Link has appeared in some wild situations outside of his series inThe Legend of Zelda. For example, one of his firstbig crossover roleswas inSuper Smash Bros. on the N64. Other characters from the franchise would get involved with sequel entries including Princess Zelda and Ganondorf. It’s kind of a gimmick to include Link and other characters in guest roles in other Nintendo games.
As weird as these cameos can be, they pale in comparison to the mainline and spinoff entries inThe Legend of Zeldafranchise. These gimmick examples range from strange to beyond wild. It will be interesting to see if any future entry can top these examples.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pastwas a groundbreaking game on the SNES and it is well-regarded as one of thefiner top-down entries. That said, no one could have predicted that over a decade later, it would get a sequel on the 3DS viaThe Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. The world was remixed a bit but it was 80% the same map.
Two big gimmicks helped set it apart from its predecessor. One, players could rent equipment to use in dungeons, thus making it a less linear experience. The bigger oddity was that Link could turn into a painting and traverse through cracks as a one-dimensional piece of art. This allowed fans to see the world ofThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pastthrough a new perspective.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Maskis a stressful game. The world is cursed to destruction with the moon hanging overhead, waiting to crash every 72 hours. Players can rewind time to relive days again and to change things steadily to hopefully prevent the crash in the future.
Time manipulation was one gimmick, but masks also played a big role in the game. Link could equip dozens of masks to turn into other creatures like Zoras or Gorons. This changed gameplay opportunities likeZoras could swim fasterin water. As cool as the masks were, the transformation scenes were a bit unsettling.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Capexplained two things about Link’s lore. First, it discussed why Links in games tend to wear green gaps. They are an homage to this Link who wore a magical hat named Ezlo. Ezlo was a wizard who could talk but was cursed into the form of a hat.
Ezlo had some magic of his own still and could help Link transform into a miniature version of himself. Players could traverse the world in an ant-like fashion and most dungeons revolve around shrinking mechanics too. The idea of miniaturization almost happened again withThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildbased on cut ideas.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pasthad a moment when Link transformed into a rabbit. That’s because without the Moon Pearl, an item players could acquire, people would be transformed into weird creatures in the Dark World.The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Maskhad the idea of becoming animal-like creatures via the aforementioned masks.The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princesspushed the limits by turning Link intoa full-blown four-legged wolf.
That is wild to imagine especially since Link is used as a horse via his companion, Midna. It was kind of like Nintendo aping the idea ofOkamiwhich in turn was aZelda-like experience from Nintendo. The difference was that Link, in his human form, was still playable for the majority of the experience.
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zeldais a spinoff fromCrypt of the NecroDancer. It features the same gameplay wherein an infectious melody has taken over Hyrule. To stop it, Link and Zelda, along with the newcomer Cadence, have to step to the beat. There is a meter at the bottom of the screen players can match the rhythm by hitting a heart in the middle.
Stepping out of rhythm will unfocus the combo and make it harder to move around and attack. There are options in the menu to turn off or at least lower the dancing requirements, so it is an accessibleroguelike in this fashion. On the surface though, it’s still a weird spinoff in the series but it doesn’t go as hard asDance Dance Revolution: Mario Mixwhich is a literal dancing game that came with a pad controller and everything.
1BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets
A Live Broadcast Sequel To The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pastgot a pseudo-sequel viaBS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tabletsway beforeThe Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worldswas ever dreamed of. This was an exclusive in Japan for theSatellaview peripheral for the SNES. This allowed players to download and play games just like digital stores today. There were even some games that had live broadcasts accompanied by voice acting and bands.
These games could only be played during broadcasts, making them hard to archive now. The gameplay ofBS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tabletswas the same as every other entry except that players were not Link. They were a random child, or that is to say, a mascot based on the Satellaview brand. It was a wild time for video games and it is without a doubt the weirdest entry in theZeldaseries due to the format.
