According to two interviews with Famitsu in 1998, Shigeru Miyamoto cited Rare's exceptional graphical and technical work on Banjo-Kazooie as a factor for why The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was delayed, as Miyamoto and his team felt they needed to compete with it. He thought a 3D action platformer of its kind running that well on Nintendo 64 hardware was "so amazing that we don't want to be outdone", and "if Mario's a makunouchi bento, Banjo's a deluxe makunouchi bento." Some reviews of Ocarina of Time at its release compared its graphics, frame rate and textures with Banjo-Kazooie's, and felt Ocarina of Time did not perform as well in that field.

Sheik's Spoiler:true identity as Princess Zelda is hinted at during Sheik's Theme. If you listen closely, you'll hear the notes to Spoiler:Zelda's Lullaby, but played faster and on a harp instead of an ocarina.

The Goron Tunic, meant to protect Link from heat and reduce damage taken from lava, also affords the same protection against acid and spikes due to both being coded to use the same hit detection as lava.

While Link being able to manually jump either on his own like in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link or through the use of an item like the Roc's Feather from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is a recurring ability in the series, several 3D installments forgo this in favor of having Link jump automatically at the edge of a platform. There are conflicting claims by series producer Eiji Aounuma and series co-creator Shigeru Miyamoto as to who thought of the automatic jump during the development of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and why. Aonuma claimed the autojump was directly inspired by the Roc's Feather and he had it implemented due to his own poor ability at playing platform games, wishing that the game could do the jumping for him. Miyamoto on the other hand claimed that he had thought of the autojump one morning and sprung it on the development team, who were planning to add a manual jump and were previously used to making Mario games, as an intentional limitation to see if they could "do all kinds of things." Manual jumping would be incorporated into a 3D Zelda game for the first time with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

While bottled Blue Fire is meant to be used to melt Red Ice in the Ice Cavern, it can also be used to destroy brown stone Weak Walls that normally need to be destroyed with Bombs. However, it can only be used to break this specific kind of bombable wall and this function is never actually mentioned in the game, suggesting that it may be a glitch.

Inspired by medieval architecture, Shigeru Miyamoto traveled to Germany to use half-timbered homes in Lower Franconia as reference material and spent a few weeks in Northern Bavaria when creating Hyrule Castle Town.

If the Song of Healing in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is reversed, it sounds similar to Saria's Song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. While this may seem unintentional, the inputs to perform each song are also reversed from each other, with Saria's Song being played by pressing Down, Right and Left, while the Song of Healing is played by pressing Left, Right and Down.

In a 1999 interview published in a Japanese strategy guide for Ocarina of Time, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that Chain Chomps from the Super Mario Bros. series were planned to appear as enemies in Gerudo's Fortress. According to Miyamoto, the Chain Chomps would be able to capture Link and wrap him up in chains, requiring him to use the Megaton Hammer to break them and free himself. Chain Chomps were present up until the final revisions of the game; Miyamoto did not explain why they were removed.

While riding Epona, it's possible to jump over the Southern, Western, and Eastern fences to exit Lon Lon Ranch, with each jump featuring a unique cutscene.

In a 1999 commentary with the game's composer Koji Kondo published in the GSLA archive, he stated that when "Ocarina" became the game's title, he decided to try and build the music around one central ocarina melody. Given that the ocarina only has five notes to play, he tried to write the various background themes in different genres (bolero, serenade, etc.) where each one would evoke a "catchy, memorable 3-note ocarina melody". This was the motif around which he created various simple, but distinct melodies, and was very careful to make sure he didn't repeat himself. Kondo then commented:


Kondo also stated the Hyrule Field theme is the main central song, and that he wrote it so that each time you play it, the song structure unfolds in a slightly different way. He also stated that when Link stands still for a while, the song will change to a more relaxed melody, and when enemies come close, the song will get tenser. Since it is a very long game, he tried to think of ways to keep the players from getting bored, and how to make the music evolve with what's happening on-screen. He hoped to continue pursuing this idea for interactive music in future games.

There is a lavafall in Dodongo's Cavern that can be jumped through to find a secret room that contains one recovery heart. This room is unique in that the Lens of Truth does not reveal its location, suggesting that there is no known official way in-game to learn that the room exists.

If the game detects that its cartridge is a pirated copy, Zelda's hair will turn into a giant pentagon in cutscenes, fishing will always result in a hooked fish escaping after 51 frames of animation, and Spoiler:the exit to Ganon's Castle during the escape sequence will be blocked off to Link, as Zelda will run right through the bars, leaving Link behind and making the game impossible to finish.

There is an extra Piece of Heart found above Link's Cell in the Gerudo's Fortress when Link is a child. However, since Link can't get into the fortress as a child, it is only attainable through glitches or cheats.

In April 2018, the iQue Player (a Chinese console based on the Nintendo 64) was cracked after 15 years. Upon hacking the console, a never before seen Taiwanese ROM of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was found suggesting that the system and/or the game was planned to be localized in that region.

In the Nintendo 64 game, Adult Link's earrings are blue; Adult Link's earrings are silver in the 3DS version.

The 3DS version is used for the Epona trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with Link wearing silver earrings.

An extension for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time originally known as URA Zelda was originally going to be released by Nintendo before it was ultimately cancelled. It may have been cancelled because it was planned to be released for the N64 Disc Drive, which was released late in the console's lifecycle and undersold in most markets. What was known, however, was that it would have added new features to the game, such as Link's footsteps appearing in sand, having damaged trees, having bushes and grass damaged for the entire game, and changing up dungeons.

In 2012, a YouTuber named ZethN64 said he was going to try and recreate URA Zelda. He and his team wanted to make their own new dungeons, story, and soundtrack for the game. It was unfortunately cancelled, as there were conflicts within the team as well as ZethN64 disappearing.

Early during development, the Market was originally called "Downtown".

During early stages of the game's development, the fence at Jabu Jabu's Belly near the entrance used to be a shortcut to the Zora's Domain entrance. The idea was cut for unknown reasons.

During E3 of 1998 Ocarina of Time's logo was the same logo as A Link to the Past. The logo was most likely a temporary placeholder during development.

Much like how Bowser's laugh in Super Mario 64 is sped up for use as the Boo's laugh, Ganondorf's laughter is sped up to create the laughter of the Poe Sisters in the Forest Temple.