Has Zelda games been blamed for anything?

[CyborgElfStephanie]

I know it's a stupid question and the topic of gaming being blamed is old news now but I'm just curious if Legend of Zelda specifically has been blamed by anyone for awful events or by religion or faced lawsuits? This is just Legend of Zelda we are talking about not any other video games.

 

[Castle]

Not to my knowledge.

There's a story about how the symbol for the Gerudo tribe used to resemble the Islamic star and crescent and that the Fire Temple theme from OoT used to contain an Islamic chant and ninty censored them because it upset Muslim communities.

Apparently it's bupkus though. The Gerudo symbol did used to be a star and crescent moon and the Fire temple did feature an Islamic chant in early versions of the game, but the story goes that nintendo only intended to use the chant as a placeholder they pulled from a selection of commercially available stock music and the star and crescent they preemptively removed to comply with their own policies on displays of religious iconography in their games.

There is no record of any outcry or backlash from any muslim group.

As for gameplay style, it's interesting that games that feature "Zelda-like" gameplay or level structure only ever seem to get praise for using it. Unlike other games with popular playstyles that get imitated over and over again like Arkham's DDR combat or Souls-likes or even entire subgenres like Myst brought about that get blamed for spawning a legion of imitators.

Of course, sadly, the Zelda series ain't exactly ahead of the curve anymore. It's taken to being the one doing the imitating. The Zelda series doesn't receive any flattery anymore. So I don't think we're at risk of the Zelda series being blamed for kicking off an overused style and saturating a whole subset of the video game market any time soon.

 

[Shroom]

I blame Zelda for an increased interest in ocarinas.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Some have been blamed for being bad games.

 

[Caramel H]

I genuinely can't think if there was ever "blame" to go around in the series in terms of impacting our society, but there are some controversies revolving religion/imagery. All the controversies were blamed on the creators though - fire temple islamic music, islamic symbol for the gerudo/mirror shield, and the "swastika" map design in the original LoZ.

 

[VikzeLink]

I think I heard something a couple of years ago, when there was a hurricane somewhere in the US. There were some overly religious people who blamed fans of the Zelda-series to have summoned the hurricane by playing the Song of Storms. I kinda sounds like a joke to me, but then again, the same type of people also says that Pokémon is something evil that satan made XD

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

but then again, the same type of people also says that Pokémon is something evil that satan made XD

I heard about that, someone fabricated an interview between the creator of Pokemon and Time magizine and basically made it out like the creator was admitting Pokemon was created with satanism in mind or something.

That fake interview surfaced a few years ago and people started believing it.

This also brings up something, not of Zelda being blamed, but accused of being racist and geared toward white supremacists.

This was written as a satire piece but it is true you can find people making these claims in old threads on Zelda Forums and such.

https://www.zeldadungeon.net/the-legend-of-zelda-is-racist/

 

[Fraxinus]

Absolutely. https://voices.clickhole.com/modern-video-games-are-giving-kids-unrealistic-standard-1825124240

 

[Jirohnagi]

Absolutely. https://voices.clickhole.com/modern-video-games-are-giving-kids-unrealistic-standard-1825124240

So wait you're saying i can't carry a shortsword, longsword and greatsword all at once and still roll? ARE YOU SAYING A TUNIC THAT MAKES ME BREATHE UNDERWATER IS A LIE!

But for real aside from the religionistic reasons i don't think theres been any overtly negative stigma attached to the zelda series, i do however blame it for a lifelong addiction to the series though

 

[Vanessa28]

People always try to blame something when they have to. Especially the last couple of years. The only thing I know is about OoT what already has been mentioned. But besides that I never heard anything negative about the Zelda franchise.

 

[Dio]

Not to my knowledge.

There's a story about how the symbol for the Gerudo tribe used to resemble the Islamic star and crescent and that the Fire Temple theme from OoT used to contain an Islamic chant and ninty censored them because it upset Muslim communities.

Apparently it's bupkus though. The Gerudo symbol did used to be a star and crescent moon and the Fire temple did feature an Islamic chant in early versions of the game, but the story goes that nintendo only intended to use the chant as a placeholder they pulled from a selection of commercially available stock music and the star and crescent they preemptively removed to comply with their own policies on displays of religious iconography in their games.

There is no record of any outcry or backlash from any muslim group.

As for gameplay style, it's interesting that games that feature "Zelda-like" gameplay or level structure only ever seem to get praise for using it. Unlike other games with popular playstyles that get imitated over and over again like Arkham's DDR combat or Souls-likes or even entire subgenres like Myst brought about that get blamed for spawning a legion of imitators.

Of course, sadly, the Zelda series ain't exactly ahead of the curve anymore. It's taken to being the one doing the imitating. The Zelda series doesn't receive any flattery anymore. So I don't think we're at risk of the Zelda series being blamed for kicking off an overused style and saturating a whole subset of the video game market any time soon.

Early versions of the game that released did have the proper moon and star symbol as the Gerudo emblem but there was never any Muslim chant in the Fire temple in any released version of the game. That was taken out before any copies got into public hands. The very same chant is actually in a Nintendo car racing game which I have forgotten the name of now.

Funnily enough people still claim to remember the Muslim chant from the original version even though it is impossible for them to have owned a version which contained it. Could be the Mandela effect at work.

Zelda games can't really be blamed for much apart from OOT setting the standard for pretty much all modern 3D games. And for improving my childhood.