Kotaku Compiles a List of Mario and Zelda Easter Eggs

The most widely recognized Nintendo characters usually hail from the Mario and Zelda franchises, so it just makes sense that they would cross over sometime. Most everyone knows that Link is now a playable character in Mario Kart 8, but did you know that Easter eggs tying these two video game giants together have been present since their very first games?

The most mind-blowing Easter egg to me was that a total of 10 Mario enemies can be found in Link’s Awakening, including fan-favorite Mario boss Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2. That is an example of a Mario Easter egg in a Zelda game, but what about a Zelda Easter egg in a Mario game? One of my favorites was that in Super Paper Mario for the Wii, the first boss references all the way back to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link by dropping the famous, “I AM ERROR,” line.

Be sure to check out Kotaku’s full list here, because there are many more mind-blowing crossovers where those came from! Do you think Nintendo will keep planting these little Easter eggs in both the franchises’ future installments, or will they stop because they feel it takes away from the games’ authenticity somehow? More importantly, why does Link’s Mario hat in the image above have an “L” on it? Feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: Kotaku