Nintendo Treehouse: Live Utilized Zelda II’s Famous “I Am Error” Dialogue During E3’s Power Outage

Regardless of the man hours put into preparation for large events such as E3, absolutely nothing is foolproof. This fact was demonstrated today when the expo’s West Hall suffered a short loss in power. Nintendo’s Treehouse: Live stream subsequently dropped off the air for a few minutes, but it would seem as if the company’s good-humored IT department crafted a very clever error message in case of such snafus. A call back to the second title in the Zelda franchise greeted viewers of Nintendo’s E3 festivities. Beckoning them to stick around, those who have played Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (or know of the meme) will instantly recognize this bastardized screenshot.

“I am Error. We’re experiencing some difficulties. Nintendo Treehouse: Live will be back soon with more gameplay and information you can’t get anywhere else. Stick around!” — Error

The infamous villager from the town of Ruto is back. Dear reader, if you’re not up on the reference, allow me to educate.

The unlikely character name is widely believed to have been a programmer’s in-joke, since the game also features a similar looking character named Bagu (バグ), meaning software bug. In computing, a bug is a flaw in the programming code. Error and Bug are thus assumed to form a comical, in-universe parallel. In the English version, the name Erā was translated, but the name Bagu was not. Many gamers therefore missed the joke and variously believed the “I am Error” phrase to be a mistranslation, a misspelling, or an actual error message. — Wikepedia

Source: Nintendo Treehouse: Live (via Polygon)