SNL pits Link against GTA VI's Jason, and ex-Nintendo marketers think Nintendo didn't mind
Saturday Night Live had Link and GTA VI's Jason fight over whose November game is better. Two former Nintendo of America marketing leads say Nintendo probably liked it, with a few sore spots.
Link in a "little green dress" squaring off against Jason from GTA VI. On Saturday Night Live. Yes, that happened. Two performers, one dressed as each, argued over whose game is better before the two of them collide in November: the Ocarina of Time remake lands on November 5, GTA VI on November 19.
The setup was simple. GTA VI gets the action, the sex appeal and the fast cars. Zelda gets puzzles and the dress. One problem: according to GamesRadar+, the crowd cheered so damn loud for the Nintendo game that the joke mostly fell flat. Nerds 1, script 0.
So was Nintendo fuming? Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, former Nintendo of America marketing leads, picked the sketch apart on their YouTube channel, and their read is: probably not.
Yang says Nintendo "didn't hate this" because it "positions the game as a huge deal". Ellis says it paints Ocarina of Time as "equal to GTA VI". Yang again: "I think Nintendo would have a pretty positive reaction to this... a worthy side by side to potentially what is the biggest game of the year, GTA VI."
The sore spots? Ellis figures Nintendo wouldn't love Link being sold as a character "for nerds, for losers". Yang guesses the jokes about Zelda's art style and the fairy in a bottle falling apart and dying didn't land well either. Her overall verdict: "I thought this was generally fine... I wasn't rolling on the floor laughing... There were some moments where it's a little cringey." Ellis also spotted that Link's costume "seemed to be custom-made to the remake".
They say Nintendo had nothing to do with the sketch, though its communications team is in regular contact with SNL and other late-night producers. And they remember the one that went badly: the 2021 sketch with Elon Musk as Wario "was not received well at Nintendo".
Keep it in proportion: these are two ex-employees sharing opinions, not an official word from Nintendo or Rockstar.
Fairy in a bottle or a fast car? You already know what I'm buying on the 19th.
