8 Beloved Video Game Levels That Have Aged Terribly

Time for an instantly controversial choice now - and yet the single most iconic dungeon in The Legend of Zelda series. 

Ocarina of Time's Water Temple was far from universally lauded on release, but it was nevertheless a staggeringly ambitious accomplishment for video game design in 1997, and was defended by many for its towering level of challenge.

But as the years passed, the Water Temple became an ever bigger bone of contention among Zelda fans, with many complaining in particular about the need to pause the game in order to swap to Iron Boots while navigating it.

Years removed from Ocarina of Time's release, the clunkiness of equipping and de-equipping the boots made an already difficult section of the game a genuine slog to get through, and something players became increasingly less tolerant of over time.

In the very least, 2011's Nintendo 3DS remake made numerous quality-of-life fixes to the Water Temple section, such as allowing players to instantly equip and de-equip the Iron Boots.

But played in its O.G. form today, the Water Temple is a migraine-inducing endurance trial incompatible with the patience of the average modern gamer.