Summary
- The Legend of Zelda Easter eggs have made their way into various movies and TV shows, showing the franchise's popularity.
- Shows like Gravity Falls and The Amazing World of Gumball include references to The Legend of Zelda, such as Navi's "Hey, listen!" Catchphrase.
- Other franchises, like Adventure Time and Final Fantasy, also feature Zelda Easter eggs, showcasing the impact of the series on the gaming industry.
With a franchise that's been around as long as The Legend of Zelda has, there are bound to be a few good Easter eggs cropping up in popular culture, but there are also some weird Easter eggs too. Not only are some of these cropping up in other video game franchises, but The Legend of Zelda's popularity has led to references making their way into various movies and TV shows as well.
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While some of these references require a bit more experience with the series to recognize, others are pretty easy for anyone who knows the basic details of the game to catch on to. Of all the Easter eggs out there, these are the ones that made us stop and say, "Wait, what?"
6 "Hey, look, listen."
Gravity Falls – "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons"
Gravity Falls is a Disney show created by Alex Hirsch about siblings who are spending their summer with their great-uncle Stan in a town called Gravity Falls. While they're there, they experience a series of weird events due to paranormal activity and other local mysteries. It began in 2012 and only had two seasons, the second ending in 2016. Season 2 Episode 13 was titled "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons" and was based on the RPG Dungeons and Dragons, which leads players to a new adventure with each campaign based on their individual character decisions.
Alongside the DnD references, many viewers also noticed a familiar call to listen from a certain fairy. In The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time Link is followed around, some may even say bossed around, by his fairy companion Navi. She regularly calls out "Hey! Listen!" To players while they are trying to focus on something or get somewhere. While there is some division among Zelda fans about Navi, in Gravity Falls, she gets smacked like a fly on Stan's back as she calls out, "Hey, look, listen!"
5 Gumball's Majora's Mask Moon Costume
The Amazing World of Gumball – "The Ghouls"
Another children's cartoon, The Amazing World of Gumball, has also shown its video game knowledge by inserting a slightly obscure character. In this Cartoon Network series, viewers follow a cat named Gumball and an assortment of animal and object characters in their humorous day-to-day activities. In Season 6 Episode 26, "The Ghouls," the characters go to school in their Halloween costumes.
Sarah's character is normally an ice cream cone, where her head is a scoop of ice cream with some drips and her body is an ice cream cone. This structure for the character makes her costume design genius. Those who have played The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask may immediately recognize the terrifying moon that plagues their anxiety throughout the whole game, and haunts Link through one of the darkest "Game Over" screens. She has her face painted as the moon with the design of a town on her cone body, displaying the impending doom of the moon coming closer and closer to impact with the ground below.
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3 Sleeping Link
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
This Zelda Easter egg comes off as funny and is mostly light-hearted and cute, but when you stop and think about the details of this interaction, it's a little bit weird. Super Mario RPG came out in 1996 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and is being released again for the Nintendo Switch in November 2023. It follows Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom crew as they look to collect all seven Star Pieces to repair Star Road after it was shattered by Exor.
In the game, there are many Inns to stay at, but it costs coins to do so. However, at the Rose Town Inn, Gaz lets Mario stay a night for free after talking with her. When Mario wakes, he sees that he now has a random roommate. The green hat and blonde hair, as well as the distinctive music theme that plays, reveal that this is the silent hero, Link. While it's cute to have a cameo appearance from a familiar face here, how weird would it be to wake up in a hotel room to a stranger in the other bed? A stranger who comes with their own theme song!
2 Ricardio's New Body
Adventure Time – "Lady and Peebles"
Season 4 Episode 19 of Adventure Time, titled "Lady and Peebles," sees Princess Bubblegum and Lady Rainicorn searching for Finn and Jake after the pair went missing following a battle with Ice King. Princess Bubblegum and Lady track the duo to Black Ice Cave, where they find Ice King with a gaping hole in his chest. Just then, Ricardio the Heart appears, informing the two that he burrowed into Ice King's chest to make himself a new body.
That new body bears a striking resemblance to Majora's Incarnation, which Link battles after first defeating Majora's Mask, the villain's first form. Majora's Incarnation is a challenging boss fight and gives Link a lot more trouble than Ricardio gives Princess Bubblegum. She merely rips Ricardio's newly-formed arms off and then repeatedly punches him in the face. She then constructs a new heart for Ice King out of Ricardio's "sinews," some toffee, and maracas. The whole thing is weird, from the Zelda reference to the plot of the episode itself, although that's nothing new for Adventure Time.
1 Here Lies Link
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy (1987)
- Released
- December 18, 1987
- Developer(s)
- Square
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Entertainment System, PC, PS1, PS4, PSP, WonderSwan, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Android, iOS
- Genre(s)
- JRPG, Adventure
Another long-lasting franchise still around in video games today is Final Fantasy. The very first game in the series was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987. Upon its release, it was in direct competition with The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest. Players journey as four Warriors of Light trying to bring light back to the crystals and protect the world from darkness.
In Elfheim, there's a set of three gravestones where the left one reads, "Here lies Link." In the original NES version for the US, it read "Here lies Erdrick," but was updated to the former when it was released again on PlayStation Plus. The combination of the town name, Elfheim, and the appearance of the characters there matching Link's look makes it clear that this is meant to be a joke toward the Nintendo icon, and perhaps a bit of a challenge as well. Was Final Fantasy declaring itself the Zelda killer?