At the start sailing on the ocean is very enjoyable and looks fantastic, with islands in the distance appearing as faint silhouettes as you carve through the undulating waves. To keep the sailing varied a number of creatures will attack you and there are whirlwinds to avoid as well as the odd outpost. The trouble is at times you just want to get to your destination with the minimum amount of fuss. You can't just point yourself in the right direction and then go and make a cup of tea, as you have to keep an eye out for danger. Later on you learn a tune to teleport from various squares but by the end of the game you will have probably gotten a little tired of sailing.

Some of the other game play mechanics will be very familiar to players, like cutting grass for coins, ammo and energy. There is still a criminal lack of empty bottles in the world (they are evidently produced by the same company that made N64 cartridges). You can pick up bomb plants, and later on carry a number of them around. You conduct rather than play it this time. It's a simple enough process whereby you memorize a given pattern and push the C-stick accordingly. Other items are generally given to you at the start of a section for you to use throughout it. This will then culminate in a boss battle that will push your skills to that extra level of difficulty. The boss battles are by far and away the highlight of the game; perfectly balanced to offer just the right level of challenge. The weapons are well thought out and will come in useful throughout the game in different ways. This also has a nice bearing on the difficulty, so a certain foe may be quite awkward to deal with initially but after gaining, say, the boomerang they can become far easier to kill. Of course as soon as one type of enemy becomes easy to dispatch another is introduced.

Each island you visit has a different theme. For instance one of the earlier settings is a castle with lots of guards and spotlights for you to sneak around. A later level requires you to work with another character and to direct shafts of light. Each setting has a unique element within that's used in interesting puzzles, so there is a great amount of variety to the game play. At time it assumes a leap of logic that isn't entirely obvious. For instance if you'd never played a Zelda game before and saw two symbols on the ground, would you think to stand on one and play a tune? Mostly though this is not the case and many elements will be introduced in a careful way so that you don't feel too overwhelmed.