Animal Crossing Donkey Kong Country 2 Donkey Kong Country 3 F1 Race Final Fantasy Kirby Superstar Mario Golf Picross NP Vol.5 Pokemon Stadium 2 Super Mario RPG Tetris World of Warcraft

GameCube/Nintendo DS/Wii Super Nintendo/Wii VC Super Nintendo/Wii VC Game Boy NES Super Nintendo/Nintendo DS Game Boy Color Super Famicom Nintendo 64 SNES NES/Wii VC PC

Animal Crossing GameCube/Nintendo DS/Wii   In Nintendo's quirky life-simulator series, you can receive various Nintendo-themed goodies for completing random tasks, and the games make constant nods and winks in Zelda's general direction. You can receive both the Master Sword and the Triforce. Random cupboards in the game display the notice "You have found 100 rupees! Too bad you can't use them here" when you try to open them. The fortune teller has a Triforce symbol on the inside of her tent. At the start of the GameCube version, Kapp'n might ask you if you've spent a night in Hyrule Prison. He doesn't mention soap. Kafei's shirt from Majora's Mask is available. It's called "Kaffe". If you catch a loach while fishing, the game might say "You don't think it's Hylian, do you?" Gulliver might mention that he has a girlfriend in Hyrule. Nintendo Power sent out Animal Crossing e-Cards, one of which contained Link holding the Triforce. [Back to top] Donkey Kong Country 2 Super Nintendo/Wii VC   The second edition of Rare's gorgeous Donkey Kong Country series encourages replay by employing a ranking system. Throughout the game there are Hero Coins to collect, and when you finish the last level your total will position you somewhere in the Hall of Fame. Strangely, you only need 20 coins to take Link's place on the podium, but a whole 30 to take the perpetually annoying green dinosaur Yoshi's place. Also, Rare takes a small swipe at then-Mario-mascot rivals Sonic and Earthworm Jim by leaving their trademark sneakers and blaster next to a bin marked "No Hopers"! [Back to top] Donkey Kong Country 3 Super Nintendo/Wii VC   Buy a shell in Bazaar's General Store and ask the shopkeeper about the castle (but don't pay him). He'll tell you that a traveller named Link was in the store not long before and paid Bazaar 500 rupees for the story, before walking off muttering that the store's shells were the wrong shape. [Back to top] F1 Race Game Boy   As far as clunky 8-bit racing games went, F1 Race wasn't the worst. As a small saving grace, Link congratulated you at the end of Course 5 with a gaggle of scantly-clad girlies. He was probably a little bewildered with his surroundings - if not what the metal wheeled horses were, then certainly why such fair maidens were showing their bodies so. [Back to top] Final Fantasy NES   The gravestone featured in this screenshot shows Erdrick of Enix-developed Dragon Warrior fame, a swipe at the rival developer during times when Final Fantasy was Square's last attempt at staying afloat. In Japan, the graveyard was a bit cheekier, saying "Link", the latest character from developer Nintendo. [Back to top] Kirby Superstar Super Nintendo/Nintendo DS   A game mode fantastically called The Great Cave Offensive saw Kirby escaping an underground maze while trying to find as many treasures as possible. As you can see, the Triforce was one said treasure. Among others, you could get Captain Falcon's helmet [F-Zero], Mr Saturn [Earthbound], and a green Koopa shell [Super Mario]. [Back to top] Mario Golf Game Boy Color   In this portable version of the wonderful N64 Mario Golf, the fourth club is named the "Link Club," and it bares the symbol of the Triforce. [Back to top] Picross NP Vol.5 Super Nintendo   Picross is a Japanese puzzle game, a little like minesweeper. The objective is to colour squares which make a part of a picture, and to flag those that don't. If you wrongly colour a square which doesn't make part of the picture, then you have time deducted. In the series, each volume takes the theme of a certain Nintendo game. Volume 5 had the theme of Ocarina of Time. [Back to top] Pokemon Stadium 2 Nintendo 64   As you can see, Pokemon Stadium 2 had the novel idea of letting you acquire old Nintendo consoles and games. The Zelda games available were Ocarina of Time (bottom), A Link to the Past (middle) and The Legend of Zelda (top). These came with their respective consoles. Also available was a Virtual Boy, but you couldn't see any of its games. They said something about headaches, or something. [Back to top] Super Mario RPG Super Nintendo   Squaresoft's Super Mario epic was made even more mystical with the inclusion of Link. If you stop in Rose Town Inn you can find him sleeping upstairs. Trying to talk to him doesn't produce any kind of conversation (he always was the silent type), but 'that' Zelda jingle plays instead. [Back to top] Tetris NES   The NES version of Tetris was certainly more colourful than the humble Game Boy version, but more, it had Link in it. To see him, you had to beat Game B, Level 9. The different characters appeared relative to the height you finished the level on, and the second lowest level is Link. [Back to top] World of Warcraft PC   In the most popular MMO of all time, there's a character called Linken who looks suspiciously like the Hero of Time in gnome  form. Casting aside any doubt that this is mere coincidence, Blizzard named his quests "Linken's Adventure" and  "It's Dangerous To Go Alone", homages to the second and first Zelda games respectively. As a reward for completing his quests, you'll receive Linken's Boomerang and Linken's Sword of Mastery, nods towards two of the most iconic items in the Zelda series. [Back to top]