The Legend of Zelda


 * This article refers to the Zelda franchise's involvement with the Metroid series. For the titular character, see List of characters in the Super Smash Bros. series.

The Legend of Zelda, also sometimes referred to simply as Zelda is a fantasy-adventure video game franchise published and produced by Nintendo. The main protagonist is named Link, while "Zelda" refers to the princess who often acts as a central character, including a damsel in distress, to the franchise. Zelda and the Metroid series have made several crossovers, with characters or elements from each other's series appearing occasionally in the other franchise, or the characters (particularly Link) and Samus Aran appearing together in a game outside of the Zelda or Metroid series. The major example of this is Samus appearing alongside numerous characters from the Zelda series and sub-series in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, with Samus and Link being among the twelve fighters (termed the "perfect-attendance crew") who have appeared in every installment of the series to date.

References to Metroid in Zelda
Although no direct references to Metroid have occurred within the Zelda franchise since their creation, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest featured a trailer for the then-upcoming Metroid Prime as part of the bonus features for the game. In addition, during development for what ultimately became The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it was initially considered that it have elements of sci-fi incorporated into the game, with concept artwork depicting Link in a spacesuit. In the same concept art, a Metroid Larva is seen hovering near him.

References to Zelda in Metroid
In the comical Victory Techniques for Metroid, which breaks the fourth wall, Samus is seen playing The Legend of Zelda while traveling to Zebes. Similarly, one of the short stories in The Shape of Happiness features a Police-Man offering Samus a copy of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Kid Icarus as payment for going to Zebes, but she is not interested.

The main conflict for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was derived from the main plot from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past regarding a light and dark world. In fact, Retro Studios went as far as to bring in one of the co-developers for A Link to the Past specifically so they could properly incorporate the light/dark world gameplay element.

The Ship Bumper Stickers in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (and by extension, Metroid Prime Trilogy) include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. If a save file for this game is present on the Wii, a sticker of the Hyrule royal crest will appear on Samus Aran's Gunship.

Super Smash Bros. series
As stated, Link and Samus have appeared in every Super Smash Bros. game to date, with more characters becoming playable in subsequent titles. Princess Zelda/Sheik, Ganondorf, and Young Link were introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Toon Link debuted in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, replacing Young Link. Zero Suit Samus was also introduced in Brawl as an alternate form of Samus, wearing her blue form-fitting suit from Metroid: Zero Mission, similar to Sheik being an alternate form to Zelda. Although no new characters from either Zelda or Metroid debuted in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Sheik and Zero Suit Samus were split off from Zelda and Samus, respectively, thus essentially being their own characters. In Bowser Jr.'s debut trailer "The Future of Evil", Samus and Link were among the seven characters (including Mario regulars Mario and Rosalina/Luma who faced off against Bowser as well as the Koopalings), while Zero Suit Samus is at one point seen standing on a step on the Skyloft stage in the gameplay portion, firing a Steel Diver at Bowser Jr. Both Samus and Link, alongside various Mario characters (specifically Mario himself, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Princess Peach) appeared as their NES sprites in various promotional materials for Duck Hunt and Pac Man (the teaser poster for Pac-Man showing Mario, Bowser, Peach, and Donkey Kong in the maze area fighting off various ghosts, while Link is holding up a Cherry a'la when retrieving a Triforce piece in his debut game, and Samus is fleeing from Pinky; the teaser poster for Duck Hunt showing Mario and Samus being flung away by an explosion that was presumably caused by Duck Hunt; and Link, Mario, Donkey Kong, and Bowser were among those who arrived to challenge Duck Hunt in the latter's debut trailer).

In Melee, both Link and Samus are opponents in Event 3: Bomb-fest, due to both utilizing bombs as weaponry. Zelda is one of the opponents in Event 15: Girl Power, alongside Samus and Princess Peach from Mario. In Brawl, the event match Co-Op Event 7: Battle of the Dark Sides has both Link and Samus teaming up to face off against their dark counterparts, specifically Dark Link and Dark Samus, respectively. Despite the name, however, it has no relation to the Phazon doppelganger to Samus in the Prime series. Likewise, Co-Op Event 6: Unwanted Suitors has Zelda and Zero Suit Samus teaming up to defeat Luigi and Captain Falcon (both of whom had two stocks). In Smash 4, Zelda/Sheik has to defeat both Samus and Zero Suit Samus in Identity Crisis, while both Zelda as well as Samus/Zero Suit Samus are opponents in Princess in Peril.

In the first trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario is prominently displayed. Donkey Kong's hair and Samus's shoulders can be barely made out from the outline of fighters underneath the flaming Smash symbol. All characters from the Mario and Metroid franchises will return in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in addition to newcomers Daisy, Piranha Plant, Ridley and Dark Samus. Mario appears with Samus and Mega Man in A Piercing Screech, Ridley's reveal trailer, where the trio walk across a bridge, until Ridley ambushes and kills Mario and Mega Man.

In Zero Suit Samus's Character Showcase Video for Ultimate, she briefly fought against Ganondorf.

In Ridley's announce trailer, Ridley briefly uses his Skewer on Link, causing him to collapse and explode as Ridley watches. In addition, Zero Suit Samus was used as the puppet fighter housing Urbosa's spirit from Breath of the Wild, which was later referenced when Zero Suit Samus was one of Zelda's minions in the spirit battle against Zelda's Breath of the Wild incarnation.

In Samus's Palutena's Guidance in Smash 4 and Ultimate, Viridi briefly mistakes Samus for a Metroid before Pit corrects her, with Palutena and Viridi also respectively citing how Link is not named Zelda and how Pit is not named Icarus (Palutena in the Japanese version), which was a tongue-and-cheek reference to how all three franchises (Kid Icarus/Palutena's Mirror, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda) had protagonists who had a different name from the name of their home franchise (with Metroid and The Legend of Zelda in particular having their namesakes being the main threat within the franchise and the central character/damsel in distress, respectively.).

NES Remix 2
Owing to both franchises being included in NES Remix 2, Samus and Link also appear in their NES sprites in various aspects relating to the game. The game icon for the Wii U features Samus alongside Link (specifically, his incarnation from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link) as well as Mario from the Mario series (the latter in his Raccoon Mario form from Super Mario Bros. 3).

In a promotional limited-edition Nintendo 3DS wallpaper for the game's 3DS port Ultimate NES Remix, Link (specifically, his incarnation from Zelda II) is seen going toe-to-toe with Ridley.

Other appearances of both franchises in other games

 * In the NES version of Tetris, during the Game B mode, Samus as well as Link appear on the victory screen upon completing difficulty 9 at various heights, Specifically, Samus appears on height 2's completion onward where she plays a cello and Link appears on height 1's completion. Pit from Kid Icarus as well as Bowser, Donkey Kong, Princess Toadstool, and the Mario Bros. from Mario also had a cameo alongside them, with Pit specifically appearing on height 0's completion onward where he plays the harp, Donkey Kong appears on height 3's completion onward, banging his fists on a marching bass drum, Bowser appears on height 4's completion onward, playing an accordion, and Princess Toadstool and the Mario Bros. only appear on height 5's completion, where the former proceeds to applaud atop the highest turret and the latter two dance the Cossack.
 * In the Game Boy version of F-1 Race, Samus as well as Link appeared during transition scenes, with Samus specifically appearing during the transition for Course 7, and Link appearing during the transition for Course 5. Like above, Pit from Kid Icarus and various Mario characters also made cameos alongside them, with Toad, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Mario, Pit, Donkey Kong, and Bowser appeared during the transitions for Courses 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 as well as the ending, respectively.
 * In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, both Link and Samus made a cameo by sleeping in beds, specifically in Rose Town inn and in Princess Peach's bedroom, respectively. Link does not actually talk due to his status as a silent protagonist, although interacting with him does use the jingle used for discovering a secret in his home franchise, while Samus when talked to mentions resting up for Mother Brain.

Trivia

 * Bowser Jr.'s trailer, "The Future of Evil" (which featured both Link and Samus), featured CG animation done by Digital Frontier, whose studio was where the motion capture for Metroid: Other M was recorded. Samus appears in this portion of the trailer, dodging an attack from Bowser Jr.'s Koopa Clown Car, and proceeding with other fighters to do battle with Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings. In the gameplay portion, Zero Suit Samus is at one point seen standing on a step on the Skyloft stage, firing a Steel Diver at Bowser Jr., who ducks and avoids it.
 * Both Link/Ganondorf and Zelda appeared during the Spaceworld 2000 demo.
 * Both the Metroid and the Zelda franchises had at least one game/subseries being developed in-house by Team Ninja (the former with Other M, and the latter with Hyrule Warriors).