Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The catchy track backing these Zelda rap ads has a genuinely great backstory. Time Extension uncovered that it was not written specifically for Nintendo at all. It is actually a retooled version of a 1991 song called Game Boys by the Japanese rap group Scha Dara Parr, originally written as a tribute to Nintendo, the Super Famicom and the whole Game Boy generation, years before it ever got reworked into Zelda themed commercials.
The actual game behind all that rapping has its own surprising origin story too. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening began as an unofficial after hours project, started by programmer Kazuaki Morita experimenting with one of the earliest Game Boy development kits, with other Nintendo staff slowly joining in what felt more like an after school club than an actual job.
Director Takashi Tezuka originally just wanted to port A Link to the Past down to the Game Boy, but the project grew into something fully original, and he specifically wanted the game's world to feel like the TV series Twin Peaks. It released in Japan in June 1993 and worldwide later that year, topping the Famitsu sales chart and becoming the top selling Game Boy game in North America that August.
Nintendo backed it with one of its more ambitious promotions too, sponsoring a three day cross country train competition called the Zelda Whistle Stop Tour, letting selected players race to complete the game while also showing off the Game Boy's battery life and portability. The game ended up boosting overall Game Boy sales by 13 percent that year, sold close to 4 million copies by 2004, and Electronic Gaming Monthly later ranked it the 28th best console game of all time.
Let me know in the comments if you can still recite any of the lyrics from this ad. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#linksawakening #legendofzelda #zelda #gameboy #nintendo #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #nintendoclassic
The catchy track backing these Zelda rap ads has a genuinely great backstory. Time Extension uncovered that it was not written specifically for Nintendo at all. It is actually a retooled version of a 1991 song called Game Boys by the Japanese rap group Scha Dara Parr, originally written as a tribute to Nintendo, the Super Famicom and the whole Game Boy generation, years before it ever got reworked into Zelda themed commercials.
The actual game behind all that rapping has its own surprising origin story too. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening began as an unofficial after hours project, started by programmer Kazuaki Morita experimenting with one of the earliest Game Boy development kits, with other Nintendo staff slowly joining in what felt more like an after school club than an actual job.
Director Takashi Tezuka originally just wanted to port A Link to the Past down to the Game Boy, but the project grew into something fully original, and he specifically wanted the game's world to feel like the TV series Twin Peaks. It released in Japan in June 1993 and worldwide later that year, topping the Famitsu sales chart and becoming the top selling Game Boy game in North America that August.
Nintendo backed it with one of its more ambitious promotions too, sponsoring a three day cross country train competition called the Zelda Whistle Stop Tour, letting selected players race to complete the game while also showing off the Game Boy's battery life and portability. The game ended up boosting overall Game Boy sales by 13 percent that year, sold close to 4 million copies by 2004, and Electronic Gaming Monthly later ranked it the 28th best console game of all time.
Let me know in the comments if you can still recite any of the lyrics from this ad. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#linksawakening #legendofzelda #zelda #gameboy #nintendo #retrogaming #classicgaming #90scommercial #retrocommercials #90sgaming #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #90snostalgia #nintendoclassic
