Behind the Curtain: A Former Nintendo Insider Reveals the Secrets of the Most Captivating Zelda Commercial

“This is not what we were anticipating”

Throughout the years, Nintendo has produced some truly captivating advertisements for its consoles and games, including the unlikely SNES collaboration featuring the late, great Rik Mayall, and the quirky and imaginative declare-a-prolonged commercial used for Super Mario Sunshine.

Many of these faded in comparison to the NES Legend of Zelda commercial starring comedian and well-known voice actor John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt, Bayonetta), which is set inside a padded prison cell where Kassir randomly yells out the name “Zelda” alongside a few enemy names.

Recently, in a Video Game History Hour podcast (by Time Extension), former Nintendo of America employee and “marketing visionary” Gail Tilden shared details that illuminate her thoughts upon discovering what the commercial would actually involve.

According to Tilden, the marketing team at that time had given the green light to create a commercial upon hearing that John Kassir might be interested. However, when she arrived on the set, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with what she encountered…

“We made a TV commercial that’s rather bizarre. So if you happen to get a chance to watch it, it’s the initial Zelda ad, and it features this crazy comedian in a padded cell.

“He’s yelling. He says, ‘Ahh, peahats!’ And at that point, since I was still working in the marketing department, I think back then, maybe—yet again, we were only about three or four people. And when the agency pitched that there would be a comedian doing something about all the fun elements in this game, we all said yes.

“So then I went to this shoot in Los Angeles, and it’s this eccentric individual in a padded cell, and I’m thinking, I can’t handle this, because this is not what we agreed upon. This is not what we were anticipating. We imagined (it would be) a person standing at a microphone in a spotlight. So we contacted the agency, reached out to the executives, and they told us to proceed, perhaps because we were already there; however, shortly after that, we produced another Zelda commercial, so you’ll need to view both knowing the context and what transpired afterwards, and that one is called, is named Zelda Rap, and I truly don’t believe that…