Link’s 10 greatest cameos in other games

The Legend of Zelda is a huge gaming franchise that has only recently started to expand outside of its video game roots. Sure, there was the animated series, but how often did you see toys and shirts? Breath of the Wild is primarily responsible for this recent success and growth. While you see Mario everywhere, it still feels somewhat special to see Link do anything besides star in his own video games. But, Link’s been making cameos as a famous video game character for over 25 years now, so we should rank them.

When considering this list, games that could be seen as spin-offs were not included. Goodbye, Cadence of Hyrule! (You’re amazing.) So long, Crossbow Training! (Also very good.) Additionally, Link is referenced in loads of games. That could probably populate an entire list, but not this one. What you’ll find below is a list of games where Link pops up as playable or is clearly seen in cameo form.

10. Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars

Link chilling in hotel bed — Super Mario RPG

This is a blink and you’ll miss it cameo. When Mario visits the Rose Town Inn to spend the night, there is a guest in his bedroom. If you try and approach him, the telltale “secret” sound effect will play. It was a delightful surprise that had many players smiling back in 1997.

An interesting note is that this was not the first instance of Link showing up in other games. That honor belongs to F1-Race for the Game Boy. It was nice, even in the mid-1990s, to see Nintendo begin to play around with the idea that their characters are mascots that can exist elsewhere.

9. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

This one is sort of funny. When you visit Cranky’s Hall of Heroes to see where you rank, Link is holding the third spot. The Donkey Kong Country series was always tongue-in-cheek, but this was a pretty funny sight. Plus, it features a Link that has never been seen before and hasn’t been seen since.

It’s a bit of a shame that we didn’t get any more Link cameos out of the Rare team. It would have been interesting to see a 3D Link show up in Donkey Kong 64 or some sort of Zelda collectible be in Banjo-Kazooie. Regardless, much like in Super Mario RPG, Nintendo is at its most fun when they are freer and looser with their characters.

8. Tetris DS/99

Link is not playable in either game as both games are versions of Tetris, but Tetris is, like, one of the best games ever. Many people could literally play Tetris all day every day and never get sick of it.

So, take these two Nintendo-published entries, easily two of the best Tetris games ever made, and add a dash of Link. Somehow, this only serves to make Tetris that much better. A player could lose at number two on 99, but if they are playing while using The Legend of Zelda skin, the loss probably wouldn’t hurt so much.

7. Mario Kart 8/Deluxe

You can drive as Link. Pretty weird. Pretty cool. Mario Kart always existed in that realm, along with other Mario sports games, where it would only pull from characters that existed in that universe. But Mario Kart 8 went all Smash Bros. and out of nowhere added Link. There is even a Hyrule Circuit!

Overall, the inclusion is pretty cool. The carts have a Hyrulian flare about them. In Deluxe, a Breath of the Wild version of Link is playable. Overall though, Mario Kart doesn’t always make enough variance between characters in the Mario Kart series to make Link feel that unique.

6. Super Mario Maker 2

Ah, the series that allows the player to create unique Super Mario levels. The perfect place to put Link? But that’s exactly what you can do. After a post-release update, the Master Sword item was added. When picked up, Mario can turn into Link and use a new set of moves to get through a level.

Besides just being pretty cool on its face, it whets the palate for a possible Zelda maker game in the future. While we got a taste of it in Link’s Awakening, a full-blown Zelda maker could be very intriguing. Regardless, the update showed how weird Nintendo was willing to go with the Maker series.

5. Nintendo Land

Sure, you don’t actually play as Link in Nintendo Land, one of the best Wii U games ever, but you do play as your Mii dressed as Link in Battle Quest, the name of Nintendo Land‘s mini-game based on The Legend of Zelda. You can play as a Link that shoots arrows from the gamepad or grab a Wii Remote and swing it like a sword.

The goal is to traverse different levels, sort of like Tri Force Heroes, and try to survive wave after wave of enemies. It is a blast to play and its controls are tight. It takes what made parts of Skyward Sword so novel and makes them manic and more fun.

4. Animal Crossing (GCN)

You can find Legend of Zelda stuff in most of the Animal Crossing releases, but there is something that you can only find in the original Animal Crossing release on the Gamecube: the full, original The Legend of Zelda game. Well, not really. So, within the game, you can play classic NES games on a little console in your house. Most of these are arcade-style Nintendo games like Donkey Kong and Balloon Fight, but buried within the code is the full Legend of Zelda NES game.

If you had a cheat device, like a Game Genie or a GameShark, you could input a code and unlock the game. It wasn’t the easiest or best way to play the classic, but hey, at least you could. The inclusion of the game was a novel idea at the time and the start of Nintendo beginning to embrace its legacy of games and characters.

3. Super Smash Bros. (Various Releases)

Plenty of people would put this at number one, and that’s totally fine. The only defense for its placement in this list is that this is very expected. Meaning, Smash Bros. is a Nintendo series that features its Nintendo characters duking it out. Of course Link would be there. Of course Nintendo would knock it out of the park. The original Nintendo 64 release was novel from the get-go, and it hasn’t really lost its appeal. It is still a blast to swing the Master Sword at Mario or Peach to send them flying.

Nintendo continually ups the ante in terms of what it includes in these games. Ultimate, the latest release, features six Legend of Zelda characters and just as many corresponding stages and music. It is a brilliant celebration of all things Nintendo.

2. WarioWare/NES Remix (Various Releases)

Few games take the Legend of Zelda series and turn it completely on its head, but WarioWare does it masterfully. For those unaware, WarioWare is a series of microgames that you play. These microgames last around five seconds each and are typically played in 30-game chunks. The chunks are separated into different characters that have different styles.

The character 9-Volt’s games are all Nintendo-related. An example of a microgame is controlling Link to walk into a cave. Yes. That is all. That might not sound exciting, but at the time, it was incredibly novel and still holds up to this day. It is fun. This was also done incredibly well in the NES Remix series. In NES Remix, the player might have to kill five enemies in a short amount of time without fail and then move onto another task. This is fun, but not nearly as much as WarioWare.

1. Soulcalibur II

The best Link cameo of all time is also one that is one-of-a-kind. Perhaps that’s the reason it feels so special. When Soulcalibur II was announced, each console got its own special character. For the PlayStation 2, it was Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken series. Xbox got Spawn. Gamecube got Link.

Link fell seamlessly into the roster of characters, as Soulcalibur II is a weapon-based fighter. Namco, the developer, didn’t rest on simply having Link be part of their game. He was woven into the overall fabric of the story and featured a number of alternative costumes and weapons such as the Fierce Deity outfit and the Great Fairy Sword. There were even joke weapons that would carry over to Zelda-spinoff Hyrule Warriors, such as the Bug-Catching Net. Link was an absolute blast to play as. It was the first time that a company outside of Nintendo got to run wild with a character in a positive way (Sorry CD-i), and Namco nailed it. One could wish for more cameos such as this.