Robin Williams’ Sweet Connection To ‘The Legend Of Zelda’ Resurfaces As Classic Game Returns

The year was 1987, and the world was changing with growing momentum. The Cold War was beginning to thaw, personal computers were finding their way into more homes, and a new generation of entertainment was taking shape on television and in movie theaters. Michael Jackson’s Bad was dominating record stores. Personal computers were becoming more common in homes. Giant bricks formed the precursor to portable phones users could carry anywhere. A Japanese card company stepped into the world of computerized entertainment.

For one family of three, life’s greatest joys would come from the new game system they just picked up: a home console that brought the fun of the arcade into homes around the world. Such accessible entertainment was still new for this family, and the pixelated images allowed for hours of imagination, creativity, and tactile play. With the power of this new home gaming console, the family could soar to new heights, swim through great depths, traverse the stars, and save a kingdom. Suddenly, piles of holiday gifts would include consoles and game cartridges tucked tidily amidst the latest seasonal goodies, and contagious grins would flash as more wrapping paper was torn away to reveal the latest adventure.

Households around America would become similarly dazzled by the new Nintendo Entertainment System. Even the family of comedy legend Robin Williams. And just as all mention of Williams, to this day, sparks aching fondness of a past characterized by easy laughter and assured comfort, so too does the name of the game series he loved so much, he named his daughter after it: The Legend of Zelda.

Now, nearly four decades after that first adventure, the world of The Legend of Zelda is preparing to welcome players back to one of its most beloved chapters. A complete remake of 1998’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 on Nov. 5, bringing a whole new generation into the kingdom of Hyrule while inviting longtime fans to rediscover a world they once knew by heart. Yet amid the excitement of returning to Hyrule, one name keeps resurfacing: Robin Williams. Even 12 years after his death, fans cannot help wishing he were here to share in the adventure. But how did such a lasting bond with a whimsical video game begin, only to grow so powerful, he’d name his own daughter after the princess of legend?

Robin Williams Embarks on an Adventure Through Hyrule

In 1987, Williams settled down before a Nintendo Entertainment System and a large television, opening the door to adventures contained inside those little gray cartridges. Before long, In 1987, Williams brought home a Nintendo Entertainment System and a large television, opening the door to adventures contained inside those little gray cartridges. Before long, he and his family were spending hours immersed in The Legend of Zelda, a fantasy adventure that invited players to explore a sprawling kingdom, battle monsters, solve puzzles, and uncover secrets hidden throughout the land. were spending hours immersed in The Legend of Zelda, a fantasy adventure that invited players to explore a sprawling kingdom, battle monsters, solve puzzles, and uncover secrets hidden throughout the land.

“Hours on hours would go by and we’d become completely immersed in the epic adventure,” Williams recalled in a 2011 interview with Nintendo. The comedian particularly enjoyed the game’s mysteries, recalling his excitement at searching rooms for hidden passages and objects, and even remembering the distinctive sounds of doors opening after a puzzle had been solved.

There was something particularly magical about those early Nintendo adventures. The graphics were simple, the worlds built from colorful pixels, and much of what lay beyond the television screen was left to the imagination. For Williams, whose career was built around bringing extraordinary characters and impossible worlds to life, the experience offered another outlet for that same sense of wonder. And as the family continued exploring Hyrule together, their enthusiasm for the game would eventually have an unexpected influence on their lives.

When Williams and his wife were expecting another child, Zachary suggested a name inspired by their favorite adventure: Zelda, after the princess whose kingdom they had spent so many hours trying to save. Williams remembered the suggestion with obvious affection, recalling how perfectly the name seemed to fit their growing family.

“It seemed only natural,” he told Nintendo in 2011. And so, on July 31, 1989, Zelda Rae Williams was born, carrying a name that would forever connect her to the fantastical world her father loved.

A Legend Reborn For A New Generation

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By 1998, Nintendo had already taken players through countless adventures, from the Mushroom Kingdom to the distant reaches of space. But that November, a familiar kingdom was about to become more extraordinary than ever. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arrived on the Nintendo 64, taking a franchise that had captured imaginations through two-dimensional worlds and transforming it into a sprawling, three-dimensional adventure. Suddenly, the forests, mountains, and castles of Hyrule stretched out before players in ways that had previously been left to their imaginations.

There was a remarkable sense of freedom to it all. Players could ride horseback across open fields, uncover ancient temples, and watch as the game’s young hero, Link, grew into adulthood through a story that spanned seven years. The haunting melodies of the titular ocarina became as much a part of the experience as the adventure itself, while innovative combat and exploration systems helped establish conventions that would influence video games for decades. Ocarina of Time was an enormous critical and commercial success, earning a reputation as one of the greatest games ever made.

Williams was among those enchanted by the adventure. When asked about his favorite entry in the long-running series during a September 2013 Reddit question-and-answer session, his answer was simple: “Ocarina of Time is the best.” He also revealed that it was the last Zelda game he’d managed to finish in its entirety. For someone whose imagination had carried him through everything from the fantastical world of Jumanji to the whimsical adventures of Hook, Hyrule had clearly left an impression of its own.

More than a decade after the game’s original release, Nintendo prepared to introduce Ocarina of Time to another generation, this time on the handheld Nintendo 3DS. The 2011 remake brought updated graphics and three-dimensional effects to the beloved adventure, allowing longtime players to revisit their childhood memories while newcomers discovered what had made the original so special. And when Nintendo began looking for someone to help celebrate its return, the company found an unlikely connection between the game’s legendary princess and one of Hollywood’s most beloved entertainers.

This time, however, Robin Williams wouldn’t be embarking on the adventure alone.

Robin Williams And Daughter Zelda Bring A Beloved Legend To Life

By 2011, Zelda Williams was all grown up, and the name her father had given her had become a rather remarkable piece of Hollywood trivia. Yet somewhere within Nintendo’s European marketing department, that famous family connection had nearly been forgotten. It took an unexpected reminder of Williams’ love for the franchise to set something extraordinary in motion, just as the company was preparing to bring Ocarina of Time back to the world.

Gabriel Moszkowski, then responsible for advertising and marketing Nintendo’s handheld products in Europe, recalled the moment in an October 2026 interview with Time Extension. A colleague had heard Williams recount the story of his daughter’s name on a late-night television show. Moszkowski immediately recognized the opportunity and contacted the actor’s representative, first making sure the story was true before pitching the idea to Nintendo’s leadership.

“I needed someone legendary with a true passion for it,” Moszkowski explained. With approval secured, he invited both Robin and Zelda to appear in a campaign celebrating The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. The father and daughter enthusiastically accepted, delighted by the chance to share their family story while promoting a game they genuinely loved.

The resulting commercials were wonderfully simple. In the most memorable, Williams speaks tenderly of someone he has loved for years, someone beautiful, adventurous, and named Zelda. For a moment, it seems the comedian is professing his affection for the fictional princess herself, until the camera reveals his real-life daughter sitting beside him. It’s a playful little twist, made all the sweeter by the knowledge that the affection behind it was entirely genuine.

The commercials were directed by French filmmaker Julien Seri, who remembered Williams with tremendous warmth in a September 2026 interview with Time Extension. The comedian had personally selected Seri from a collection of directors’ reels, and their working relationship quickly developed an easy familiarity. Williams spoke excellent French, Seri recalled, and affectionately called him “Boss” on set. The first advertisement took approximately 90 minutes to film, although the broader campaign unfolded across six shooting days in New York and San Francisco.

And despite being one of Hollywood’s most recognizable entertainers, Williams apparently had a little trouble putting down the very game he was being paid to promote. Moszkowski had brought a prototype of Ocarina of Time 3D to the set, allowing the actor an early opportunity to explore the newly restored Hyrule. Between takes, Williams happily occupied himself with the handheld console, becoming so absorbed that Moszkowski remembered him making it roughly halfway through the game before filming was finished.

For the man who had spent hours exploring the original Legend of Zelda with his family back in 1987, some things clearly hadn’t changed.

The campaign proved memorable enough that Nintendo brought the pair back for additional advertisements celebrating The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition and Skyward Sword later that year.

Zelda Williams Carries On A Family Tradition

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Zelda Williams would continue embracing the unusual history behind her name, sometimes with a little mischief of her own. For Halloween in 2019, she dressed as Link, the sword-wielding hero of The Legend of Zelda, complete with the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, and pointed ears. Fans familiar with the franchise appreciated the joke: despite the game’s title, Link is its protagonist, while Princess Zelda is the royal figure he so often sets out to rescue. “30 years. It finally happened,” she wrote on X, adding the hashtag #CallMeZeldaOneMoreTime.

Her father’s enthusiasm for video games was something she remembered fondly, too. In September 2022, Zelda responded to an old photograph of Williams playing a Sega CD, revealing that his gaming room at the family home had scarcely changed. Nearly every console was still there, a collection accumulated over years of adventures both familiar and forgotten.

But the family’s connection to Nintendo had taken on a more poignant meaning after Williams’ death on Aug. 11, 2014. Within days, fans of The Legend of Zelda organized a petition asking Nintendo to name a character after the comedian in a future installment. More than 100,000 people signed it, hoping to give Williams a place within the fictional kingdom he had loved for so much of his life.

Nintendo acknowledged the request, although it made no promises about a tribute. “Robin Williams was loved at Nintendo,” a company representative told GameSpot. The company also offered its condolences to Zelda and the rest of the Williams family, remembering the time they had spent working together.

For many of those fans, Williams had been something of a kindred spirit. Behind the famous voices, remarkable improvisations, and unforgettable performances was a man who could spend hours trying to solve the same puzzles they did, and who found enough happiness in a video game to make it part of his family’s identity.