Daily Debate: Should Zelda Have Its Own Day on the Calendar Like Mario?
Posted on March 10 2025 by Jared Eubanks
Every March 10th, Nintendo marks a special day on the calendar to celebrate its plumber mascot on “MAR10 Day.” The particular date is not random, as “MAR” is both the abbreviation for the month of March and the first three letters of the character’s name, and the final two letters “IO” bear resemblance to the number 10. The coincidence makes for a heart-warming day to honor the famed 2D and 3D platformer at the center of Nintendo’s flagship series Super Mario Bros..
Other popular intellectual properties (IPs) have also found clever ways to mark a particular date, such as Star Wars. On May 4th, fans wish “May the Fourth be with you” in a nod to the famous Jedi phrase, only to follow that up the next day with “Revenge of the Fifth” in a reference to the title of Episode III.
However, our beloved hero Link and Princess Zelda don’t have an obvious or ingenious date on the calendar, like Super Mario and Star Wars, to celebrate. To my knowledge, there is little, if any, mention of calendars in the actual games in the Zelda series. Some fans have chosen a date corresponding to the origin of the series, such as the February 21st, 1986 release of The Legend of Zelda in Japan or its August 22nd, 1987 release in North America, for their festivities. However, those dates may feel somewhat obscure to some fans. To my surprise, I learned that some Zelda fans also recognize March 2nd as “National Zelda Day.” However, I could not find the significance of that particular date, thought it is close to, but not an exact match with, the release date of Breath of the Wild on March 3rd, 2017.
The year 2026 will usher in the 40th anniversary of the Zelda series’ original release in Japan on the Famicom Disk System. Do you think Nintendo will mark that particular date to celebrate? Do you have any ideas for starting a new trend for marking the calendar each year? Are there any dates special to you and your personal history with Zelda that you try to remember annually? Let us know in the comments below.
- Featured Artwork created by Zelda Dungeon’s Juliette Burns
Jared Eubanks is a staff writer at Zelda Dungeon, and he is also a husband, father, and engineer. He is originally from the Atlanta, GA area and still lives there. He graduated from Georgia Tech and is a proud Yellow Jacket. He loves to play boardgames, build Lego, and read books with his family. He’s been gaming since childhood with the original NES and GameBoy, and he enjoys retro gaming, collecting, and modding consoles and handhelds. His favorite Zelda game is Breath of the Wild but is also fond of the older classic titles.
