Side quests, masks and minigames

0:17 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's side quests are optional errands and games that pay in upgrades, Pieces of Heart and Bottles: the Happy Mask Shop's chain of mask sales, which ends with the Mask of Truth; winning Epona from Ingo; six Great Fairy Fountains; ten Big Poes; ten Magic Beans; the Fishing Pond; Dampé's gravedigging tour and his ghost's race; shooting galleries, Bombchu Bowling and horseback archery; and the Skull Kid and the frogs, who reward a song. The mask quest starts in Hyrule Castle Town's Happy Mask Shop, a building with big cartoon eyes on its front, which opens, as Zelda Dungeon's guide of Aug 26, 2009 explains, only after child Link has spoken to the guard at the foot of Death Mountain. The longer collecting quests have their own pages: Gold Skulltulas, Pieces of Heart and Biggoron's Sword and trading quests.

Quick facts

The Happy Mask Shop and its masks

The Happy Mask Shop does not sell masks; it lends them. Child Link takes a mask, finds someone who wants it, sells it, and then pays the shop back before he can borrow the next. Zelda Wiki records that the shop opens once Link has shown Zelda's Letter to the guard at the Death Mountain gate in Kakariko Village. The four masks go in order:

8:10 After the Bunny Hood is paid back, the shop has sold all four trading masks and gives Link the Mask of Truth. Zelda Dungeon's guide shows the reward: the Mask of Truth lets Link talk to the Gossip Stones scattered across Hyrule, and three more masks, the Gerudo, Zora and Goron Masks, can be borrowed and worn just for people's reactions. Wearing the Skull Mask and then the Mask of Truth for the Deku Scrubs of the Forest Stage, a hidden clearing in the Lost Woods, also raises how many Deku Sticks and Deku Nuts Link can carry.

28:27 The remake adds masks of its own. In The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct of Sep 8, 2026, Nintendo announced "new amiibo figures. Young Link... as well as Young Zelda. These amiibo unlock special in-game masks", due in 2027. Nintendo's store page calls them retro-style masks, and IGN describes them as masks of each character's Nintendo 64 model; existing Legend of Zelda amiibo unlock other in-game extras. Nintendo has not said what the masks do, as of Oct 14, 2026.

Great Fairy Fountains

7:05 Each of the six Great Fairies lives in a hidden fountain marked by a Triforce on the floor, and appears when Link plays Zelda's Lullaby there. Zelda Dungeon's guide to the last one, near Ganon's Castle, shows the whole visit: Link plays the lullaby on the mark, the Great Fairy rises from the water, and the message reads that his defensive power has been enhanced.

The spells are described on Items and equipment.

Big Poes and the Poe Collector

0:26 Ten Big Poes haunt fixed spots of Hyrule Field in the adult era, and catching all ten earns a Bottle. IGN's guide of Sep 8, 2026 lists what is needed: the Fairy Bow from the Forest Temple (each Big Poe takes two arrows), a Bottle to hold its soul, and Epona, since the ghosts flee fast. Zelda Wiki adds that the Big Poes appear while Link rides Epona; on foot, their spots usually give an ordinary Poe. Link sells each soul to the Poe Collector in Hyrule Castle Town's Ghost Shop, and the tenth earns him a Bottle.

Magic Beans

1:35 The bean seller sits at the foot of Zora's River, eating from a bag. In Zelda Dungeon's guide of Jul 21, 2009, he sells the first bean for 10 Rupees and the price rises with each one; ten beans cost 550 Rupees in all. Child Link plants them in the patches of soft soil around Hyrule, and seven years later each has grown into a leaf platform that adult Link rides to Pieces of Heart, Gold Skulltulas and shortcuts. Letting a bug out of a Bottle over soft soil also uncovers a Gold Skulltula.

The Fishing Pond

9:49 The Fishing Pond is on Lake Hylia. For 20 Rupees the owner lends a rod for unlimited time; IGN's guide of Sep 19, 2026 shows child Link landing a 10-pound fish for a Piece of Heart, by wiggling the stick to draw a bite and reeling in against the fish's pull. As an adult, a bigger record fish wins the Golden Scale, which lets Link dive deepest. The Sinking Lure is forbidden: a record caught with it earns no prize. The pond's Osaka-dialect owner was drafted by programmer Morita, who also wrote the fishing game, and is modeled on a real fishing-shop owner near Neyagawa (Iwata Asks). In the remake, IGN noticed that the fishing hole is clearly signposted, where the original hid it.

Dampé's tour and race

2:18 Dampé, Kakariko's gravekeeper, runs the Heart-Pounding Gravedigging Tour for child Link in the evening. For 10 Rupees he digs where Link points; IGN's guide warns that the Piece of Heart is a random prize and took nearly 200 Rupees of digging to appear.

21:10 Seven years later, Dampé has died, and his ghost races Link through the tunnels under his grave ("I may not look like it, but I'm confident in my speed!" in RetroArchive's run). Keeping up with him the first time wins the Hookshot; finishing the race again in under a minute wins a Piece of Heart, and the race comes out in Kakariko's windmill, where another Piece of Heart sits on the spinning platform.

Minigames

17:17 Horseback archery is the best known. Behind Gerudo's Fortress, once Link carries the Gerudo Token, a Gerudo runs a range where Epona gallops on her own and Link shoots targets and pots with 20 arrows; IGN's guide gives the rules, 100 points for a bull's-eye and 100 for a pot, and a Piece of Heart for more than 1,000 points. Each play costs 20 Rupees (Zelda Wiki).

Two other characters pay for a song. In the Lost Woods, the Skull Kid on the stump near the entrance gives a Piece of Heart for Saria's Song, and on Zora's River the frogs give one for the Song of Storms and another for a game of matching notes (Ocarina songs).

In the remake

11:34 Nintendo has said the remake keeps Castle Town's games and adds to the town. In Nintendo's gameplay demonstration of Sep 8, 2026, Eiji Aonuma walks into the back alleys, where the team has "added quite a few new details, including some parts that were merely backdrops at the time", and says "you can hear gossip from the townsfolk and play minigames in shops", adding that some players may spend quite some time there. Aonuma also says that, unlike the original, where time stopped in towns, "time marches on, no matter where you are". Nintendo has not listed the remake's minigames, or said whether their prizes changed, as of Oct 14, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get the Mask of Truth in Ocarina of Time? In Ocarina of Time, Link gets the Mask of Truth from the Happy Mask Shop after selling all four borrowed masks: the Keaton Mask to the Kakariko gate guard, the Skull Mask to the Skull Kid, the Spooky Mask to the graveyard boy and the Bunny Hood to the Running Man. It lets him read the Gossip Stones.

When does the Happy Mask Shop open in Ocarina of Time? The Happy Mask Shop in Hyrule Castle Town opens in Ocarina of Time once child Link has shown Zelda's Letter to the guard at the Death Mountain gate in Kakariko Village.

Where are the Great Fairy Fountains in Ocarina of Time? Ocarina of Time has six Great Fairy Fountains: on Death Mountain Trail (Magic Meter), outside Hyrule Castle (Din's Fire), at Zora's Fountain (Farore's Wind), in Death Mountain Crater (double magic), at the Desert Colossus (Nayru's Love) and outside Ganon's Castle (doubled defense). Each opens with Zelda's Lullaby.

What do you get for 10 Big Poes in Ocarina of Time? Selling all ten Big Poes to the Poe Collector in Ocarina of Time earns a Bottle. Big Poes appear in Hyrule Field in the adult era and are shot with the Fairy Bow, usually from Epona.

How many Magic Beans are in Ocarina of Time? Ocarina of Time has ten Magic Beans, sold by the bean seller at Zora's River for 10 Rupees and then 10 more each time, 550 Rupees in all. Planted as a child, each grows into a platform for adult Link.

How do you get Epona in Ocarina of Time? In Ocarina of Time, Link learns Epona's Song from Malon as a child, then as an adult rides Epona at Lon Lon Ranch, beats Ingo in two races and jumps the ranch fence to escape. Epona and Lon Lon Ranch has the full guide.

What do the amiibo masks do in the Ocarina of Time remake? Nintendo says the Young Link and Young Zelda amiibo, due in 2027, unlock special masks in the Nintendo Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time, but it has not said what they do as of Oct 14, 2026.

Sources

• The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary celebration revealed in new Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo of America, Sep 8, 2026
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Nintendo of America, read Oct 14, 2026
• Iwata Asks: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Original Development Staff Part 2, Nintendo, read Oct 14, 2026
• Happy Mask Shop, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Great Fairy, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Big Poe, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Magic Bean, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Fishing Pond, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Horseback Archery Range, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Dampé, Zelda Wiki (community reference), read Oct 14, 2026
• Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Walkthrough 06 (5/6) "Masks & Forest Stage Guide", Zelda Dungeon, Aug 26, 2009 (video)
• Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Walkthrough 05 (2/7) "Zora's Domain", Zelda Dungeon, Jul 21, 2009 (video)
• Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Walkthrough 14 (4/10) "Ganon's Castle: Shadow, GF of Courage", Zelda Dungeon, Feb 16, 2010 (video)
• The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct 9.8.2026, Nintendo of America, Sep 8, 2026 (video)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Mr. Aonuma Gameplay Demonstration, Nintendo of America, Sep 8, 2026 (video)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - All Big Poe Locations, IGN, Sep 8, 2026 (video)
• Zelda Ocarina of Time - All 36 Heart Piece Locations IN ORDER, IGN, Sep 19, 2026 (video)
• Zelda: Ocarina of Time - All 36 Heart Piece Locations, RetroArchive, Jan 16, 2023 (video)
• The 40 Biggest Changes in the Zelda: Ocarina of Time Gameplay, IGN, Sep 12, 2026 (video)