List of The Legend of Zelda references in video games

The following is a list of references to The Legend of Zelda series in Nintendo and third-party video games.

Blaster Master franchise
In , the Japanese rendering of Skeleton Boss (スタルトンボス, Sutaruton Bosu) and its name when set to Japanese, SkeleVenom (スタルベノン, SutaruBenon), is based on the name of the recurring skeleton enemy, Stalfos (スタルフォス, Sutarufosu). In , the trend continues with the similar Cerbeboss (タルベボス, Tarubebosu) and its name when set to Japanese, Skeleveros (スタルベロス, Sutaruberosu).

Captain Rainbow
Crazy Tracy from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening makes an appearance in . A portrait of Link (along with Mario) is in her house, hung above her throne.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Land 2
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Link is ranked third place on a podium at Cranky's Video Game Heroes. Link has 19 of Cranky's Video Game Hero Coins, and if Diddy Kong has a higher number, he takes Link's place on the podium. Link has the same rank in Donkey Kong Land 2.

In the Game Boy Advance remake, Link has 50 of Cranky's Video Game Hero Coins and ranked second place on the podium. If Diddy has a higher number, Link is relocated to third place on the podium.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, if the Kongs visit the General Store and ask Bazaar who owns the castle, he tells a short story of when Link visited the week before and asked the same question. Link did not have enough bear coins to pay for Bazaar's information on the castle, but Bazaar accepted a payment of 500 rupees instead. After being told the information, Link left, grumbling about the seashells being the wrong shape; this references the Secret Seashell sidequest in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening). This dialogue was removed from the Game Boy Advance remake.

Dragalia Lost
In , one of the adventurers, Nadine, uses a device called Clix that resembles a catlike version of the Sheikah Slate that first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

F-1 Race
In the Game Boy version of , Link makes a cameo in the transition to Course 5.

Final Fantasy
In most releases of the first , a tombstone in ElfLand reads "Here lies Link." The Elves somewhat resemble Link, with green clothing and pointy ears. In the North American NES and European PlayStation localizations, this was altered to reference Erdrick from  instead. Incidentally, a reference to the same character was present on a tombstone in the Japanese Disk System version of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Kirby franchise
In many Kirby games, starting with Kirby's Adventure, Kirby has the Sword ability, where he wears a green hat similar to Link's starting with Kirby Super Star. Some of Sword Kirby's maneuvers are shared with Link, such as Sword Beam and later Spin Slash.

In Kirby Super Star's main game, The Great Cave Offensive, the Triforce is one of the treasures that Kirby can collect. HAL Laboratory included it and other Nintendo-related cameos as a way of thanking Nintendo for putting Kirby in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

In Kirby: Canvas Curse, during the Paint Panic minigame, a Triforce is one of many possible images drawn by Paint Roller.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Link rests in the Rose Town inn. Instead of waking up when Mario speaks to him, the "secret revealed" melody from The Legend of Zelda games plays instead.

Mario Artist: Paint Studio
In Mario Artist: Paint Studio, the player can add artwork of various Nintendo characters on a canvas. This includes 21 characters from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, in order from top to bottom:

Tetris (Nintendo Entertainment System)
In , after completing Level 9, the results screen shows Link is playing the flute in a band with other Nintendo characters, including Donkey Kong, Bowser,, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and. Link appears when the player has completed height 1 of Level 9 in Game B.

Tetris DS
In , there are several themes based on first-party NES titles, one of which is based on the first The Legend of Zelda.

World of Warcraft
A quest in  references The Legend of Zelda series. There is a gnome named Linken, who has the same green tunic as Link. He repeats well known lines from The Legend of Zelda games such as "Its a secret to everyone."