The Legend of Zelda (series)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Computer & Video games

The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説, Zeruda no Densetsu ^?) is a Nintendo video game series created by the celebrated game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. The games are primarily set in the fantasy world of Hyrule, although some have been set in different countries or other worlds. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, role-playing, and puzzle-solving, and occasional platforming elements. The series is known for its beautiful and inspiring settings, creative gameplay, interesting characters, stirring original music, and high overall production values. It is widely considered one of the most influential video game franchises ever created, and has earned a spot as one of the company's flagship franchises alongside such notable series as Mario and Metroid. As of September 2005, the Legend of Zelda series has sold 47 million units.

Overview

The Legend of Zelda games feature a boy named Link as the central playable character and protagonist. Link is frequently called upon to rescue Princess Zelda, after whom the series is named. The main antagonist in the series is a powerful creature known as Ganon, sometimes appearing as Ganondorf (the more recent villain Vaati has appeared in multiple Zelda games as well). The action usually occurs in the land of Hyrule and involves a divine relic known as the Triforce, a set of three magically bound golden triangles of great power. In story terms, the earlier games did not deviate much from the standard "save the princess" theme, but later installments have diversified their plot and added twists and turns to the tale. One Zelda game, Link’s Awakening, did not feature Zelda at all (although she was briefly mentioned), and in Majora’s Mask, she was only seen in a flashback. The protagonist in each game is not always the same boy named Link, although occasionally the same Link is controlled across multiple games (see "Nature of the protagonist").

The games' fantasy world of Hyrule includes many different climates and terrains, and is home to many different races and tribes of monsters and sentient beings. There are significant geographical differences from game to game, but several distinctive features recur, such as the Lost Woods, Lake Hylia, and Death Mountain (including Spectacle Rock near the summit).

The Zelda games feature a mixture of complex puzzles, strategic action gameplay, and exploration. These elements have remained fairly constant throughout the series, but with refinements and additions featured in each new game. This successful formula has been a primary factor in making the Zelda franchise one of Nintendo's most successful game series. The player is frequently rewarded for solving complex puzzles or exhaustively exploring areas. The musical jingle when finding a hidden treasure (or other secret) has become one of video gaming's most memorable themes.

Nearly every Zelda game involves locating and exploring maze-like dungeons until reaching the dungeon's boss. Each dungeon generally has one special item hidden inside which will be required later in the game. Some items are found in almost every game, while others are exclusive to a single game (see " Weapons and items from The Legend of Zelda series"). In the later games in the series, the item(s) found in each dungeon are usually used in some way to fight that dungeon's boss.

The Legend of Zelda was principally inspired by Miyamoto's explorations as a young boy in the hillsides surrounding his childhood home in Kyoto, where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and rural villages. According to Miyamoto, one of his most memorable experiences was the discovery of a cave entrance in the middle of the woods. After some hesitation, he apprehensively entered the cave and explored its depths with the aid of a lantern. This memory has clearly influenced Miyamoto's work, as cave exploration is a major element of most Zelda games. Other than Miyamoto's childhood, Norse and Japanese mythologies have played a large role influencing the series, as well as Medieval European culture. Miyamoto has referred to the creation of the Zelda games as an attempt to bring to life a "miniature garden" for players to play with in each game of the series.

Hearing of F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife Zelda, Mr. Miyamoto thought the name sounded "pleasant and significant." Paying tribute, he chose to name the Princess after her, and titled his creation The Legend of Zelda, even though she is not the protagonist.

History

The first game, The Legend of Zelda, was first released in Japan in 1986, and in the United States in 1987. Though relatively simple by today's standards, it was quite advanced for its time. Innovations include the ability to use dozens of different items, a vast world full of secrets to explore, and the cartridge's ability to save progress via battery-backed memory. The game also features a "Second Quest", accessible upon completing the game, where the adventure can be replayed with a similar, but somewhat altered overworld with new, more challenging dungeons. Besides the game's technical innovations, the gameplay (finding items and using them to solve puzzles, battling monsters in real-time, and exploring a vast environment) was a successful formula and became widely copied. The game was wildly popular in Japan and North America, and many consider it one of the most important video games ever made. A modified version known as BS Zelda was released for the Super Famicom's satellite-based expansion, Satellaview, in the mid-1990s in Japan.

The second game, known as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was released in July 1988, and was a departure from the concept of the first game. It exchanged the top-down perspective for side-scrolling and introduced RPG elements (e.g., experience points) not found in other Zelda installments. It is also the only Zelda title until Four Swords Adventures in which Link does not collect rupees. Because of these fundamental changes, many consider it the " black sheep" of the series. Both this and its predecessor were notable for their gold-colored game cartridges, which stood out amongst the system's usual gray cartridges.

Four years later, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, returned to the top-down view (under a 3/4 perspective) and added the concept of an alternate dimension to explore, a land known as the Dark World. The game was released for the Super NES in April of 1992. It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance on December 9, 2002 in North America, on a cartridge with Four Swords, the first multiplayer Zelda. This game also had a Satellaview version that was later released in Japan, called BS The Legend of Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban.

The next game, Link's Awakening, was the first Zelda for Nintendo's Game Boy handheld, and the first to take place outside of Hyrule. It was re-released for the Game Boy Colour in 1998 as Link's Awakening DX with some additional features, including an extra colour-based dungeon and a photo shop that allowed interaction with the Game Boy Printer.

After another hiatus, the series made the transition to 3 D with the installment Ocarina of Time which was released in December 1998. This game, initially known as Zelda 64, retained the core gameplay of the previous 2D games and was very successful both commercially and critically. It is considered by some to be the best video game ever made, and scored perfect scores in several video game publications, including the first 40/40 score in Famitsu (a prestigious Japanese gaming magazine). It recently ranked by Nintendo Power as the best Nintendo game ever created. The title was originally slated for the ill-fated, Japanese-only 64 Disk Drive, but was ported to a cartridge with the advancements in memory compression technology. Innovations include the use of lock-on targeting, a new gameplay mechanic that focuses the camera on a nearby target and alters the player's actions to be relative to that target. Such mechanics allow precision-based swordfighting in a 3D space, and were a revolutionary development for the time.

Ocarina of Time saw a limited re-release on the GameCube in 2002 when it was offered as a pre-order incentive for The Wind Waker in the US. However, Europe continues to receive it free in every copy of The Wind Waker, except for the discounted Player's Choice version. Also included were parts of a previously unreleased 64DD expansion known as Ura Zelda. The disc was titled Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Ocarina of Time was ported again in a Collector's Edition Zelda compilation in 2003.

The follow-up title, Majora's Mask which was released in November 2000, used the same 3D game engine as the previous Nintendo 64 game (dropping the Fixed 3D elements), but added a novel time-based concept, leading to somewhat mixed reactions from series fans. It was originally called Zelda Gaiden, a Japanese title loosely translating to Zelda, Another Story. Gameplay changed significantly; in addition to a form of time limit, Link could use masks to transform into different creatures with unique skills. While Majora's Mask retained the graphical style of the landmark Ocarina of Time, it was also a departure, particularly in atmosphere. The game is much darker, dealing with death and tragedy in a manner not previously seen in the series, and has a sense of impending doom as a large moon slowly descends upon the land of Termina.

The next two games, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, were released simultaneously for the Game Boy Colour. The games were loosely connected, and by various means they could be combined to form a single extended story. They were developed in conjunction with Flagship under Capcom, with supervision from Mr. Miyamoto. The games were originally intended to be a trilogy known as The Triforce Trilogy, consisting of updated remakes of The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link, plus an original third installment. After consulting with Shigeru Miyamoto, however, the studio decided to make an all-new trilogy. When the password system linking three games proved too troublesome, the concept was reduced to just two titles. Fans initially criticized the Oracle series for "selling out" by copying the Pokémon strategy (two similar versions of a game coming out simultaneously to increase profits). Such claims faded when the games were released and their radical differences were noted. Ages is often seen as a puzzle-based adventure while Seasons is more action-oriented.

The next Zelda, for the GameCube, was initially believed to be a realistically styled adventure because of a technology demo shown at Nintendo's SpaceWorld expo in 2000. However, Nintendo later surprised many fans with the revelation that the new game, The Wind Waker, would be fully cel-shaded (a cartoon-like style of colour design first seen in games such as Sega's Jet Set Radio). Initial fears that this would affect the quality of gaming experience were eased when the game was released to critical acclaim in Japan in 2002 and elsewhere in 2003. It features gameplay centered on controlling wind and sailing a small boat around a massive, island-filled ocean, and inventive puzzles requiring the use of NPC's.

Next in the series came Four Swords Adventures (FSA) for the GameCube, which was released in the first of half of 2004 in Japan and America, and in January 2005 in Europe. Based on the handheld Four Swords, FSA was another deviation from previous Zelda gameplay, focusing on multiplayer gameplay and "level-based" action (like many Super Mario Bros. titles). The game contains 24 individual stages and a map screen; there is no connecting overworld. For the multiplayer features of the game, each player is required to use a Game Boy Advance system linked to the Nintendo GameCube via a GBA-GCN cable. Although it focuses on multiplayer, the game also features a single player campaign in which using a Game Boy Advance is optional.

FSA is really two games in one, Hyrulean Adventure (with a storyline and action somewhat similar to traditional Zelda adventure) and Shadow Battle (a free-for-all melee "battle mode" which pits Links against each other as the players struggle for dominance in Hyrulean arenas). The Japanese version includes a third segment, known as Navi Trackers (originally designed as the stand-alone game Tetra's Trackers), which is not included in any other incarnation of the title. Trackers contains an important first for Zelda, as the game has spoken dialog for most of the characters.

In November 2004 in Japan and Europe, and in January 2005 in America, Nintendo released a new game for the Game Boy Advance, The Minish Cap. The central concept of Minish Cap is Link's ability to shrink in size with the aid of a mystical sentient hat named Ezlo. While tiny, Link can see previously-explored parts of a dungeon from a new perspective, and enter new areas through otherwise impassable openings. Link is able to switch from big to small at special portals throughout the land, once again giving Link two "worlds" to play in.

In November 2006, Twilight Princess arrived as the first Zelda game on the Wii. During the following month, December 2006, it will be released for the Nintendo GameCube as well. The new game once again strives for a realistic look, improved even beyond the aforementioned SpaceWorld demo. This game chronicles the struggle of a more mature Link to rid Hyrule of the "Twilight Realm", a mysterious force plaguing the land. When Link enters this realm, he transforms into a wolf and the gameplay shifts radically. Twilight Princess also relies heavily on horseback transportation and mounted battle scenarios (including boss battles).

“ Zelda DS” was once rumored to be a new “Four Swords” game, but Nintendo later retracted those statements. Instead, at the 2006 Game Developers Conference a trailer for Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS was shown. The trailer revealed standard Zelda gameplay optimized for the DS’s features, a cel-shaded graphical style directly recalling The Wind Waker, and a Majora's Mask-style feature which allows Link to turn back time with the use of the titular hourglass. At E³ 2006, Nintendo confirmed its status as a direct sequel to Wind Waker, and debuted an extensive playable demo including a multiplayer mode reminiscent of Pac-Man Vs. with " capture the flag" elements. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is scheduled to be released in 2007.

Fictional universe

The Zelda series has developed a deep story and wide universe over its many releases. Much of the backstory of the creation of Hyrule was revealed in the games A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.

According to the in-game stories, long ago three goddesses descended and created the world of Hyrule. Din, the fiery red goddess, with her powerful, flaming arms, cultivated the empty space, and created the red earth. Nayru, the beautiful blue goddess, bestowed her divine wisdom upon the land and created the skies to give a sense of justice and order to the world and to guide the people in the goddesses' absence. Farore, the gentle green goddess, endowed Hyrule with her powers so that courageous living beings would follow this justice.

After their work was completed, the goddesses left a magical artifact called the Triforce which could grant the user a single wish. It consisted of three golden triangles (each also called a "Triforce" - one of Wisdom, one of Power, and one of Courage), held in proximity by a magic force. However, because the Triforce was inanimate and could not judge between good and evil, the goddesses placed the Triforce in an alternate world called the "Golden Land" (or "Sacred Realm"), hoping that a worthy person would one day seek it.

According to legend, if the discoverer of the Triforce has a balance of power, wisdom, and courage, they will receive the Triforce as a whole. If they are unbalanced, they will receive the part of the Triforce that represents the characteristic they most have. The Triforce was first distributed as such starting in Ocarina of Time, as the Triforces of Power and Wisdom were held by Ganondorf and Princess Zelda, respectively, and the Triforce of Courage was held by Link. In Adventure of Link, the Triforce of Courage was first introduced, being obtained by Link at the end of his quest. A Link to the Past, coming in after Adventure of Link but before Ocarina of Time, featured the Triforce but made no mention of its three qualities or distribution beyond Ganon obtaining it.

The fictional universe established by the Zelda games sets the stage for each adventure. Many games take place in lands with their own backstories. Termina, for example, is a parallel world accidentally made as a side effect of the goddesses' creation of Hyrule.

Chronology

The precise chronology of the Zelda universe is hotly debated among fans. As the series progressed and more games were released, the exact order of the games in an overall timeline became complex and heavily disputed. Bits and pieces of definitive information connect certain games to each other, but there is no official explanation of how every game fits within in a standardized timeline of events and therefore it it is impossible to be certain in which order the games are to be placed with in The Legend of Zelda's Chronology (with exceptions such as The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, where the manual of the latter states its position after the original).

Here is a list of the Nintendo-published games in order of release, with their release years from , along with some additional information.

• The Legend of Zelda (1987) was released first in the series, though most of the games released since then take place in earlier time periods.
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1988) takes place years ("several seasons" in the manual) after the original game. It stars the Link of the previous game, nearing his 16th birthday.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992) the first in the series to have a story line told within the game. Link is asleep one night and hears pleas of help from a Princess Zelda in Hyrule Castle. Link is awoken by his uncle and told to stay in the house, the adventure begins from here.
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993) occurs soon after the events of A Link to the Past, according to the game's instruction manual. It also states that Link left Hyrule on a journey of enlightenment after defeating Ganon.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) is considered by many to be the first story in the timeline depicting the Master Sword and the Triforce. This is supported by the fact that Ganondorf's backstory and origins are revealed, and he had not yet gained possession of the Triforce of Power (which he has in many subsequent games).
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000) takes place very shortly after ( or by some definitions, during) the events of Ocarina of Time, and stars the same Link after returning to his youth, according to the in-game story.
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (both 2001) are connected via a password system, and one takes place immediately after the other. They can be played and regarded in either order. Many characters from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask also make cameos. Dialogue suggests that this particular Link and Princess Zelda featured in these games meet for the first time during the adventure.
• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (2002) The versions of Link and Princess Zelda featured in this game are childhood friends.
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003) takes place hundreds of years after Ocarina of Time, and some time after Twilight Princess. Hyrule has been lost for hundreds of years and now all that remains of its civilization are a few scattered islands on the Great Sea. The game begins with Link coming of age and watching his sister's capture by a massive bird from Outset Island.
• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004) takes place an unspecified amount of time after the events of Four Swords. It includes some background information about Ganon. Early in the game, he is called Ganondorf (and has his human form) before obtaining his trident and becoming the pig-like monster Ganon.
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap takes place long before Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures. If the "Palace of the Four Sword" (a bonus dungeon featured in the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past) is canon then The Minish Cap also takes place some time before A Link to the Past.
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was released on November 19, 2006. Members of the development team have stated that it takes place decades after Ocarina of Time, and prior to The Wind Waker.
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has yet to be released, but Nintendo has confirmed that it takes place directly after The Wind Waker and will star the same Link.

The creators maintain that the series has a set timeline, but due to the poor translation protocols in the 1990s and debate over what counts as "canonical" material, the available information continues to be disputed. Aonuma has since promised he will do his best to patch it all up and reveal the timeline someday, and Miyamoto stated in a 2003 interview that there is a master document containing the timeline, but this document has not been seen publicly.

Nature of the protagonist

According to the official website, Link is described as humble but brave, attributes appropriate for the bearer of the Triforce of Courage. Sometimes Link will bear a special title, such as "Hero of Time" or "Hero of Winds". A long-eared Hylian that resembles an elf, Link is usually a boy of 12 years (though he has also been portrayed as an adolescent and a young man). Link always wears a green tunic, an undershirt and a long, floppy green cap, for at least part of each adventure. Most incarnations of Link are left-handed.

Although some fans believe all Zelda games feature the same characters, others adhere to a misquote suggesting that every single game features different characters. The official line is that there are numerous heroes named Link throughout Hyrule's history, and unless otherwise indicated, each adventure is that of a new protagonist. Some of the games are linked chronologically and take place in a clear continuity, while others do not. For example, the Link in A Link to the Past is clearly not the same Link who donned The Minish Cap. On the other hand, Majora's Mask directly states that the Link character is the same one from Ocarina of Time. There is evidence in Nintendo Power and the official Japanese Zelda website that the Link in Link's Awakening was the same Link who defeated Ganon in A Link to the Past, and this connection is considered concrete by many fans. The Link from Adventure of Link is the same as the original Legend of Zelda, although somewhat confusingly, a different Princess Zelda is involved. Eiji Aonuma has confirmed that every time a new evil plagues the land of a Hyrule, a new hero must rise up to confront it.

Link never speaks in any Zelda game, though he produces grunts, yells, and other such sounds, and some of his thoughts (or possibly speech) may have been printed in Zelda II. In some cases the player must answer a question with a choice from a list, though no voice acting accompanies these instances. In 2002, Link broke the silence by speaking his first discernible words in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. When it was released in the English-speaking world in 2003, the phrase was “Come on!” In recent years, the advancement of technology has allowed the creators to give Link more personality and character. The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess put special emphasis on Link's facial expressions as he reacts to certain circumstances.

Although the character's accepted name is Link, the player can name the hero in each game and characters will address him by that name in the text rather than not being able to if the characters spoke.^{[ original research?]}

Side quests

In addition to the primary quest of saving the land from destruction or domination by an evil force, Zelda games often feature lesser quests upon which Link can embark at the discretion of the player. These "side quests" usually reward the player with items that make the primary quest easier to complete (such as Pieces of Heart, new weapons, etc.), and are occasionally necessary to complete the game. This gameplay device is not unique to The Legend of Zelda, but it is fairly consistent in the series.

The longest of these side quests, present in several games, is the "trading sequence". In such a sequence, Link first obtains an item from either a store or an in-game friend. He then takes that item to a character in the game who needs it, and trades it for something else. This otherwise unhelpful item is then traded to another character for something equally useless, and so on. The trading sequence may consist of as many as fifteen separate items, and usually ends with the player finally trading for a powerful new weapon or a critical item. The most famous example of this is the trading sequence in Ocarina of Time required to receive the Biggoron Sword.

Other side quests include races, a search for hidden items or characters, or extra puzzles. Majora's Mask in particular relied heavily on side quests, ranging from short quests for a Piece of Heart to a long, arduous side quest to collect numerous face masks (and complete several challenging dungeons) needed to obtain the powerful Fierce Deity's Mask.

The Minish Cap had a large number of minuscule sidequests in the form of searching for "Kinstone pieces", medallion fragments which could be fused with those owned by in-game characters to magically trigger various events (opening a hole in a tree, providing a new path, making a beanstalk grow, making new characters appear, etc.). Usually these events allowed the player to obtain secret items, but it was sometimes necessary to collect Kinstones to advance the game further.

Both The Wind Waker and the Minish Cap featured figurine collecting as a side quest. The Minish Cap's figurines could be bought with seashells, whereas the Wind Waker required the player to take a photo of the subject upon which the figurine would be based.

Critical reception

The Legend of Zelda series is widely regarded as one of the greatest video game series of all time. Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker have both received a perfect score by Japanese Famitsu magazine, making Zelda the first series with multiple perfect scores. GameFAQs has also held a contest for the best video game series ever, with The Legend of Zelda claiming the top position; along with Nintendo Power's Top 200 countdown, in which Ocarina of Time took first place, and a few other Zelda games placed in the top 20. Moreover, the editors of Game Rankings have declared Ocarina of Time the highest-ranking game of all time by compiling every major numeric review given to the game upon its release.

Other incarnations

There are a number of Zelda video games and other media creations that have been officially licensed by Nintendo but not acknowledged by fans as part of the series canon.

Cartoons

The Legend of Zelda was made into an animated cartoon as a "show within a show" in the semi-live-action Super Mario Bros. Super Show TV series produced by DiC. The animated Zelda shorts were aired each Friday instead of the usual Super Mario Bros. cartoon that aired during the rest of the week. The series loosely followed the NES Zelda games, mixing settings and characters from those games with original creations. 13 animated Zelda shorts were featured within the show's 65-episode run. The show's incarnations of Link and Zelda also appeared in various episodes of Captain N: The Game Master during its second season.

Comics and manga

Valiant Comics released a short-lived series of comics featuring characters and settings from the Zelda cartoon as part of their Nintendo Comics System line. In addition, manga has been created based on the many of the series' games, including A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, the Oracle series, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.

CD-i games

A trilogy of video games were developed and released for the Philips CD-i in the early 1990s as a product of a compromise between Philips and Nintendo after the companies failed to develop a CD-based peripheral for the Super Nintendo. Created with minimal influence from Nintendo, the games ( Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure) are infamous for having poor gameplay and animation.

LCD games

Two Zelda-themed LCD games were created in the late 1980's. The "Zelda Game Watch" was released first, and was an actual digital watch with primitive gameplay based on the original Legend of Zelda. The similarly titled "Zelda Game & Watch" was a dual-screen handheld electronic game similar in appearance to today's Nintendo DS. It featured gameplay based on The Adventure of Link, and has also reappeared as an unlockable extra in Game & Watch Gallery 4, a 2002 compilation for the Game Boy Advance.

Unreleased games

In the lifetime of the Zelda series, several video games have been in development that, for various reasons, were ultimately abandoned. Such titles include The Triforce Trilogy (Game Boy Colour), Mystical Seed of Courage (Game Boy Colour), and Four Swords DS (Nintendo DS).

Cultural influence

• The original Legend of Zelda was featured in VH1's I Love the '80s 3-D
• The Toysite brand (owned by Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, Inc.) created a number of high-quality Zelda figures in 2000 including Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link. Many figures were never released including Sheik, Darunia, Young Link, Gold Skulltula, Phantom Ganon, and Stalfos. What exactly happened to Toysite is unknown as their website was under renovation for years before being incorporated into the BD&A site (being greatly reduced in content in the process).
• Tomy also released set of figures with Ganondorf riding a black horse(with a trident and a Phantom Ganon Mask), young Zelda and Impa riding a white horse, and adult Link riding Epona. The horses were the same model with differing coloration and saddles.
• First 4 Figures is producing statues based on the Zelda franchise, including characters from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The first statues are planned for a release in the third quarter of 2006.
• Hot Topic produced a series of retro T-Shirts featuring classic Nintendo icons from the 1980s. Popular examples include "Don't Make Me Go Zelda On You" with items on the front, and "Pure Gold" with a gold Zelda cartridge on the front, as well as sweatshirts depicting a Hylian Shield with two Biggoron Swords.
• An episode of The Powerpuff Girls features the Mayor of Townsville playing a spoof of Ocarina of Time, where he accidentally kills Navi.
• Joe Pleiman created a song parody of the main Zelda theme for his album The Rabbit Joint. The song is commonly mis-attributed to System of a Down or The Rabbit Joint.
• The character of Xandir from the animated series Drawn Together is also based a lot on Link. In the pilot episode, when he plays a flute, a tornado carries him off (hitting trailers on the way), a reference to the flute in the original Legend of Zelda. In addition, one of his characteristic catchphrases is "I'm on a never-ending quest to save my girlfriend!", parodying Princess Zelda's frequent peril. The episode titled A Tale of Two Cows features a cheat book called The Legend of Xandir.
• In the 1999 movie Durango Kids, the boys are playing Ocarina of Time in their hideout. However, the soundtrack doesn't match the level.
• In the 2006 movie Grandma's Boy, a character mentions, "I did beat The Legend of Zelda before I could walk."
• In The Kids in the Hall TV series, the character Gavin, portrayed by Bruce McCulloch, sports a Zelda baseball cap.