Crossovers with The Legend of Zelda
- "The Legend of Zelda" redirects here. For other uses, see The Legend of Zelda (disambiguation).
- "Zelda" redirects here. For the microgame in WarioWare: D.I.Y., see Zelda (microgame).
| The Legend of Zelda | |
|---|---|
Wordmark for The Legend of Zelda used from 2011 to 2016 | |
| First installment | The Legend of Zelda (1986) |
| Latest installment | The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (2024) |
| Number of installments | 40+ |
| Series | The Legend of Zelda, Tingle, Hyrule Warriors |
| Related franchises | The Mysterious Murasame Castle, Marvelous Mōhitotsu no Takarajima |
The Legend of Zelda, often referred to as Zelda in shorthand, is a fantasy-themed media franchise primarily consisting of video games produced by Nintendo. The main titles are action-adventure games that follow the adventures of Link, a courageous green-clad hero predestined to battle the forces of evil and protect the magical kingdom of Hyrule. In most games, Princess Zelda appears as a deuteragonist, while Ganon is the primary antagonist.
As one of Nintendo's most successful series, The Legend of Zelda has shared synergy with the Super Mario franchise. Both series have had frequent crossovers with and references to each other, such as in the Super Smash Bros. series, and series protagonist Link has made several appearances in the Super Mario franchise itself, including as a playable character in Mario Kart 8 and its port, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Overview[edit]
Most games in The Legend of Zelda franchise take place within a fantasy-themed world called Hyrule, characterized by a large palace towards its center called Hyrule Castle and its sparsely populated, naturalistic landscape. Much of Hyrule is covered in forests - the most notable of which is the Lost Woods - as well as rivers and mountains. The volcanic Death Mountain is a notably recurring location. Like levels in the Super Mario series, Hyrule is typically isolated into environmentally themed locations with different dungeons and temples exhibiting gameplay elements associated with those themes.
The people of Hyrule are largely elvish people called Hylians, but there are multiple other fantastical races typically restricted to the parts of Hyrule they are uniquely adapted to live in. For example, the fish-like Zora live in the waters of Zora's Domain, and the boulder-like Gorons typically live in Death Mountain. Most Zelda games have mirror images of Hyrule to explore: typically one of the past and one of the future, or one of light and one of darkness. Traversing between these alternate versions of Hyrule often force Link, the usual player character, to physically transform his body and gain different abilities. Otherwise, Link typically navigates the world with the use of magical potions, arrows, swords, and fairies.
Unlike Super Mario and most-other Nintendo-owned franchises, The Legend of Zelda games are narratively driven and they have a canonized timeline different from the order that games have been released. For example, the oldest game chronologically is the 2011 Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Most games reinforce the fact that the player character, Link, is part of a lineage of incarnated heroes destined to protect Hyrule from the forces of a risen evil. All incarnations of Link are endowed with a holy relic called the Triforce of Courage, granting him incredible bravery. Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, is likewise incarnated with the Triforce of Wisdom. The risen evil, typically the bestial Ganon, gets his strength from the Triforce of Power. Together, these three relics make up the legendary Triforce, a powerful relic forged by the Golden Goddesses of The Legend of Zelda. This is what the risen evil seeks to obtain, and what Link and Zelda strive to protect. This creates a triangular narrative of conflict in nearly all Zelda games that entwines Link, Zelda, and the risen evil, not dissimilar to the narrative conflict underpinning the Donkey Kong series and the Super Mario series.
The Legend of Zelda is one of the oldest fantasy-themed video game franchises, debuting in Japan in 1986. It is a contemporary of similar works like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Entries are occasionally recognized as being part of the same genre as those titles, role-playing games. However, mainline Zelda titles are dynamic, action-adventure games with puzzle-solving elements. Unlike its contemporaries, The Legend of Zelda makes minimal use of the user-interface, difficulty selection, or menu navigation, an intentional choice derived from Miyamoto's personal distaste for such elements. The same philosophy is exercised in the Super Mario series and continues to be a general design philosophy that permeate through both franchises. The people of Hyrule use gems called Rupees as currency, and in most titles they are governed by a monarchy helmed by the Royal Family of Hyrule, somewhat similar to the role of Princess Peach in the Mushroom Kingdom.
The Legend of Zelda is one of the games conceived and pioneered by Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who asserts it was inspired by his time as a boy in rural Japan. Much of the staff influential in the Super Mario series have also developed and contributed to titles in The Legend of Zelda franchise. Longtime collaborator Takashi Tezuka, for example, has been involved with most Zelda titles, as early as the first game, and has directed titles himself, most notably The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Yoshiaki Koizumi, who has directed and produced 3D Super Mario titles, got his start at Nintendo by writing out the plot for Link's Awakening in its instruction booklet. He was also one of the co-directors on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and some of the 3D principles developed in that game would inform titles like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy.[1] Koji Kondo, who penned much of the music for the Super Mario series, also wrote much of the music in The Legend of Zelda.
Prominent crossover elements[edit]
Characters[edit]
Link[edit]
- Main article: Link
Link is the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series and typically the sole playable character of his games. In most titles, he is tasked with protecting Hyrule from the forces of a rising evil, especially his arch-nemesis Ganon. Link possesses the Triforce of Courage and is capable of using a wide variety of weapons, including bombs, arrows, swords, and shields. There have been many incarnations of Link throughout history, but he typically appears as a blonde green-clad man with pointed, elvish ears. Link was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and has some cursorial similarities to Mario, such as in being largely silent and serving as the analog for the player.[2] Similar to how Mario is the conceptual offshoot of Popeye, Link was derived from another fictional character from Miyamoto's youth - the Walt Disney interpretation of Peter Pan.[3]
The wider story of The Legend of Zelda revolves around the Hero who appears whenever the Royal Family of Hyrule is in peril, or when an evil being threatens the Triforce. So, while there is only an individual Mario, there are multiple Links who serve as the reappearing Hero across the series.[4] This narrative framework has resulted in widely distinctive designs between individual Links. For example, the Link from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - an incarnation sometimes called Toon Link - is a young boy with cartoonish proportions and catlike eyes. The Link in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a stoic young man, proportionate to real humans and much grittier in aesthetic. Many Zelda games incorporate dueling representations of the world that inform what Link looks like and his abilities. A common motif includes a "light world" and a "dark world". In Twilight Princess, the latter is represented by the Twilight Realm, in which Link is transformed into a beast called Wolf Link. Another recurring concept is a world of the "past" and the "future". In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link begins the game as a boy called Young Link. At a later point in the game, the Adult Link of the future finds the means to transition back to the past and regress back into a child. A number of Zelda games emphasize multiplayer, in which Link is either split into multiple individuals or encounters doppelgängers also named Link by chance. Each one is a different color. In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, there are three Links that cooperate to form a Totem Link to solve puzzles and progress.
Link has made recurring appearances in the Super Mario franchise, usually only in the form of cameos. However, some of these cameos have Link making physical appearances in the game, as is the case in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Mario can take on the appearance of multiple different iterations of Link in Super Mario Maker through use of the Mystery Mushroom, and Link himself is playable in the Super Smash Bros. series, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Mario Maker 2. Young Link and Toon Link have also appeared in the Super Smash Bros. series, and the latter appears as a costume in Super Mario Maker as well. Link has otherwise made recurring appearances with Mario in comics and marketing material for Nintendo.
Princess Zelda[edit]
- Zelda Wiki article: Princess Zelda
Princess Zelda is the title character of The Legend of Zelda – the ruling princess of Hyrule and a close confidant of Link. Similar to him, the character of Zelda possesses the Triforce of Wisdom and has been reincarnated many times throughout her series' history, meaning there have been many different individuals named Zelda. Her appearance, characterization, and royal status vary by game, but Zelda is generally presented as a thoughtful and reserved blonde princess. Her relationship with Link also varies: some incarnations present them as obligatory allies, close friends, or young lovers. Most The Legend of Zelda titles involve her being kidnapped by Ganon or another adversary in order to take her Triforce, making her analogous to Princess Peach as a damsel in distress. However, unlike Peach, Zelda is often given an active supporting role, sometimes even being a traveling companion or teacher to Link. Zelda is often depicted as well-versed in light magic, telepathy, and the use of powerful weapons called Light Arrows.
Princess Zelda has sometimes disguised herself or taken on alter egos to aide Link, such as Sheik in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Sheik's identity as Zelda is concealed to the player for most of the game, as she is concealed in bandages, appears androgynous in build, and presents herself as a member of the Sheikah. Sheik appears as a playable fighter in the Super Smash Bros. series, starting with Super Smash Bros. Melee. In their first two appearances, Zelda and Sheik could transform into each other during battles, but in later entries, Sheik is an entirely separate character from Zelda. A similar alter ego named Tetra appears in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, a pirate captain. Narratively similar to Ocarina of Time but distinct from Sheik, she herself did not know she was Princess Zelda until late in the game.
Zelda's presence with Super Mario characters has largely been restricted to the Super Smash Bros. series, the DiC cartoons, and general marketing material. However, Princess Zelda, Sheik, and Tetra appear as Costume Marios in Super Mario Maker. Two incarnations of Zelda appear alongside Princess Peach, Rosalina, and Pauline in the Puzzle Swap panel "Nintendo Starlets" from StreetPass Mii Plaza: one from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the other from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.
Characters based on Mario and Luigi[edit]
There are several non-playable characters directly based on Mario and Luigi in The Legend of Zelda franchise. The earliest examples are Tarin and the Henhouse Keeper from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. While these two do not appear outside of remakes of Link's Awakening, their conceptual successors Talon and Ingo do. These two were introduced in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as workers on Lon Lon Ranch. The friendly, red-clad Talon is the one based on Mario and he has made subsequent appearances in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Talon has also cameoed in promotional material for Japan Expo 2017 - The Art of The Legend of Zelda Series, and there is an extremely similar-looking bartender in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Ingo, Talon's bitter ranch-hand, is the one based on Luigi. His animosity towards Talon may derive from the occasional assertion that Luigi is envious of Mario. After Ocarina of Time, Ingo has appeared in Oracle of Seasons and the spin-off title Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, and he has a lookalike bartending in A Link Between Worlds. Gorman, a character derived from Ingo, appears in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and The Minish Cap.
Enemies and bosses[edit]
Octoroks[edit]
- Zelda Wiki article: Octorok
Octoroks are terrestrial octopus enemies in The Legend of Zelda series. Their visual appearances vary by game, but their means of attack is generally the same. They spit projectile rocks at Link that damage him on contact. They walk along the ground in the top-down 2D games, but in the 3D titles, they frequently are found in water or burrowed in the ground and Link often has means of hitting the rocks back. Octoroks are the basis for a number of enemies in the Super Mario franchise, including Octolots and Octovaders from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Chuckoroks from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and the members of the Octo-Army in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. The original Zelda enemy appears unaltered in Super Mario-kun, WarioWare: Twisted!, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Land, and NES Remix 2. Their likeness is also featured on a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and as a spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Their spirit battle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the player fight four green Diddy Kongs favoring neutral specials on the Great Bay stage.
Manhandla[edit]
- Zelda Wiki article: Manhandla
Manhandlas are recurring bosses that debuted in The Legend of Zelda franchise. They are enormous, four-headed carnivorous plant capable of sliding across the floor. Manhandlas debuted in the first Legend of Zelda as the boss of Level 3, a middle boss in Level 4, and an enemy in Level 8. They move around the room in an erratic pattern, spitting fireballs from each head in the direction Link is located. Manhandlas are immune to Fire or the Boomerang, and their fireballs cannot be deflected by a Magical Shield item. When Link destroys a head, its movement and attack speed will increase. It is defeated once all its heads are destroyed.
The Japanese instruction booklet for The Legend of Zelda specifies that they are a type of Piranha Plant.[5] The English localization omitted this detail.
Though some more contemporary appearances depict Manhandlas with designs more comparable to Deku Babas, their appearances in BS The Legend of Zelda and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons have notable Piranha Plant-like characteristics; Manhandlas have white lips and green stems in the former, preceding the first appearance of the Deku Baba in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and their heads have lips and spots in the latter.
Manhandlas represent the first time a Piranha Plant has appeared outside of the Super Mario franchise and are the first variant of the enemy. They are also the first Piranha Plant boss, debuting before Naval Piranha by nearly a decade.
Ganon[edit]
- Zelda Wiki article: Ganon
Ganon, occasionally referred to as "The Demon King", is the primary antagonist of The Legend of Zelda series. In the canon of his series, Ganon began life as a dark wizard named Ganondorf from the arid Gerudo region. Seeking to take control of Hyrule, Ganondorf stole the Triforce of Power from hallowed grounds. While granting him incredible power, the corruption from this Triforce turned him into a porcine beast. Overtime, it erased all traces of the man he was before, rendering him a mindless monster. Typically, the bestial form of the character is the one called "Ganon", whereas "Ganondorf" is retained solely for his human form. The former is more recurring in The Legend of Zelda and debuted in the first game, whereas the latter has made less consistent appearances but serves more substantive narrative roles when he does appear.
Unlike Link and Zelda, there is only one true Ganon and he has been defeated by Link multiple times, but several adversaries throughout The Legend of Zelda franchise have sought his resurrection. Ganon's past as Ganondorf is alluded to in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and presented in detail in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which canonically occurs before A Link to the Past. Ganon's relationship to Link and Princess Zelda is comparable to the one between Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser, though their underlying motives differ. Bowser typically kidnaps Peach out of genuine affection for her. Ganon has no such sentiments for Zelda, who kidnaps her simply to seize her Triforce of Wisdom. Ganon is similar to Bowser in other respects. Both are influenced by characters from Journey to the West, namely the pig-like Zhu Bajie for Ganon. While Bowser's armies are primarily made up of turtles, Ganon controls legions of pig-like monsters called Moblins and Bokoblins. Both Bowser and Ganon were created by Shigeru Miyamoto.
Ganondorf is a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Melee and has been integrated into every subsequent Super Smash Bros. title. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, his design is based on his "past" appearance in Ocarina of Time, while in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, he is based on his design in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Ganondorf's design in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is based on his "future" appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He has otherwise made cameo appearances in Super Mario Maker and Yoshi's Woolly World. Though not used as often as Link and Zelda, Ganon has appeared alongside Super Mario characters in marketing material for Nintendo and appears in mutual crossovers like Nintendo Land.
History in the Super Mario franchise[edit]
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario Bros. / Super Mario Bros. Deluxe[edit]
The original Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda had some development overlap and were designed by the same staff. The Fire-Bars found in the original Super Mario Bros. were originally conceived for Zelda before determining it would work better in Super Mario Bros.[6] Fire bars,[7] also referred to as "Guruguru bars",[8] were eventually incorporated into The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and some subsequent top-down Zelda titles.
Super Mario Bros. 3 / Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]
The Warp Whistle is a rare item in Super Mario Bros. 3 that is usable on the world map screen. Playing it causes a whirlwind to appear and whisk Mario to the secret Warp Zone. He can skip ahead to another world through the Warp Zone, but which ones are available to him is dependent on whichever world he was already in when he played the Warp Whistle. This item is the Recorder from The Legend of Zelda and even plays the same six notes when played. Its functionality is also shared, as the Recorder can warp Link to different labyrinths in that game. The item's description in the Famicom manual also alludes to this connection, describing it as「
Super Mario World / Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2[edit]
The most recurring type of Piranha Plant in Super Mario World is the Jumping Piranha Plant, which launches out of pipes using propelling leaves before slowly descending back down. The enemy's Japanese name is「ピーパックン」(Pī Pakkun, P-Piranha) and unused assets for Super Mario World refer to the enemy as "P-Hat".[10] In Japanese,「ピーハット」(Pī Hatto, P-Hat) is the name for Peahat, a recurring airborne plant enemy in The Legend of Zelda series. It also suspends itself in the air using rotating leaves. Due to Nintendo EAD developing both Super Mario and Zelda titles, and Peahat debuting first, it is possible Jumping Piranha Plant is conceptually derived from it, and the "p" in its name is in reference to Peahats.
Super Mario Sunshine[edit]
Over the course of Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is occasionally challenged to a footrace by Il Piantissimo, a man dressed as a Pianta. His face is masked in the game, but through hacking the game's camera or viewing the Il Piantissimo in a model viewer reveals he resembles the Running Man from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Additionally, Pinna Park's papaya-bearing Pianta-shaped tree is referred to as the Deku Tree in the game's Versus Books guide.[11]
Super Mario Galaxy[edit]
A recurring group of octopus-based enemies are introduced in Super Mario Galaxy. One of them is Rocto – a large gray octopus that spits coconuts at Mario from a fixed distance over empty space. Damaging Roctos requires launching the projectile back at them with a Spin. The means of attack and defeat mirror how Octoroks behave in The Legend of Zelda 3D titles. The internal file designation and Japanese name for Rocto suggest this was not circumstantial, and that the enemy is directly based on them. The Rocto boss King Kaliente attacks similarly, and their diminutive relative Octoguy spits small damaging rocks. Pig-nosed bats also appear in the game that flutter before Mario before swooping down to strike him. Similar to Rocto, their means of attack is similar to that of Keese in the 3D Zelda titles, and its more naturalistic design is comparable to the enemy's appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The ice bats similarly are invocative of Ice Keese. Stone torches appear in a few galaxies, like the Freezeflame Galaxy and Deep Dark Galaxy. Lighting all of the torches in an immediate area generally facilitates progression, such as by causing a stone gate to slide away. This function is shared with the torches in The Legend of Zelda series. In the Rolling Gizmo Galaxy, some Star Bits are arranged into a shape resembling a Rupee.
Super Mario Galaxy shares some developmental elements with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The skybox texture in the Ghostly Galaxy and Boo's Boneyard Galaxy previously was used for the Ghost Ship dungeon from that game. The dynamic integration of music, where certain jingles and sound effects play differently based on the notes of the background orchestration, was first developed by sound director Masafumi Kawamura for enemy battles in The Wind Waker.[12] According to director Yoshiaki Koizumi, the boss battle with Megaleg derived from an unused concept conceived for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where Ganon would be so large that Link would have to climb up his body.[13]
Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]
Many of the elements in Super Mario Galaxy 2 were incorporated from its predecessor. In addition to the returning Roctos and King Kaliente, a new Rocto boss named Prince Pikante appears that has similar means of attack. The most recurring octopus enemy, Octoombas, now spit rocks to attack just like the returning Octoguys. A new variant called the Elite Octoomba is introduced that spits two rocks at a time.
Producer Shigeru Miyamoto stated that efforts were made to differentiate Super Mario Galaxy 2 from its predecessor in a similar manner to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, another game structurally derived from its predecessor.[14]
Super Mario 3D Land[edit]
The desert-themed underground course World 5-2 in Super Mario 3D Land is modeled after 2D entries in the The Legend of Zelda series. Unlike the majority of the other courses in the game, the camera in World 5-2 is held from a top-down view. Lighting all of the torches in one of the rooms causes a stone door to open, and it is accompanied by the recurring "Puzzle Solve Fanfare" from The Legend of Zelda series.
Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury[edit]
Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port prominently feature fairy-like people called Sprixies. Their ruling princesses are captured by Bowser in his effort to conquer the Sprixie Kingdom, and he does so by trapping them in bottles. This is the same way Link traps fairies in The Legend of Zelda series.
Triggering all of the Color Panels on one of the platforms in Rainbow Run triggers the "Item Get" fanfare from The Legend of Zelda before illuminating the whole platform. It is revealed to be a recreation of Link's sprite from the original Legend of Zelda, and the background music of the area changes into an arrangement of the "Main Theme" titled "Link's Color Panels".
Super Mario Maker[edit]
Super Mario Maker introduces the Mystery Mushroom for Super Mario Bros.-themed courses. This power-up transforms Mario into Costume Mario, a form that disguises Mario as one of many other characters, the majority of which do not originate from the Super Mario franchise. Nine of the 136 costumes come from The Legend of Zelda: nine included at launch and three included in post-release updates.
Most of the characters included at launch are tied to an amiibo figure released for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U and reflect their designs in that game. For example, the costumes of Zelda and Ganondorf resemble their incarnations from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. However, the sound effects corresponding to these characters and their poses are homages to The Legend of Zelda series. The Link costume does not resemble his Twilight Princess incarnation used in Super Smash Bros., instead resembling the original sprite from the first Legend of Zelda. The only Zelda character available at launch to have lacked an amiibo is Tingle, the map maker from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Their numerical order in the costume list matches the order in which they debuted in the Zelda franchise.
Two of the three costumes released after the game launched corresponded with games released at the time and have corresponding Event Courses based on those games. Tetra, Zelda's pirate alter-ego from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, was the only exception. The Event Courses make homages to The Legend of Zelda, particularly the original Famicom Disk System-game in Tri Force Heroes and Twilight Princess in Twilight Princess HD. In addition to these two Event Courses, a course attributed to Undodog was uploaded on 18 December, 2015 titled 3 GAMES IN 1. The three segments of this course are based on different Nintendo games, with the second one based on The Legend of Zelda.
Spike Traps appear as the Sea Urchin enemies from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening when placed in an underwater-themed, Super Mario World-styled course.
- List of costumes from The Legend of Zelda
| # | Image | Costume | Origin | Unlock method | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | Link | The Legend of Zelda | Clear 100 Mario Challenge on Easy setting or harder or Use any Link amiibo |
Based on Link's sprite from and uses sound effects from the Famicom Disk System version of the original The Legend of Zelda, including the fanfare for collecting a piece of the Triforce after clearing a course. Upon touching the Mystery Mushroom, the original "Item Get" jingle will play. If the player presses | |
| 54 | Zelda | The Legend of Zelda | Clear 100 Mario Challenge on Expert setting or harder or Use any Zelda amiibo |
Based on Zelda's appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess rather than her original NES sprite. Upon touching the Mystery Mushroom, the "Item Get" jingle from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past will play. While holding |