History ThatOneLevel / TheLegendOfZelda

* The Forest Temple can become a real pain if you missed a key. Also at one point in order to progress, you have to jump down a dark hole you'd normally consider a deadly chasm, but since the whole place is rotated at that point, it's actually a corridor forward.

* The Temple of the Ocean King is unanimously agreed to be one of the franchise's worst. The idea behind the dungeon is that you return to it repeatedly over the course of the game, using the items gained in other dungeons in order to get deeper and deeper upon each visit. This by itself sounds fine, if a bit tedious. The problem comes in that each visit forces you to travel through the same exact rooms, often forcing you to redo puzzles that you had already completed on prior visits. Combine this with the fact that the dungeon as a whole is effectively [[TimedMission timed]] StealthBasedMission, with the place crawling with [[InvincibleMinorMinion invincible enemies]] that will knock the player back to a room's entrance and/or reduce the timer if they catch you, and you have an annoying temple that you have to deal with at least ''five times'' during your journey.

* The Tear of Light collection sidequests are tedious because you're stuck in your wolf form, which severely limits your tool and travel options. To make it out, you have to search the entire region looking for Shadow Insects you must kill to obtain each Tear. But they're invisible, so you have to switch to sense mode, which makes it difficult to see very far -- and they're still not easy to find. You have to do this three times in all; the Lanayru Province can take an ''hour'' even at a good pace (and that also includes riding the Shadow Kargorok, which can be either incredibly difficult or incredibly tedious).

* Having to retrieve the two Sols in the Twilight Realm is a deeply stressful segment. You have to get to the Sol, fight off a holographic Zant, grab the sol, traverse back to the start, all while having to leave the Sol behing and potentially getting hoisted away by a very angry hand. Did I mention you have to do this TWICE!

* The Master Trials, a gauntlet of multiple floors of enemies which, like Eventide Island, starts you out with no weapons or armor and forces you to scavenge for them. It also cuts out your access to saving, so any death forces you to do the whole thing all over again Particularly infamous is Floor 10 of the Beginning Trials, which pits the player against three Lizalfos on a tiny raft, one of which spots you immediately and must be killed ASAP lest it warn the others so that they all gang up on you. Worse, Master Mode again boosts all the enemy levels, so an already difficult trial against a somewhat weak Blue Lizalfos and two sturdy Black Lizalfos becomes one Black Lizalfos and two MadeOfIron Silver Lizalfos, all of which can heal off damage. Floor 10 is even considered to be harder than much of the Middle and Final Trials, since those give you decent weapons from the start and focus more on the surprise factor of environmental gimmicks.

* Eventide Island takes away all of the player's gear (except the Sheikah Slate) and forces them to use only what they can scavenge from the island. The earliest encounters with no weapons are extremely risky, and the later encounters aren't much easier either, especially if the player accidentally alerts some enemies too quickly and ends up with a pack of Bokos or a Hinox hunting them down. This escalates on Master Mode, which makes all enemies one level higher and gives them a HealingFactor, meaning the weak weapons one will find will do little more the ScratchDamage before breaking.

* Although ''[[UpdatedRerelease Master Quest]]'' made all the dungeons harder (except the aforementioned Water Temple), its version of the Fire Temple is particularly hard. The very first room has a stairwell blocked by a wall of fire, which veterans would assume you turn off with a switch -- but instead, you have to [[GuideDangIt climb a wall and bypass it]]. The rest of the dungeon is filled with confusing mazes and irritating fire puzzles, particularly involving lighting torches by shooting arrows through other torches, to the point that many gamers [[SequenceBreaking beat the Water Temple first]] so they can get the Fire Arrows. The most frustrating puzzle is a switch that deactivates a wall of fire with an improbably short fuse, and you have to run to a hookshot target and use it to make it through (although the Scarecrow's Song provides a shortcut).

* The Bottom of the Well is characterized by false walls that look like any other wall, except if you see them through the Lens of Truth -- which you only get inside the dungeon. You have to walk through a false wall just to get into the place, and [[GuideDangIt the only hint]] is Navi's cryptic suggestion to "see the truth." The dungeon itself also has fake floors, which drop you into a cavern filled with Redeads. It's the epitome of TrialAndErrorGameplay. And the boss is hidden [[spoiler:right at the start of the level]]. ''Master Quest'' kept him there but moved the item you're trying to retrieve instead.

* Beneath the Well isn't difficult, but rather tedious and [[SolveTheSoupCans entirely bizarre and pointless.]] Instead of having to navigate areas full of creepy monsters and fake walls, you have to go on a tedious FetchQuest. You need to get a Magic Bean and Red Potion just to enter the place, which requires some backtracking. Then you're hunting for stuff to give to all the Gibdos.

* Jabu Jabu's Belly in ''Oracle of Ages'' puts all other water dungeons in all other ''Zelda'' games to shame. It's entirely possible to get stuck with no keys, no way to access the boss key, and no way to start the water levels over from the beginning to fix your mistake. In order to continue the game from this point, you must perform the [[GoodBadBugs Veran Warp]], which can corrupt your save file -- but also allows you to skip this level and everything else after the Tune of Ages. It's also got the problem of the infamous Water Temple of being so damn ''tedious.'' Expect to spend a ''lot'' of time walking back and forth to the room where you can raise and lower the water level.

* Sneaking around the Forsaken Fortress shouldn't be too hard, if it wasn't at the very beginning of the game and the Moblins were placed in the most irritating spots. It's easy to get lost, or to be spotted and tossed back into the cell at the very beginning. It's not hard in NES sense of a lot of difficult enemies, it's just ''so tedious'' as you do a lot of waiting for Moblins to slooooowly walk past (sometimes changing direction, too, so that Moblin you need to sneak past might be between you and the door for ''several'' minutes), a lot of redoing the same rooms, and a lot of walking around the same places over and over as you were ''sure'' you read the map right and knew where to go next but somehow you're back to the same place again. For added insult, the second visit is much easier as Link can now fight his enemies as soon as they detect him. This makes it a ''little'' less painful... but a little less painful than ''that'' is still pretty damn painful.

* The City in the Sky is a MarathonLevel that takes an average of four to five hours, and that's if you know where you're going. Just getting to it is annoying enough, since it requires a huge FetchQuest just to start another FetchQuest. It's far too easy to fall to your death, and the level requires precise clawshotting in order to survive. And it's huge and easy to get lost in. Fortunately, it's better once you get the second clawshot, if only because using two clawshots is a lot of fun.

* The Great Palace. ''Dear goddesses,'' the Great Palace. Yes, this is the era where NintendoHard was the norm. Yes, this is a game considered murderous even ''then.'' Yes, this is TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of that game. '''YES, this is ThatOneLevel even by that standard.'''

* Sneaking around the Forsaken Fortress shouldn't be too hard, if it wasn't at the very beginning of the game and the Moblins were placed in the most irritating spots. For added insult, the second visit is much easier as Link can now fight his enemies as soon as they detect him. However, it's easy to get lost, or to be spotted and tossed back into the cell at the very beginning. It's not hard in NES sense of a lot of difficult enemies, it's just ''so tedious'' as you do a lot of waiting, a lot of redoing the same rooms, and a lot of walking around the same places over and over as you were ''sure'' you read the map right and knew where to go next but somehow you're back to the same place again.

* For a value of level the final trek to the Great Palace is horrendously painful. Full of bottomless pits, LedgeBats, durable enemies, and mandatory magic use. And without the Cross (found in the sixth palace), the flying Moas will be ''invisible''.
* The Great Palace is plagued with completely unconventional mechanics compared to the rest of the game, including horrid dead ends, endless loops, and monsters with increased HitPoints relative to what they have when encountered elsewhere. If you made it here without all of your experience levels maxed out at 8, good luck! The good news is that you'll restart from this dungeon's entrance upon a Game Over, instead of doing so from Zelda's temple.

* It's always the water levels! The Mermaid Cave requires you to take certain actions in the present ''and'' the past, so you have to leave and return more than once if you don't plan just right or get lucky. Also, it's got one room where it's never hinted that you have to bomb a spot on a wall that ''doesn't'' have the usual cracks denoting a bombable wall in order to proceed. Even ''getting inside'' will be tougher than expected because some of what you have to do to get one of the keys isn't adequately hinted at. It's a couple of GuideDangIt points that are less extreme than what's found in the NES games, but it's the kind of thing that would have a casual player wandering for ages wondering where to go or what to do next.

* Sneaking around the Forsaken Fortress shouldn't be too hard, if it wasn't at the very beginning of the game and the Moblins were placed in the most irritating spots. For added insult, the second visit is much easier as Link can now fight his enemies as soon as they detect him.

* The Bottom of the Well is characterized by false walls that look like any other wall, except if you see them through the Lens of Truth -- which you only get inside the dungeon. You have to walk through a false wall just to get into the place, and [[GuideDangIt the only hint]] is Navi's cryptic suggestion to "see the truth." The dungeon itself also has fake floors, which drop you into a cavern filled with redeads. It's the epitome of TrialAndErrorGameplay. And the boss is hidden [[spoiler:right at the start of the level]]. ''Master Quest'' kept him there but moved the item you're trying to retrieve instead.

** Skull Woods. Not that bad on its own...but if you die during the outdoor segments between entrances and exits? Good luck walking all the way back! Oh, and there are these new enemies you haven't seen yet in any level 'til now called Wallmasters. They drag you all the way back to the beginning.[[note]]...well, sort of. Since the level is broken up into several discrete segments, it's possible to enter it from several different locations, some of which are completely disconnected from others. The Wallmaster will take you to the one you most recently entered, so that might actually be midway through the level. Still quite annoying, though.[[/note]] Have fun!
** The Misery Mire lives up to its name very well, especially if you show up early to pick up the Cane of Somaria to skip ThatOnePuzzle in the Ice Palace, since you won't have the Blue Mail from said dungeon, and the enemies here, especially the Beamos and Wizzrobes (let alone Vitreous, whose mini-eyes take off three hearts apiece to a green Link), will take you out quickly if you're not careful. The Wizzrobes actually take off ''four'' hearts if you haven't gotten the armour upgrade.

* Turtle Rock has several confusing floating platform track sections. The first one in particular forces you to ride through four lamps, shoot each one of them with the Fire Rod to light them all and open the door, and then run back and get through the door before one of the lamps goes out and the door closes. "Don't go any further without a green potion" indeed.

** Though you should keep fairies with you, in case you die, the boss in the dungeon requires both the fire rod and the ice rod, so make sure you supply enough life AND magic. Fun level to play, but quite challenging.

* The IcePalace can become seizure-inducing due to the tougher bestiary, obstacles, and maze-like layout. In particular, there is a switch in B6 which requires hitting a red/blue switch, then doubling back several floors in order to push a block down from B5 onto the switch. Luckily, having the [[SequenceBreaking Cane of Somaria]] makes it much easier.[[note]]In fact, until the UpdatedRerelease, it was almost ''assumed'' that any player would do the dungeons out of order so that they could tackle the Ice Palace with the Cane of Somaria.[[/note]] Worse, the map is rendered useless due to most rooms being made up of discrete sections. There's nothing worse than finally getting halfway down correctly, then remembering that warping to the beginning of the level flips the red/blue switches.

* For a value of level the final trek to the Great Palace is horrendously painful. Full of bottomless pits, LedgeBats, durable enemies, and mandatory magic use. While the great palace is a horrendous maze, the path there is agonizing combat-wise, made worse by the fact that if you game over, the trek back to there from Zelda's temple is obnoxiously long and makes you cross through other dangerous areas to get back to it.
* The Great Palace is plagued with completely unconventional mechanics compared to the rest of the game, including horrid dead ends, endless loops, and monsters with increased HitPoints relative to what they have when encountered elsewhere. If you made it here without all of your experience levels maxed out at 8, good luck!
** Luckily, you don’t have to worry about resetting to Zelda’s temple when you die, unlike literally every other palace (and literally everywhere else for that matter), not that it will help you much.

* Jabu Jabu's Belly in ''Oracle of Ages'' puts all other water dungeons in all other ''Zelda'' games to shame. It's entirely possible to get stuck with no keys, no way to access the boss key, and no way to start the water levels over from the beginning to fix your mistake. In order to continue the game from this point, you must perform the [[GoodBadBugs Veran Warp]], which can corrupt your save file -- but also allows you to skip this level and everything else after the Tune of Ages.

* The road up Death Mountain to reach Goron City is difficult because the area is so hot that without proper protection, Link will [[ManOnFire burst into flames]]. The "correct" method is to find the nearby stable and buy some Fireproof Elixirs, but the game's WideOpenSandbox nature means that many gamers will likely miss the stable. The only other way to make it through is to make your own elixirs (with creatures [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock found only on Death Mountain]]) or to buy Fireproof Armor (from a shop [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock in Goron City]]). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-VX0wUwbjE Or eat a bunch of food and run for it]].

* The road to Zora's Domain the first time you go there requires you to navigate a long, narrow, winding path full of enemies, some of whom have [[ThatOneAttack electric attacks]]. It's also raining, so you can't use your usual shortcut strategy and just climb around it.
* The road up Death Mountain to reach Goron City is difficult because the area is so hot that without proper protection, Link will [[ManOnFire burst into flames]]. The "correct" method is to find the nearby stable and buy some Fireproof Elixirs, but the game's WideOpenSandbox nature means that many gamers will likely miss the stable. The only other way to make it through is to make your own elixirs (with creatures [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock found only on Death Mountain]]) or to buy Fireproof Armor (from a shop [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock in Goron City]]).

* The Temple of the Ocean King is unanimously agreed to be one of the franchise's worst. The idea behind the dungeon is that you return to it repeatedly over the course of the game, using the items gained in other dungeons in order to get deeper and deeper upon each visit. This by itself sounds fine, if a bit tedious. The problem comes in that each visit forces you to travel through the same exact rooms, often forcing you to redo puzzles that you had already completed on prior visits. Combine this with the fact that the dungeon as a whole is effectively [[TimedMission timed]] StealthBasedMission, with the place crawling with enemies that will knock the player back to a room's entrance and/or reduce the timer if they catch you, and you have an annoying temple that you have to deal with at least ''five times'' during your journey.

* The Temple of the Ocean King is unanimously agreed to be one of the franchise's worst. The idea behind the dungeon is that you return to it repeatedly over the course of the game, using the items gained in other dungeons in order to get deeper and deeper upon each visit. This by itself sounds fine, if a bit tedious. The problem comes in that each visit forces you to travel through the same exact rooms, often forcing you to redo puzzles that you had already completed on prior visits. Combine this with the fact that the dungeon as a whole is effectively [[TimedMission timed]] StealthMission, with the place crawling with enemies that will knock the player back to a room's entrance and/or reduce the timer if they catch you, and you have an annoying temple that you have to deal with at least ''five times'' during your journey.

* The Temple of the Ocean King is one of the franchise's most hated, thanks to the repeat visits through the same rooms, the timer, and the ability of the Phantoms to knock you back to a room's entrance while reducing the time you have left.