Robin Williams To Appear In New ‘Zelda’ Game? Nintendo Responds To Online Petition

It’s been a strange week for kids of the 1990s as they said goodbye to to Robin Williams, one of our greatest idols of the previous two decades. Having acted in such films as Aladdin, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Hook, Williams’ career undoubtedly shaped the lives of an entire generation of movie-lovers. Apart from his film career, however, Williams was also well known for one other quirky fact: that he named his daughter Zelda Williams after princess in the incredibly popular Legend of Zelda series, which he was a fan of.

Robin Williams was such a fan, in fact, that he even became involved in the marketing of one of its games. You may recall a few years back, Williams and his daughter were a linchpin in the marketing for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D for the Nintendo 3DS. Check out one of the commercials below:

In the wake of Williams’ death, fans petitioned for a tribute to be included in an upcoming Zelda game, according to Polygon. An excerpt from their petition on Change.org is as follows:

Robin was an avid player of video games, with a love for all things Nintendo, and a particular love of all things Legend of Zelda. It is well-known that he named his daughter after the series’ titular princess…

So, in a day where there aren’t many words, what can we do? Well, there’s a new Zelda game on the horizon. A bold reinvention, a fresh new open world adventure for Wii U. I would like to suggest that when the game is localised to English, Nintendo of America and the Treehouse name one of the characters “Robin” in his memory.

He won’t get to play it, but he’ll live on forever in a universe he always loved.

Within days, the petition got up to 100,000 signatures. In fact, the petition to make Robin Williams a non-playable character in the game was so widespread that it prompted a response from Nintendo itself (via Crunchyroll):

We appreciate the outpouring of support from the gaming community, and hear the request of fans to honor [Williams] in a future game. We will not be discussing what might be possible for future games during this difficult time, but we will hold our memories of Robin close.

While it doesn’t really sound hopeful that Robin Williams will be included in a future title, it doesn’t seem like something that is off the table, either. Overall, it is understandable that Nintendo tread carefully on this subject, as it is still very soon to be discussing things potentially exploitative actions such as this (as altruistic as they may be).

Thoughts? Would you like to see Robin Williams as a character in an upcoming Zelda game?