A quick look at the weird world of Zelda video game off-shoots and spin-offs

It always seems like a uniquely long time between Zelda games. I know they have good reasons for taking an age to develop, because games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are gigantic and ingenious. But it feels to me like there's something else at play too - an emotional aspect that makes the wait feel even longer. It feels like we see Zelda's cast much less frequently than we see a lot of other characters. They have rich lives, presumably, that they live elsewhere. To put it another way, Mario turns up in a lot of games that aren't the main platform adventures he's known for. Zelda's characters, though. Zelda...?

It's an unfair comparison. But maybe it's unfair in an interesting way. Mario does a lot of sports in between all the platforming. Over the years, he might do a bit of education, and might have an excellent line in RPGs, but most of the time if he's not stomping on goombas, he's kart-racing or playing football or golf or somesuch. This makes sense! As much as Mario is anything, he's a sense of energy and weight. He's the guy who can walk left to right but can also run left to right if you hold down the correct button. All that running! From early days, Mario was practically an athlete!

With the Zelda series it's a lot more complicated. And I think this is because Link is not a mascot in the same way that Mario is. Mario is Nintendo's Mr Peanut. Link and Zelda feel more like ghosts that haunts the mansion Nintendo lives in. Ghosts with whims and strange demands. Ghosts that make their presences felt in unusual ways.

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