What it did right
1-Zelda had personality. She seemed like a fun-loving hippie, and not in a bad way. This is to date the only Zelda incarnation that has had any sort of personality whatsoever save for the kid in OoT, but that wasn’t much either.
2-Durability sucks in any game, but at least you could actually repair and even make your shields in SS, unlike in BotW where weapons and shields are like modern technology; break it, trash it, get a new one.
3-Character development. Navi was always annoying, Link is always stoic and silent, Zelda is usually always like Link but not mute. Groose? Well, he’s just one character, but at least this is a Zelda game with a character who had an arc from annoying asshole to lovable goof.
Funny how people criticize the controls in this game when they praise LttP which essentially pitted a D-pad Link against analog enemies.