Cameos of The Legend of Zelda

A cameo is the appearance or mention of a character, place, or item from one game, TV show or movie in another.

Animal Crossing

 * Animal Crossing
 * Gulliver and Kapp'n make references to Hyrule.
 * If you catch a loach, your character says, "I wonder if it's Hylian?"
 * The Master Sword is available as an item.
 * A Nintendo Entertainment System console with the full version of The Legend of Zelda was to be available as an item, but was made unobtainable. It can still be played by hacking into the game, however.
 * Kafei's shirt and Anju's shirt are available as clothes for your character.
 * On the back wall of the fortune teller's tent, there is a picture of the Triforce.
 * Tortimer tells a story about him defeating the great sea snakes at Pinnacle Rock, which is what Link had to do in Majora's Mask.
 * In some villagers' houses, if the player tries to look in a cupboard or drawer, they may get a message that says that they've found some rupees but cannot use them as currency in the game.


 * Animal Crossing: Wild World
 * The Triforce and the Master Sword are available as furniture.


 * Animal Crossing: City Folk
 * Majora's Mask, Link's hat and tunic, and Midna's mask all appear as items that can be worn.
 * The Triforce and Master Sword return from previous games.

Donkey Kong

 * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest
 * If you beat the game without enough coins, third place in the Video Game Hall of Fame will be held by Link.


 * Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
 * If you buy a shell from Bazaar's Shop, ask him about a castle, and refuse to pay for the story; Bazaar will tell you a story about another boy who asked about a castle and payed for it in rupees.


 * Donkey Konga
 * A version of The Legend of Zelda theme is featured in this game.
 * You can buy a The Legend of Zelda-themed bongo sound set.


 * Donkey Konga 2: Hit Song Parade
 * A version of The Legend of Zelda theme is featured in this game.


 * Donkey Konga 3: Tabehoudai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku
 * This game contains a song based on The Legend of Zelda theme.

Kirby

 * Kirby series
 * In several games where Kirby gets the sword ability, his hat resembles the one that Link wears.


 * Kirby Super Star
 * In The Great Cave Offensive, one of the treasures to collect is the Triforce.


 * Kirby: Canvas Curse
 * On Level 3 of Paint Roller's minigame, you sometimes have to draw a Triforce.


 * Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
 * One creature named Bonehead resembles a Bubble from the Legend of Zelda Series. Possibly a reference.

Mario

 * Super Mario Bros. 3
 * The warp whistle plays the same tune as the one in The Legend of Zelda. It also summons a cyclone in the same way. This cameo appears in remakes of Super Mario Bros. 3 (Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World, and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3).


 * Picross NP Vol. 5
 * All of the puzzles in Character Mode are from The Legend of Zelda series. The images used are of Navi, the Fairy Ocarina, the Keaton Mask, the Fairy Slingshot, Kaepora Gaebora, Princess Zelda, Link, Princess Ruto, Epona, Darunia, Deku Scrub, and Ganondorf.
 * Picross DS has 1 puzzle of the original Link sprite. Found as an unlockable following the completion of all 10 levels of Normal Mode.


 * Super Mario RPG
 * Link In Rose Town Inn.png If you sleep at the Inn at Rose Town, Link will be sleeping in the bed next to you. If you talk to him it will play the classic Zelda discovery theme. As seen here.


 * Yoshi's Story
 * The player can read the word "Zelda" on the newspaper background in Stages 2-3 and 2-4.


 * Mario Golf
 * Random names of characters from other Nintendo games are put on the scoreboards. Darunia, Deku Scrub, Goron Kid, Impa, Link, Malon, Navi, Saria, Sheik, Talon, and Zelda are included.


 * Super Mario Sunshine
 * The character Il Piantissimo has a (masked) face reminiscent of the Running Man from Ocarina of Time and the Postman from Majora's Mask.


 * Mario and Luigi: The Superstar Saga
 * One of the items is the Great Force, a yellow triangle. The people at TMK discovered that the item was originally supposed to be the Triforce and Link was supposed to appear when you got it.


 * Super Paper Mario
 * Throughout the game you are guided by a hint giving pixl named Tippi. She has the appearance of a rainbow colored (but mostly light blue) butterfly, and is obviously a parody of Navi. Also, when Mimi insists that you pay for a vase you broke, she will not accept coins, since she prefers to use octagonal gems called Rubees, again a parody of Rupee. There is a Pixl inside a bathroom on the moon named "Fleep" which requests a piece of paper. The player then must buy a map, which is then used a toilet paper by Fleep (in a similar way to ???), who rewards you by joining your team.


 * Super Mario Galaxy
 * Game director Yoshiaki Koizumi said in an interview with Nintendo Power (issue #225) that the battle strategy against the boss character Megaleg is inspired by what was going to be used for the final battle against Ganon in Ocarina of Time, but that was scrapped due to difficulty on camera control.

Metroid

 * Metroid Prime: Hunters
 * An imprint of Majora's Mask can be found on a wall in the Alinos Perch stage.


 * Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
 * The game's concept of light/dark duality, as well as the collection of Temple Keys, was compared to the gameplay mechanic from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In fact, the developer of the game, Retro Studios, was assisted by one of the creators of the SNES Zelda game to properly incorporate the aforementioned concept into the new game (source).


 * Interestingly, some game journalists and critics also compared this game to Majora's Mask, as both games are credited for being darker and more challenging than their respective predecessors, albeit also less influential


 * Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
 * Players can unlock a special feature known as Ship Bumper Stickers, which decorates Samus Aran's gunship with stickers based on certain Nintendo games that have data stored in the players' Wii consoles. One of these games is Twilight Princess, which makes the gunship have a sticker portraying the crest of the Triforce.


 * As an extra note, the drawn pictures on planet Bryyo (which house scannable lore data for Samus) are reminiscent of The Wind Waker's' cel-shading art style.

Wario

 * WarioWare series
 * Several of 9-Volt's games are based on The Legend of Zelda.
 * During the credits, if you push down the stars turn to Triforces.


 * WarioWare: Smooth Moves
 * Two of the minigames are based on various games of The Legend of Zelda series. One is based on The Wind Waker where you fly with the Deku Leaf onto the wooden platform to reach the Forbidden Woods. The other is based on Ocarina of Time, where you pull the Master Sword out of the Pedestal of Time. Plus, there is a pose called the Triforce.

Others

 * Big Brain Academy
 * One of the puzzles to complete is the Triforce.


 * Daigassou! Band Brothers
 * One of the Nintendo-themed songs is a medley of Zelda songs.


 * F-1 Race
 * Link roots for the player on Course 5.


 * Game and Watch Gallery 4
 * The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch game is available as an unlockable bonus game.


 * Golden Sun: The Lost Age
 * Hidden within the game's source code is an un-used NPC sprite that greatly resembles Link.


 * Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak
 * There's a part in the game where you go to Sunny Peak and pull The Legendary Spoon out of its pedestal, similar to Link pulling the Master Sword out of its pedestal. It references A Link to the Past, in which you also had to get a blue, red and green orb before you could pull the sword from its pedestal. This specific quest has also been featured in several other Zelda games.
 * Ham-Merchants across the game say "Buy something, will ya?", like the merchants from the first game.


 * Pokemon Stadium 2
 * In My Room mode, you can decorate your room with consoles. On the NES, you can see The Legend of Zelda; on the Super Nintendo, you can see A Link to the Past; and on the Nintendo 64, you can see Ocarina of Time.


 * Star Fox Adventures
 * The game borrows several gameplay elements from The Legend of Zelda-series and uses a similar gameplay engine as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.


 * Tetris
 * After winning a B-type game at or above level 9 with a height of at least 1, Link appears playing a flute.


 * Tetris DS
 * This version of Tetris features Link prominently and includes a number of Zelda-themed games.


 * Trace Memory
 * In the U.S. version, the bookshelf in the Silver Bird Room contains a book called "The Legend of Zelda Chronology".

Third-party games

 * Dragon Fable
 * One quest involves collecting the four pieces of the Quadforce. One piece is found outside Linken's house. The Quadforce is like the Triforce and the boss of the quest is Gananana, a name which sounds similar to Ganon, and the rewards are a dagger, sword and staff of eye-rule, which sounds like Hyrule. The rarest price which can only be sold for 250 gold is Ocarina of Thyme.


 * Final Fantasy I & II Dawn of Souls
 * If you read a certain tombstone in Final Fantasy 1 it reads "Here lies Link". It is in the town of elves, Elfheim, near what could be called the bottom of the map.


 * I'm O.K. - A Murder Simulator
 * Some of the opponents wear shirts with the Triforce on it. N+_Triforce.jpg

One of the levels is designed as a large Triforce.
 * N+

A boss found in the game is called Ganon
 * Neverwinter Nights


 * Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All
 * In part 4-1 of the second case in Justice For All, Phoenix utters the line "Well, excuuuse me, Princess", a reference to The Legend of Zelda cartoon series.


 * The Simpsons Game
 * When you reach the level "Enter the Cheatrix", Lisa yells "I hope I get to meet Zelda...ZELDA", while small hearts are falling from pipes.


 * Soul Calibur II
 * Link is a playable character in the GameCube version.


 * Spyro: A Hero's Tail
 * When Spyro finds the ball gadget the proffesor mentions Gold skulluta tokens and Pieces of Heart.


 * Warcraft II


 * In Warcraft II and it's expansion you can see the Triforce in one of the stones of the Temple of the Damned.


 * Warcraft III
 * In Warcraft III and the expansion, if you click a "Druid of the Claw" enough times he will say "Can't ... stop ... DANCING!" possibly in reference to Darunia (with music in the background somewhat like Saria's Song).


 * World of Warcraft
 * A long quest chain is available in the zone Un'Goro Crater which heavily references The Legend of Zelda series.
 * It begins when the player locates a stranded raft (a reference to Link's Awakening) in Un'Goro Crater, which starts the quest "It's a Secret to Everybody". The player must then find a bag nearby it, containing a Curled Map Parchment, a Large Compass, a Lion-headed Key, and a Faded Photograph. The photograph shows a picture of a pair of gnomes dressed similarly to Zelda and Link, standing in front of a ruined castle. The player then has to find the gnome dressed as Link in the photo, named Linken, who is located at a camp in the zone, to continue.
 * Further down the quest-line, you are tasked with stealing a plant from a gnoll named Miblon Snarltooth. Miblon will respond with "Grumble grumble" if you speak to him.  To distract Miblon to steal the plant, the player must purchase a Bait item from a nearby dwarf, who will sell it to you with the quote, "Buy something, will ya?"  Both quotes, and the ability of meat to distract monsters, are a reference to the first Zelda.
 * Near the end of the quest-line, the player must summon a water elemental named Aquementas to do a task for them, in reference to the dragon Aquamentus.
 * The end of the quest chain, named "It's Dangerous to Go Alone", involves the player slaying a fire elemental and taking the Golden Flame it was guarding back to Linken. The Golden Flame resembles a golden triangle, and Linken says it is "dangerous in the hands of those with an evil heart."  The rewards for completing this quest are Linken's Sword of Mastery, Linken's Boomerang, and the Spirit of Aquementas.
 * There is a kodo in Un'Goro Crater named Dadanga, and its owner says it "dislikes smoke." A reference to the first game, when a man says "DODONGO DISLIKES SMOKE."


 * Ōkami
 * Although does not contain a direct reference, director Hideki Kamiya admits he has been influenced by the Legend of Zelda series in developing the PlayStation 2 title, which was also adapted to the Wii in 2008. Coincidentally, both Ōkami and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess feature a wolf as a playable character.


 * In the Ponc'tan area, the houses' doors show a symbol identical to that of Kokiri's Emerald.


 * Dark Sector
 * The creators of the game have stated they have been heavily influenced by The Legend of Zelda-games, and that the structure of the game is much like a Zelda game.

TV and movies

 * The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
 * In the episode "Hill Billy," Dennis the Dirt Gnome's hand looks exactly like a Dexihand when it protrudes from the ground. Also, in the episode "The Prank Call of Cthulu," Cthulu's face slightly resembles Majora's Mask.


 * Catscratch
 * In the episode "Zombie Party a Go-Go," Zelda's Lullaby is played both times that Waffle is ridiculed by Mr. Blik. Episode found here.


 * Powerpuff Girls
 * In the episode "Child Fearing", there was a character who resembles Link. The character was not officially announced as Link, but it has many of Link's key features; as well as what looks like a fairy.  The character was in a game, controlled by the mayor of Townsville.  The mayor made the character slash his sword, get smashed by gaint brick squares twice, run into walls, and kill the creature which looks like a fairy.  Afterward, the mayor gets a "start over?", in which the screen zooms out of the game, and the viewers can clearly see that the character was in fact in a game, as well as the mayor holding what looks like a Nintendo 64 controller.


 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
 * In one episode, Mario is rescuing some aliens known as Quirks from Moon Man Koopa. In the episode, the Quirks sing a song to stop Koopa. The song that the Quirks play is the beginning theme from the Zelda cartoon.


 * Captain N: The Game Master
 * Princess Zelda and Link make cameo appearances throughout the second season of this television series.




 * Xandir's appearance is also based on the Zelda series. Xandir has blond hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, and the green clothing garb, much like Link.


 * Being Ian
 * In Korey’s favorite cartoon, characters that look similar to Astro Boy, Marth and Zelda appear.


 * Robot Chicken
 * A Zelda parody is shown in Robot Chicken's episode 5 from season 3. Link goes to free Zelda with excitement after killing Ganon. Zelda, on the other hand, is bored and states that this is the eighth time she has been rescued. She gives Link eight Rupees and goes away.


 * Code Monkeys
 * In the first episode in "the Waz's" office, Majora's Mask can be seen on the wall.




 * South Park
 * In the second episode of the Imaginationland trilogy, when the wall breaks away and the bad imaginary characters charge out to cause havoc, Link, who is one of the good imaginary characters, can be seen running away within a second.


 * Ganondorf can also be spotted in the third episode of the same trilogy, during the war of the good imaginary characters versus the bad imaginary characters.


 * Drawn Together
 * In the animated TV series Drawn Together, the character of Xandir’s girlfriend is largely based on Zelda. Voiced by Cree Summer. From the episode Gay Bash, she was Xandir's girlfriend before he came out of the closet. The evil Lord Slashstab used to capture her for no reason, leading to Xandir's never-ending quest to save her. She seems to be a terrible homophobe, refusing to allow Xandir to rescue her once he informs her he is gay, even though at the time she was being lowered into a pit of megacobras in Lord Slashstab's castle.

Comics

 * Issue 27 (Starcrash) of the Star Wars comic series features characters strongly resembling Link and Zelda. The boy is named Yoshi, and the girl is named Lourdes. She has pointy ears, and they both wear similar clothes to their respective counterparts. Further supporting this is the fact that Lourdes is a princess, and Yoshi is a Jedi Knight, which is looked upon as being a hero.

Cultural influence

 * The band Showbread have expressed devout appreciation for the series in several ways. They came onstage to The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker intro music during their Reptilian Empire Tour in 2006. Three members of the band can be seen wearing matching Triforce rings in their music video for mouth like a magazine.


 * Joe Pleiman created a song parody of the main Zelda theme for his album The Rabbit Joint. The song is commonly falsely attributed to the bands, System of a Down or The Rabbit Joint.


 * In The Kids in the Hall Season 5 Episode 5, Gavin (played by Bruce McCulloch) wears a green Legend of Zelda cap.


 * Robin Williams named his daughter "Zelda" because Zelda is his son's favorite video game series.