to enter the Temple of Time in what seems like another dimension. While the Masterꦬ Sword has no o🐼vert time properties in Twilight Princess, it can affect spacetime, allowing Link to💃 move between dimensions. Probab💞ly.
6 The Fishing Pond
Fishing isn’t exactly the most♒ popular side activity when it comes to video ga♓mes, but The Legend of Zelda typically does a good job whenever it chooᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚses to include it. Ocarina of Time notably brought fishing ♓into 3D, but it wouldn’t return in three dimensions until Twilight Princess released. Interestingly, the fishing pond in Twilight Princess features a direct reference to Ocarina of Time.
A photo of the fisherman from Ocarina of Time can actually be found in the fishing hole in Twilight Princess, the current owner actually his descendant. It’s a nice little detail and a reminder that the developers pay attention to more than fans seem to let on when it comes to ♉continuity (but that’s Twilight Princess on a whole.)
5 Agatha’s Bugs And Poe Souls
It’s hard to find many who actively enjoy the Gold Skulltula side quest ✱in Ocarina of Time, but it isn’t actively disliked🔜 either. Rathe🅘r, it’s just a part of the game that most don’t go out of their way to complete. Instead of featuring 100 Tokens to find, Twilight Princess splits itself between Agat♈ha’s bugs and Poe Souls.
W💛hile Agatha’s bugs visually resemble the Gold 🎃Skulltulas more, Poe Souls are structured more like Ocarina of Time’s original side quest, featuring tiered rewards with Poe Souls usually tucked away in parts of the environment players would🔯 have to go out of their way to find. Though the same can also be said for Agatha’s bugs on a lesse🐻r scale.
4 Sage Emblems
The Legend of Zelda has always made great use of its iconography and Ocarina of Time helped establish some emblems and symbols that would find themselves reapp🌜earing in later en𓂃tries. Twilight Princess made use of the Sage’s emblems fairly well, putting them on display when appropriate and featuring t🉐hem on the Sage’s🥃 robes.
It’s a little detail tha💎t doesn’t get any attent𒈔ion, but that’s why it’s a good one. As far as fanservice in Twilight Princess goes, this is probably the leas�ꦿ�t egregious example. Less referencing Ocarina of Time and more ensuring a sense of cohesion within The Legend of Zelda’s world.
3 The Hero’s Bow
The Death Mountain portion of Twilight Princess actually🐎 references the Hero of Time fairly oft🌞en with the Goron alluding to him frequently. He’s still a presence in Hyrule unlike in The Wind Waker and it’s heavily implied (read: all but confir𝔍med) that the dungeon item Link gets in the Goron Mines is the Hero o🐽f Time’s bow.
This one’s a bit of a cheat, though, as the bow the Hero of Tim👍e would have left with the Gorons would have been his Hero’s Bow fꦆrom Majora’s Mask, not his Fairy Bow from Ocarina of Time. Either way, it🅺’s still an interesting detail connecti🍬ng the Hero of Time to Twilight Princess.
2 The Hero’s Shade
Even befor🌟e the Hyrule Historia outright confirmed that the Hero’s Shade was the Hero of Time, there was plenty of in-game evidence to make it clear that this was always the case. Beyond the Hero’s Shade referring to Link as a descendant, the Hero’s Shade is left-handed like the Hero of Time and implicitly one of the strongest characters in the game.
Worth noting, the Hero’s Shade training Link in Twilight Princess marks the only time that a previous Link appears in another Link’s game as an actual person with ♛dialogue. Naturally, this makes the Hero of Time the only Link to have extensively written dialogue.
1 Twilight Princess Is Structured Exactly Like Ocarina Of Time
Twilight Princess is hyper-competent when it comes to being a Zelda game, but mu💜ch of that might have to do with it following Ocarina of Time’s structure to a T. Short intro focusing on LInk’s life in the forest followed by a change he can’t come back from and three dungeons: Forest, Fire, 💜Water in that order.
After that, a turning point removes Zelda from the p🍸lot, Link gets the Master Sword, and the story takes a back seat while he completes five dungeons before the grand finale. After that, the story kicks back up, Ganondorf makes his presence clear, and 🌳Link has to go through a taken over Hyrule Castle at the end of the game.