It's common for video games to be inspired by literature, movies, and TV shows, as was the case with Pokémon and Ultraman, and Half-Life and The Mist. The Legend of Zelda series has also been inspired by outside media, with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening taking inspiration from one of the most bizarre TV shows of all time - Twin Peaks. 

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is a peculiar game to be sure, but it's hardly the strangest entry in a series with games like The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The connection between The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Twin Peaks is very much a real thing and it mostly comes down to the nature of its story.

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The connection between The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Twin Peaks was confirmed when it was brought up during an interview with Eiji Aonuma and Takashi Tezuka by Vice

Tezuka: I didn't try to do that on purpose. About Twin Peaks. We were talking about this before you [Iwata] arrived. I was talking about fashioning Link's Awakening with a feel that's somewhat like Twin Peaks. At the time, Twin Peaks was rather popular. The drama was all about a small number of characters in a small town. So I wanted to make something like that, while it would be small enough in scope to easily understand, it would have deep and distinctive characteristics.

Aonuma: At the time, I didn't know what he was talking about. I was like, "What is this guy talking about?" But since Twin Peaks was popular at the time…

Iwata: You thought he just wanted to be trendy?

Aonuma: Yeah. I thought, "You really want to make The Legend of Zelda like that?" Now the mystery is solved.

Twin Peaks ran from 1990 until 1991 and was followed by a prequel film called Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992, so it makes sense that the movie would still be in the minds of the creators of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, as that was released in 1993.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening only features a small overworld on Koholint Island that has two tiny towns. The residents of Koholint Island are peculiar in their own ways and the story of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is off-kilter in a manner that makes sense when the player discovers the big secret of the game. Twin Peaks tried to do the same thing, as it attracted viewers with the central mystery of who killed Laura Palmer and kept people intrigued with its strange characters. It's odd that the developers of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening would turn to Twin Peaks for inspiration, but it makes some sense, as they were creating a title for the Game Boy and were limited by the hardware of the system. It was possible to tell a short and strange story on the Game Boy, while still being able to give the player a fun experience as they explored the weird setting of Koholint Island.

Source: Vice

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