7) A Picture’s Worth… Well, You Know
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64, 1998)
Young Link, rapscallion that he is, can peek through two sets of windows in the courtyard. One reveals an unassuming hallway (until he launches a Deku seed into the panes and a guard hurls a bomb at the kid!), while the other contains something much more interesting: paintings of multiple Super Mario characters! Interestingly, in Ocarina of Time 3D, the paintings were replaced with what looks like a mural of a stage ripped out of a New Super Mario Bros. game. The Hyrule and Mushroom Kingdoms have actually gotten on quite well over the years, with Goombas and Piranha Plants popping up in Link’s Awakening and a torch puzzle that yields the iconic Zelda “secret” chime in Super Mario 3D Land. One of the best cameos, though, has to be an 8-bit Link rearing his head as a puzzle in Super Mario 3D World.
Hmmm.. This list has me pondering the differences between “crossovers” and “cameo appearances” due to number 5.
That being said, thanks for the great read Robert!
Depending on what we’re talking about here, my own personal list might include NES Remix, as well as those bizarre Mario appearances on the Gamecube EA Sports games (“SSX On Tour” and “NBA Street V3”) Having Mario, Luigi and Princess play hoops against Carmelo Anthony and other NBA stars on an urban basketball court is just strange. Very unique and surreal.
In my defense, I will say that I did note that “key cameos” would be on the list, lolol. Glad you liked it! I thought about those appearances, too. I also weighed Mario and Sonic Olympics, but Smash felt like the better one to represent that intermingling.
My bad for not noticing your “key cameos” comment on your intro. That’s just sloppy on my part. Apologies! Again, Loved the list! Not sure how you manage to consistently churn out so many great features. Nintendojo is better for it.
Thanks OG! I’m just lucky I work with such great people here, I think we all feed off of each other’s energy and it makes us write better. Keep reading, and we’ll keep trying to do a great job for all of you.