Zelda Fan Theory: How Similar are Zelda and Super Mario?

Dr.Wily has a recent theory that looks at how similar Zelda and Super Mario are. Because each franchise is big, and was created around the same time, 1985 for Super Mario and 1987 for Zelda (NES), Dr.Wily has chosen to focus his attention on each game’s story, level design, and gameplay. The stories of both the Super Mario franchise and the Zelda franchise involve the villain of the respective game, either Bowser or Ganondorf, kidnapping a princess or gaining an evil power. Beyond those simple similarities, Dr.Wily states that the characters in both franchises are designed similarly and play similar roles.

As for the levels, Dr.Wily notes that the 2D Mario games are side scrolling and linear, whereas the series’ 3D games are more open world. In Zelda, the 2D games take an open world top-down approach, whereas the 3D games have an over world, but feel more linear. Both games start out with easier levels that build up to complex objectives, and usually a boss needs to be beaten at the end of each level in both franchises. Dr.Wily points out that the location and the themes are the biggest differences that Mario and Zelda have. As far as gameplay goes, Dr.Wily says that both Mario and Zelda use puzzles, enemies, platforming, and secrets to occupy the player. Zelda obviously places more emphasis on puzzles and enemies, while Mario places more emphasis on platforming.

Dr.Wily finishes his analysis by saying that Zelda and Mario are not so different after all, but, what do you think? Let us know down in the comments!