Anyone on the internet in the 2000s has seen at least one reference to one of the most notorious games in The Legend of Zelda's history; countless memes and YouTube videos have been made solely to laugh at the terribleness that constitutes the Zelda CD-i games. The Phillips CD-i was a console that had the advantage of Nintendo's most famous franchises (Mario and Zelda), yet still failed spectacularly, so spectacularly that it is meme'd to this very day.
Though Nintendo seems keen on forgetting this blight on their beloved franchise's history, fans will never let go of The Wand of Gamelon and The Faces of Evil, because the true, accidental hilarity of these games renders them total gems in the massive pile of bad and unfunny games out there.
10 Voice Acting
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was groundbreaking in a number of ways: Nintendo's biggest open-world game, record-breaking sales numbers, and the winner of over a dozen video game awards. Many fans would also think that Breath of the Wild was the first Zelda game to feature official voice acting, but it's not that simple. Technically, that accolade goes to the infamous CD-i games, known more for their ridiculous cutscenes than their actual gameplay (which was lackluster as well).
9 Millennial Reboot
What if the worst and most-hated Zelda games were brought back as a modern reboot? Even worse, what if it was a cash grab directed at Millennials that pandered and butchered every meme and phrase on Twitter? This meme highlights that possible reality with princess Zelda, though it's more like a nightmare. If there's anything worse than something bad being made, it's something bad being made again, even though it failed the first time.
8 Dinner Space
This meme combines two different pieces of pop culture, making it twice as funny for those who know both works being referenced. The first, of course, is the King's famed "I wonder what's for dinner" line from the opening of Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, meme'd in hundreds of different ways by dedicated fans. The second is a reference to the 1999 dark comedy Office Space, specifically the nagging boss that has become his own popular meme.
Though Office Space pokes fun at the corporate workplace environment, its shreds of truth are what make it a dark comedy, with every request from the boss feeling both condescending and threatening at once. This meme works because, well, what's closer to an all-powerful king than a boss like him?
7 Beautiful
Long ago, the internet got ahold of a photoshoot done by a photographer and started memeing it. Legends say that memes are being made of it to this day. All jokes aside, the photographer who originally did the photoshoot is largely unknown to most, becoming famous for what she attempted to communicate to the world through her photography.
These characters of the CD-i games have unnerving facial expressions, made more prominent in this meme where they are supposedly told they are beautiful. Sure, Zelda and Link could be called beautiful, but we're not too sure about this version of Ganon.
6 Perfection
The well-known "Perfection" meme from the X-Men movie series can be applied to almost anything that has different forms, though many use it as a subversion of expectations as opposed to expressing true objective opinion. This meme is one of those subversions, and considering the constant debate of which incarnation of Link is the best one, it's comedic poetry to have perfection be the absolute worst one, from his lack of battle skills to his goofy hair and his penchant for being bored.
5 Netflix Adaptations
Book vs. Movie and Manga vs. Anime is a constant debate in our society, especially when so many movie adaptations of literary stories end up being disappointing to fanbases. But there's one more way that fans can be let down, and that is with a horrible Netflix adaptation. It's true Netflix is capable of releasing excellent shows and adaptations, but their failures in the past (such as their 2017 Death Note adaptation) have led to many poking fun at how butchered characters would be. Since Zelda already has an animated show, we hope that Netflix might refrain and spare us from the horrid possibilities.
4 Send Link
This one is simple but worth a guffaw or two. Most people who grew up on the internet during its earlier days remember this beginning cutscene of Link: The Faces of Evil, where Ganon and his minions seize the island of Koridai. Gwonam's reading of a comically simple prophecy that "only Link can defeat Ganon" prompts the king to... well, send Link.
3 He Was So Hungry...
CD-i Link was so excited for dinner that he said he "could eat an octorok!" Judging by his comment, we can assume on Octorok is not as tasty as calamari, but fans were never given the chance to find out. Not until Breath of the Wild, anyway.
Finally, 24 years later, Link can cook and eat an Octorok's tentacles. Or eyeballs, if that's the preference. Admittedly, it comes in the form of a potion and not a straight-up cooked meal, but we have to take our victories where we can.
2 Too Many Links
Sometimes stating the obvious just isn't funny, so fans use other shows and media they love to reference something else, making it a mashup. This meme by tumblr user hyliankalmo uses a classic Spongebob episode where everyone claims to be Squidward, except they're swapped out for some of the many incarnations of Link. Of course, Gary's Squidward impression is lacking, to say the least, which is accurate to say of CD-i Link as well.
1 Zelda Mains
Super Smash Brothers may be one of the most popular competitive fighting games in the world, combining so many iconic video game characters into one free-for-all epic. Of course, not everyone fights fairly or admirably, as this meme attributes to Zelda mains. Teleportation is a skill that many of us would absolutely use excessively if possible in real-life, but Zelda mains spamming it and winning the match is unjust, to say the least. If there's one thing that's evident, it's that seeing that face is just as jarring as the first time.