Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Includes a Truly Ridiculous Tribute to Link’s Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out today, and like its predecessor Breath of the Wild, it includes numerous references to other Zelda games. But there’s one specific reference, new to Tears of the Kingdom, that has us simultaneously baffled and cackling over its utter silliness and specificity. And it has to do with Link’s Awakening.

WARNING: Spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom follow under the video. Proceed at your own risk!

Tears of the Kingdom, like Breath of the Wild, includes a number of outfits and locations that pay tribute to other Zelda games. Some of them return from Breath of the Wild, with most of the outfits you could get via amiibo in Breath of the Wild hidden in Tears of the Kingdom. There are also numerous geographic locations named after places or characters in other Zelda games that return from Breath of the Wild, and a smattering of new ones.

But Link’s Awakening gets special treatment, perhaps because of the recent remake on Nintendo Switch. There’s a quest that points you to a “Windfish” sky island that looks an awful lot like a whale. But separately, there’s also an outfit you can get referencing Link’s Awakening. While the shirt and bottoms are nothing to write home about (they’re just a tunic and pants with the coloration from Link’s Awakening), the hat is….something else.

The three pieces of the outfit are acquired via a quest centered around a famous thief/fashionista named Misko, which leads you to hidden armor sets in caves all over Hyrule. You can get all three parts of the outfit by following Misko’s questline, but the headpiece is truly the cherry on top in more ways than one. Its little hair and hat even bobbles as you walk! Wow!

Check out our review of Tears of the Kingdom, which we called “an unfathomable follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made, somehow improving upon it in nearly every way.” And for help getting started, take a look at our Wiki guide to everything you could ever want to know about making your way through Hyrule.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.