The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the most popular Legend of Zelda game sof all time, with the only entry since catching up to it being The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was the first Zelda game to have 3D graphics, and so it became well-known quickly.
As it was so popular, it was adapted into a manga by Akira Himekawa, and then published by Shogakukan (before VIZ localized it in English). The manga had several distinct differences from the video game, and those will be listed here.
10 Link Actually Speaks
While being a silent protagonist is a common trope in video games, most still have bits of dialogue thrown into the games, or at least some implication that they speak, such as Mario's "let's-a go!" and Kirby's "poyo!" catchphrases.
Link is a bit different. It's a recurring theme throughout The Legend of Zelda games that Link just never speaks (except in Twilight Princess, where we see the Hero's Shade from Majora's Mask verbally teach the current Link swordsman skills). In the manga, Link talks. He talks a lot, to everyone.
9 Link Made His Slingshot
While this may not be too important of a detail, it is the first item in the game that Link gets in a dungeon that he is required to use to progress (and eventually defeat Queen Gohma). The way he got this tool was a bit different in the manga.
He actually didn't find it anywhere; he stated that he made it. He is shown in the manga showing off his invention to Saria. While the origin of the weapon is different, he still uses the weapon to fight Gohma in the manga.
8 Link Met Zelda In Castle Town
This isn't too bizarre at face value, seeing as Hyrule Castle Garden, which is right outside of Hyrule Castle, is indeed neighboring Hyrule Castle Town. The amount of guards you have to sneak past from the Castle Town to the Garden just to get to Zelda is very tedious and long, however, so it is a memorable difference.
In the manga, Zelda is in Castle Town disguising herself to hide from Impa, so that she can visit the place as a regular girl instead of having a guard guiding her everywhere. Link meets her and then spends the whole day with her before she has to go home, where it was revealed that Impa was actually watching her the whole time.
7 Link's Backstory Is Revealed
While the game basically shows everything Link does from the age of 10 years old to when he defeats Ganon at age 17, this goes even further back than that. Before Link was even born, we see that his father was a guard in Castle Town. Link was taken to the woods by his mother as a precaution.
Since his father worked for the King, he knew that Ganondorf was planning on taking over. He wanted his son to live a life away from that, so his mother took him to the Kokiri Forest, where she was turned into a tree. Link survived because he was a hero chosen by the Goddesses. It was later revealed that Ganondorf killed his father.
6 Link Was Friends With Mido
While living life believing he was a young Kokiri boy, there was a boy named Mido who used to bully Link. This was true in both the video game and the manga, but Mido didn't have much involvement in the video game. When Link went into the Great Deku Tree in the manga, Mido was there to help.
After the seven years, when Link went back to the Kokiri Forest for the Grass Medallion, he saw Mido again. Mido didn't recognize him. He was complaining that he had left all those years ago, both because he believes it cursed the forest to become overrun with monsters, and also because me missed spending time with him.
5 Link Had Volvagia As A Pet
Most people forget, but Volvagia is the dragon that is the boss of the Fire Temple. Most people just go through that dungeon and see Volvagia, a generic fire-breathing dragon enemy that you have to fight, and there is no backstory for this beast, nor is he ever relevant or even mentioned anywhere else.
In the manga, the chapter where Volvagia is fought gives him a bit of backstory. He is shown to have actually been a dragon that Link had as a pet seven years ago, and after the time skip, he was mind controlled by Ganondorf, forcing Link to behead his old friend.
4 There Is A Race Of Bird People
While we technically see another race of bird people in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, they're entirely different from this race that we see in the manga. They're referred to as the Watarara, and Link finds a young boy Watararan who accidentally flew too far from the flock when they were migrating.
It turns out that he actually doesn't know how to fly very well, yet, and also that he's a prince. Link wants to help him, though he is mean to Navi and eventually bratty towards Link, making him indifferent. Eventually he helps out Link during a fight, and afterwards, his father shows up to retrieve him.
3 Zelda Sealed Away Her Mind
We see in the video game that during the seven years, Zelda went into hiding as a warrior of the Sheikah people named Sheik. She worked as a ninja for Ganondorf so that she wouldn't be suspected as being Zelda. It isn't even explained this in-depth in the games, only implied.
In the manga, the only reason she helps Link at all is because she had subconscious urges to. It is revealed that she actually sealed away her memories and most of her personality so that she could serve as a convincing male ninja to aid Ganondorf. Her mind would be restored when the time was right.
2 Navi Actually Helps Link
Yeah, this one is a big shocker. It shouldn't be too surprising, though. While Navi doesn't seem to help in the games (since most of the stuff she says seems like common sense), Link begins our story as a ten-year-old boy, so, naturally, he would be inexperienced.
Navi actually helps him out so much in the manga that Link practically relies on her. When he was saved by the Watararan prince, he was fighting a giant tornado enemy he doesn't know how to defeat before Navi shows up and gives him advice.
1 The Aftermath Of The Battle Against Ganon
While we know from the Hyrule Hystoria that, after the events of Ocarina of Time, the timeline splits into three forking paths, none of this is really explained in-depth in the games. We know Link gets defeated by Ganon in one timeline, and he defeats him in two others (one of them with him going back to the past afterwards), but we never really see any details as to how it all happens.
In the manga, we see that Zelda and Link are together again after Ganon is defeated, as they are in the games, but then Zelda plays a song on the Ocarina of Time to send Link back to his time. She rules Hyrule and makes the world better for her people, and then Link goes back to Kokiri Forest to spend time with his old friends while befriending a Skull Kid.