When Zelda, Ocarina of time fist came out for the N64, my cousin bought it. When I watched him play the first time, I thought it was so cool that he could swim without drowning and ride a horse and jump! He was defeating th Water Temple at the time.
Then I went out and got the game, and defeated the whole game again and again. Then I learned that my cousin had not defeated it yet. He let me play his game one day and I went to an area where I knew there to be a hidden grotto. Pressing start, I went through my items, searching for the megaton hammer.

Me- Uh. Where's your hammer?
"Hammer? Just use a bomb."
Me- Didn't you defeat the Fire temple?
"Duh!"
Me- There's a giant totem that leads to the Boss Key. You have to smash that totem to bits in order to get the Key, defeat the Boss, and pass the fire temple.
"Oh that? I just pushed it out of the way.
Me- 0_o? You can't push it out of the way, You need the hammer!
"I have no idea what you are talking about!"

So I think that may be why he did not defeat the game: He didn't have the Megaton Hammer (which you use many times thereafter!)

Moral of the story:Just because you are strong enough to push massive totems out of the way, does not mean that you should ignore the help that tools or other people have to offer. If you simply rely on brute strength you will find, when you are in a crisis, that your resources are very limited.