Cameos

Throughout the Mario series, many characters from other series made Cameos. The large majority of these cameos are from characters developed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo. Some non-Nintendo characters have appeared as well, such as Sonic.

Donkey Konga
In Donkey Konga, the main theme of The Legend of Zelda series is playable.

Donkey Konga 2
In Donkey Konga 2, Toon Link's face appears on a badge and more music from The Legend of Zelda series is playable.

Donkey Kong Country
In the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country, Sabrewulf is stuffed and mounted in Cranky's hut, yet it is still alive as it occasionally blinks.

Donkey Kong Country 2

 * In Donkey Kong Country 2, Cranky Kong, created a challenge to see who could find the most secret DK coins on Crocodile Isle. As Cranky Kong announces the results, players can see both Sonic's shoes and Earthworm Jim's ray-gun next to a garbage can labeled, "No hopers."


 * Chief Thunder, a character from the fighting game Killer Instinct, makes his cameo on a poster in Cranky's Cabin.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Both Kirby and Stafy appear on posters for movies. Kirby's poster reads "Kirby's Story", while Stafy's poster shows "Legend of Stafy".

Mario Golf (Game Boy Color)
In Mario Golf for the Game Boy Advance, the last club is called "Link's Club" and uses the Triforce as its logo.

Mario Golf (Nintendo 64)
In Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64, the names of various Zelda and Star Fox characters appear on the score board.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

 * Pikmin made a cameo during the events of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour. If certain flower beds were struck by a golf ball, Pikmin would pop out of the flowerbed and attempt to flee. These flower beds can be found in various stages.


 * In Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, the Coin Attack mode can spawn coins in the shape of the.

Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door

 * In one of the trivia games, one of the choices for how to defeat the demon is "a legendary sword". This is a reference to the Master Sword from the Zelda series.
 * A kid in Koopa Village claims he loves playing Fire Emblem.

Super Mario Bros. 3
In Super Mario Bros. 3, the tune the warp whistle plays is also found in The Legend of Zelda. The whirlwind is from the same game. The tune is later found in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap although a bird sweeps Link away, not a whirlwind. It is also played on an Ocarina, not a flute. The notes are also a part of the title theme of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Super Mario Galaxy

 * Enemies appear in an airship stage which resemble Deku Scrubs, a Legend of Zelda enemy.
 * In one galaxy, Mario can acquire many star bits from a giant rupee.

''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
In the Mario Zone of Super Mario Land 2 features LEGO-like surfaces. They are not LEGOs, but N&B Blocks, a toy manufactured by Nintendo in the 60s.

''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

 * In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, if the player looks at Booster's doll, the player can spot a Samus doll.


 * Link also appears sleeping at the Rose Town Inn every time Mario sleeps there. If Mario tries to talk to him, the Zelda discovery tune plays.


 * Also, Mario can talk to Samus in the game. When Mario first reaches Land's End, go back to the Mushroom Kingdom castle. In the Guest Room he'll see Samus sleeping, resting for her battle against Mother Brain, the final boss of the Metroid series.


 * When Mario visited Hinopio's Inn, he saw a model of an Arwing from the Star Fox series Captain Falcon's Blue Falcon and Samurai Goroh's Fire Stingray from the F-Zero series.
 * The secret boss Culex very much resembles the bosses of the Final Fantasy series, also developed by Square.

Super Paper Mario

 * In one chapter, for knocking over a vase, Mario must pay his debt in rubees, a reference to rupees, the Legend of Zelda currency.
 * The rubees also heavily resemble the red rupee from the Zelda series.
 * Rupees were also called rubees in the non-canon Legend of Zelda games for the unsuccessful Phillips CDi system.
 * Tippi is very resemblance of Navi and similar characters from the Legend of Zelda series
 * She is a fairy
 * She provides advice and observations throughout the game
 * Especially notable is her ability to identify enemies, much like how Navi did in Ocarina of Time.
 * The battle against Underchomp is done in a similar fashion to EarthBound or Pokemon
 * One of the Doorguys has puzzles for the character to solve that are similar to those of the Brain Age series. When solving them, he also states that "[the player's] brain ages must be very young".

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

 * In one episode, Mario and his friends go to another planet. When they are under attack by Bowser's spaceship, the aliens on the planet defeat him by singing the Legend of Zelda theme.
 * Originally, the show featured previews of new episodes for the Legend of Zelda cartoon. These previews ended after the Zelda show was canceled, and were omitted entirely during reruns of the Super Show. The previews were retained in the DVD release.

Yoshi's Story
In Stages 2-3 and 2-4 of Yoshi's Story, the name "Zelda" appears in the newspaper in the background.

Wario Land II

 * In Wario Land II, a Crystal Metroid appears as one of the treasures Wario collects.


 * The Ocarina of Time from The Legend of Zelda series is also one of the treasures Wario collects.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves

 * A minigame based on the StarFox series appears in the game