Zelda Fan Shows Off Wildly Obscure Wind Waker Memorabilia

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 9, 2025 128 Views 6 Min Read
Zelda Fan Shows Off Wildly Obscure Wind Waker Memorabilia



Summary

  • A fan shared a rare 2003 promotional popcorn bag from AMC Theaters.
  • The bag’s darker, gritty theme contrasts with the game’s art style.
  • Despite an initial mixed reception, fans’ opinions of the game have warmed over the years.

A Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker fan has shown off what they call the most obscure piece of memorabilia they own: a promotional popcorn bag from AMC Theaters. The Zelda franchise has been around for a long time, so there’s a lot of strange and rare merch floating around out there that some people have held onto for decades. These promotional pieces are particularly interesting for titles like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which didn’t get the warmest reception upon release but have since become fan favorites.

Despite being one of the highest-selling Zelda games of all time, The Wind Waker got off to a bit of a shaky start. As the first GameCube entry in the series, it had a lot to live up to, and fans initially found its cartoonish aesthetics to be an unpleasant surprise after the darker N64 titles and a grittier Zelda demo showing off the GameCube’s capabilities at Space World 2000. Still, it became one of the franchise’s most beloved games as time went on, and people warmed up to its cell-shaded art style.

Zelda Wood Engraving 2

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The darker, grittier theme many expected is on full display in Redditor rawcookiedough’s promotional Wind Waker popcorn bag. According to the post, it’s from around 2003, the same year the game came out, making its relatively pristine condition an impressive feat for a 20-plus-year-old disposable bag. More interestingly, though, is how the artwork does not line up with the game’s actual visuals or themes. Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto originally wanted Wind Waker to look more realistic, and so did many fans at the time, so the bag is an interesting bit of history, showing off the darker promotional material that likely led to the disappointment people felt once they saw what the game actually looked like.

Redditor Shows Off Wind Waker Popcorn Bag From 2003

It’s also intriguing how Nintendo promoted the game through a movie theater item, despite there being no tie-in film. The company is now working on a Zelda movie to come out sometime before 2030, but at the time, there was no such thing in the works. As others in the comments pointed out, though, that kind of marketing wasn’t unusual for the era. Game promotions weren’t always as closely tied to the game’s content as they are now, and campaigns had to appeal to all kids, not just dedicated gamers, to make an impact, as the industry wasn’t as big or well-established as it is today.

It’s unclear if Nintendo will go the promotional popcorn bag route again, but The Wind Waker could get some new developments in the near future. Some think that 2025 could be ideal for a Wind Waker Switch port to finally come out, given the release of the Switch 2. That may be little more than wishful thinking for now, but if the excitement around a popcorn bag is proof of anything, Zelda‘s first GameCube title still has plenty of fans.

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