Lets examine it. For one, there are three pendants you have to acquire in LTTP. This is after you go and rescue Zelda and leave her at the temple. Well, this time around, you don't rescue Zelda, but you do go and talk to her. After that, when you get the three pendants, you go and she is kidnaped. This is after you get the Master Sword in the Lost Woods. In Zelda 64, you go thru the first part of the quest, getting three spiritual stones. After you get those three spiritual stones (which I think the tower on LTTP is much better than that d----- Lord Jabu Jabu's belly. I hated that dungeon! =)), you go to the town. Guess what, as Link approaches, there it cuts to a cinema, and Zelda is kidnaped by Ganondorf. Hmm . . . haven't we seen this story before? It turns out that you have to get 5 of the Sage's medallions. Rauru conveniently gives you one, so we can cut the sixth one away. Only by getting the six sage medallions can you open the bridge to fight Ganondorf. How intriguing.
 
    In the superiour SNES Zelda counterpart, it is seven crystals, and you don't get one given to you. Link wakes no sages this time. Instead, the seven maidens of the wise men descent have been hidden in deep dank dungeons, and Link has to transverse thru 13 dungeons all together, 5 the first part, and eight the second part. They are challenging, fun, and intriguing. Granted, Zelda 64 has some great stuff. But it is not as consistent as LTTP. After you have gone thru the seven dungeons (two more than in Zelda 64), you now have all seven crystals. That's great! Now, go to Death Mountain, and by doing so you will open the way to Ganon's big bad temple.
 
    Okay, what do we have in Zelda 64? You go and get the five medallions, plus the one that Rauru gives you as Link. Guess what? Now you have to go to his tower, and open the rainbow bridge with the six medallions.* Hmm . . . isn't that what we did in SNES Zelda? Why, I do believe it is, Watson!
 
    Another issue yet addressed is the Light World/Dark World. Zelda 64 does the same thing, save this time it is time traveling (I'm not even going to go into the impossibilities of time travel on this . . . that's a whole separate article in itself). In SNES Zelda, you have a little mirror the old man gave you. There are eight transporters located thruout Hyrule, transporting back and forth. If you are in the Dark World, you can use the mirror to go into the Light World, making a temporary transporter. Well, in Zelda 64, there is no mirror or transporters (the closest to a mirror is the Lens of Truth, found nigh in the Shadow Temple). But if you go and put the sword back, then you go back to being young. That creates two versions of the same world to explore. That structural symmetry corresponds to LTTP. Not only that, but at the end if the first three stones, Link goes to the Temple of Time and gets the sword. This is after the three Spiritual Stones goes into place. Hmm . . . isn't that what happened in LTTP? After getting the three pendents, Link goes to the Lost Woods and retrieves the Master Sword. But he cannot do that until he has all three pendents. Well, that's the same in Zelda 64. He can't get the Ocarina of Time, now can he retrieve the sword, until he wins the corresponding three spiritual stones. I swear I've played this game before . . . . ; )
 
    The real question is why did Nintendo do this? Well, Miyamoto is a great gamming god, but as far as stories go, his team is not that good at having connecting story lines that make sense. Again, another article, another time. The structural symmetries lying between Zelda 64 and LTTP is quite frightening. Who knows why they chose to do that? Granted, the story line is different, but quite a few of the fundamentals behind both pieces are indeed the same. In review:

A Listing of Structural Symmetries between SNES Zelda and Zelda 64

1. SNES: First Part, Link goes and retrieves three pendants after rescuing Zelda. This is to get the Master Sword. Upon doing so, and after giving the Pendants up to retrieve the Sword, Zelda is kidnaped.
2. N64: Link, after receiving a mission from the Deku Tree, goes and wins the three Spiritual Stones. Upon doing so, he goes to Hyrule City, but not before learning Zelda is kidnaped. He places the three Spiritual Stones in their place, and the Door of Time is opened, and there the sword is. Retrieving the Sword, goes to the Temple of Sages, or whatever it is called. Is given first Sage Medallion.
3. SNES: After winning the three pendents, Link must now go between two versions of the world (Light World/Dark World). Link must go back and forth between the two worlds to beat the game.
4. N64: In this great stunning adventure, Link must go between two versions of his world. One is when he is young, the other when he is an adult. This is achieved by putting the sword back in its pedestal. Just like in SNES LTTP, Link have to go back and forth to finish the game. When he is an adult, things are noticeable more evil, for Ganon's power has grown. 5. SNES: One version (Light World) is good because not corrupted by Ganon. Version II (Dark World), is an evil corrupted version of the Light World.
6. N64: One version (Young Link's world) is not corrupted by Ganon's evil. Ganon has just recently showed up. Version II (Adult Link's world), is an evil corrupted version (albeit older) of Young Link's world. The only difference is in one its two different versions of the same thing, in Zelda 64 it's the time barrier. But for game play, they're the same. 7. SNES: He, Link, must recover seven crystals hidden in seven dungeons (sounds logical). With the maidens' power, they will open to door to Ganon's castle.
8. N64: Link has to recover five medallions to open Ganon's Tower.
9. SNES: The (massive) closer dungeon is a tower.
10. N64: The (weak) closer dungeon is a tower.
11. SNES: After beating Ganon, you save Zelda, who had been kidnaped. Although one could argue you save her in Turtle Rock, she is still imprisoned in the Crystal with the other maidens, each in their respective Crystals.
12. N64: Sticking to the standard Nintendo story, after recovering the medallions and beating Ganon, guess what, Link saves Zelda. There's a shocker.
13. SNES: There are various mini-games, heart pieces, and extra things to do. This trend is continued in Link's Awakening also. 14. Zelda 64: Stuck with the trend of mini-games, four heart pieces to make a heart, and extra things to do.
 
    As you can see for yourself, the various structural symmetries between Zelda 64 and SNES Zelda is quit a few. If Miyamoto wanted to do a remake of LTTP for N64 that's what he should have done, I suppose. This, as far as story goes, is pretty much an update with little changed. Its like they took the game's basic plot, changed the circumstances and added where appropriate, but allowing the basic structure to stand. And, although both are great games, sadly, SNES is better, consistently with each dungeon getting a little harder and more complex. But I love Ocarina of Time all the same. This just helps support my believe that Nintendo is first and foremost a gaming company, not a writing company.
 
    *In all previous Zelda games, the end dungeon was in the mountains. This is the first game in the series to break that trend. The first three (Zelda I, II, and LTTP) their dungeon was in Death Mountain. Link's Awakening, Link's only Game Boy adventure (currently) is in Tal Tal Mountains. At least we have something that broke one of the several trends running thru this classic series.