The catfish in the Swamp of Ill Omen that gives Link the earthquake medallion is based on 18th century Japanese folklore. Namazu is a catfish that would wiggle its body in the water and bring chaos and destruction to the land. The skull shaped stones found on the screen to throw in the circle of stones represents the stone used by Kashima to pin Namazu down and the circle of stones around Namazu represents Namazu's prison (since stones do not float, what the player sees is the top of stones that go to the lake's bottom).

There is a boomerang glitch that can be performed in Kakariko Village that causes Link to not catch the boomerang, but causes the boomerang to go across the screen repeatedly. This can be done in both the SNES and GBA versions.

In the Western release's instruction manual, Ganondorf is addressed by the full name "Ganondorf Dragmire", while Ganon is addressed by the alias "Mandrag Ganon", which means "Ganon of the Enchanted Thieves". This was the result of Nintendo of America's translation team wanting to make their own contribution to the story. While these names do not appear in any game in the series, Ganondorf Dragmire has been used in Western promotional materials as recently as 2024.

It is possible to deflect Agahnim's magical projectiles using the Bug-Catching Net. While the timing is trickier than using the sword, the circular swing of the Bug-Catching net can also protect Link from the cluster projectile that scatters on being hit.

After Ganon has been defeated and the staircase to the Triforce has appeared at the end of the game, it is still possible to fall down the pits surrounding the arena. This will reset the boss battle, and the player will have to start the fight over from the beginning once they re-enter the pyramid, just like if they had fallen in the pit during the fight.

In the Swamp of Evil, where the Misery Mire dungeon is located, there are three enemies that do not load properly, rendering them invisible. Despite this, they can still attack and take damage, though will remain unseen by the player.

These invisible enemies are Ku, some of which can be seen in the Swamp of Evil. The ones that do load properly are positioned in the deep water of the swamp, while the invisible ones are located in shallow water. It's likely the enemies were only programmed to function in deep water, and thus either the terrain was different during development, or the enemies were simply misplaced.

There is an odd glitch that can be used in certain places to allows the player to walk through walls. This makes it possible to beat the entire game in under 3 minutes by simply walking to the end room with the credits.

The Magic Hammer is called the M.C Hammer in the Japanese release, referencing the American rapper of the same name.

You can use the Magic Mirror to get the Magic Cape early by warping to the area the headstone is in from the Dark World.

Miyamoto had originally planned for "A Link to the Past" to have a party system where you could switch between three characters and utilize their individual abilities. The characters would have been a mix between an elf and a fighter, a magic user, and a girl.

There is an unused item called "The Letter" that occupies the same inventory space as the Magic Mirror. It uses the same sprite as the map, similar to the letter item from the original Legend of Zelda.

There is a secret room, called the Chris Houlihan room, that is not accessible via normal means. It contains a telepathy tile and 225 Rupees and is used as an error handler if you fall into a hole but the game can't find a proper destination.

This room appeared as a result of Chris Houlihan winning a Nintendo Power contest and being promised an appearance in a Zelda game. Many of the glitches used to access the room were removed in the GBA port though, along with any mention of Chris.

There are several portraits of Mario hanging in houses of Kakiriko Village, pulling on the portraits causes Rupees to come out.

Concept Art for A Link to the Past shows Zelda in futuristic attire. The original Legend of Zelda was planned to be set in both the past and the future. This art could be an indication that Nintendo considered reusing the concept for A Link to the Past.

An unused enemy soldier with a cannon is fully programmed in the game, but never used. He includes full AI, graphics and animations.

In a similar way that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link revealed that the entirety of the map from The Legend of Zelda was just a portion of the former game's map, the entirety of the first game's map makes up where Death Mountain is located in A Link to the Past.

In 1/92 interview with the game's producer Shigeru Miyamoto published in the edition of Famicom Tsuushin magazine, he was asked if the SNES version of Zelda would be the same as the Super Famicom version. He responded that him and his team thought about making some improvements to the SNES version, including a number of things they could not complete in time for the Super Famicom release. Zelda makes full use of the available 8 MB of ROM space, but they knew they were going to need extra space for the English translation. They initially planned to increase the ROM size by 1 MB to solve this, until the compression routine their programmers wrote actually allowed them to fit everything in the original 8 MB storage. Miyamoto joked that they would save those aforementioned improvements for the next game.

In 1/92 interview with the game's producer Shigeru Miyamoto published in the edition of Famicom Tsuushin magazine, he revealed that him and his team began developing the game at the same time as Super Mario World. Even back when they initially revealed the Super Famicom at the company in July, 1989, their plan had always had been to make and release the game alongside Super Mario World as a launch title for the new system. They were hoping to release the game in March of 1991, but it was delayed into the Summer, until it was finally released on the one-year anniversary of the release of the Super Famicom on November 21, 1991.

In a Japan-exclusive Shogakukan Wonder Life Special guidebook authored by Nintendo and Ape Inc., there is artwork depicting Link praying before a Crucifix, contrasting the game's origin story of the three Golden Goddesses, but also fitting with the Japanese version of the game calling the Sanctuary a Church. The Church's name was changed to the Sanctuary outside of Japan, presumably due to Nintendo's international policy on religious imagery, although this artwork and the rest featured in this guidebook were never republished internationally as other publishers released their own guides instead.

After draining the water surrounding the Swamp Dungeon, Link can pick up the fish that are flopping around as a result of the reduced water levels. If Link throws a fish back into the pond, it will verbally thank Link and give him some Rupees. However, if Link carries a fish to Kakariko Village and gives it to the Street Merchant, he will give Link an assortment of Rupees, Bombs and Arrows.