http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=108029

It was already known to some (but its news to me) that the Medallions in Ocarina of Time were originally meant to be usable, which would have given Link a significantly larger arsenal of magic. Apparently there was quite a bit on tap for Ocarina of Time that got left on the cutting room floor for various reasons, including that they felt that they didn't function too differently than items that already existed. They also had other story ideas that didn't make it in. Gathering the extra magic would have incorporated a whole extra dungeon

Eiji Aonuma: Yes, you may be absolutely right, although I can not remember exactly all the details. There really is a difference between the temples, which we wanted to integrate and those that exist in the final game. And that had something to do with magic. We thought of integrating some actions, some plot threads, and some puzzles that have something to do with magic abilities. We have come to the conclusion that other, already existing, just regular items to be a worthy replacement. So we had originally three temples, which would capture the young Link, three temples for the adult Link and three in which he was to learn each spell - but instead we have eliminated a temple of it. In the final game is now so 3 plus 3 plus 2, or 8 temples to find.

I always felt those Medallions should of been used for something...looks like they wrere suppoded too

They took out a temple?

Nintendo is LAZY!!!

That extra temple would have really made all the difference for me.. :]

...
I think there should be an official Aonuma thread.
Stop posting everything he says!!
lol

That's pretty cool. I wonder what the game would've been like if they stuck with their original plan.

I knew about the medallions, early pics had Link equipped with the Forest medallion, so I was disappointed when I played the game and found out you actually couldn't use them like you could in LttP.

The story I heard is that the Wind and Earth temples in WW were supposed to be in OoT. Beta data in OoT has the Forest medallion listed as the "Wind Medallion."

Hm, would make sense for those medallions to actually have a use, like those in ALTTP. I really hope they bring back more magic into the next Zelda, there's been less and less of that with every new iteration...

There's been many announcements by execs and developers in Nintendo of items and concepts in Ocarina that never made it, such as the Deku Stick as a weapon (later turning into a concept for Star Fox Adventures) or the various masks from the Mask Dealer to have different effects when worn (obviously leading to Majora's Mask).

In the end, its just the logical progression of game development, which Ocarina of Time had one of the longest game developments for a game up to that point. And frankly, seeing what we got as a end result, all the trial and error was well worth it.

I do have to say however...all these 'discussions' and 'announcements' by Aonuma are starting to feel more like he's reflecting back on the past in regret. Really now...is he ashamed by Ocarina or something?   Did the lack of critical acclaim for Twilight crush hi?  Really, what's with all the dissection and back peddling on his past works?  Some of which are considered some of the best games ever made.

Aonuma doesn't even know how many dungeons OoT has - a sad thing indeed.

Ocarina of Time had 10 dungeons.