When a game truly captivates us, it can happen that we think of nothing else. The employees of the animation studio, who during the 1990s were working on Powerpuff Girls, likely experienced something similar when they fell for a real Nintendo classic.
Which series is it about? Powerpuff Girls is a series from the 1990s. It was produced by Cartoon Network and focuses on three superheroines. Even though they are still in kindergarten, they are already saving their hometown from various nasty villains.
The series aired from 1998 to 2005, with another run from 2016 to 2019. It was created by Craig McCracken.
Powerpuff Girls was a huge success and is now considered a classic among series from that time. However, production did not go without incidents. In particular, a game from the Zelda series disrupted the work on the still young series significantly.
The whole team wanted to play Zelda
Which game was played? 1998 was also the year when Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released. The game received top ratings, with an average score of 99 points (via metacritic.com) and is still considered one of the best games of all time. The Zelda series continues to be very popular.
Ocarina of Time was the first 3D Zelda, causing quite a stir for that reason alone. Besides that, it was a fascinating experience that captivated even the creative minds behind the Powerpuff Girls. So much so that work on the series was neglected.
In a short documentary (via youtube.com), series creator Craig McCracken recounts how almost everyone in the team played Ocarina of Time, including the legendary animator Genndy Tartakovsky, who worked on other well-known series like Batman: The Animated Series or Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
When we started the series, the Nintendo 64 was released, and everyone on the team played The Legend of Zelda, including me. It got to a point where we had a production meeting because some of the guys were lying on their desks. Genndy and I sat down with everyone, and I said, ‘Okay, what level is everyone at in Zelda, and who is almost done?’ And Genndy lost it. Basically, the studio was closed for a month.
Craig McCracken via 3Djuegos.com
Instead of working on the series, the team delved deeper into the game, sharing its secrets and tips among each other.
An anime continues to provide new insights to fans with its many unresolved questions.
Did this time influence the series? Fortunately, the team was able to finish their work after all. The series did not have to suffer long-term.
To “repay” the favor, the studio incorporated a fitting Easter egg shortly after. In the second episode of the third season (via youtube.com), a game appears that, while not named Zelda, is clearly inspired by it.
The mayor in the series plays on the console when suddenly the phone rings. He is supposed to babysit someone, but immediately hires another person for it. He himself has no time, as he has to keep playing Zelda diligently. A winking reference to the studio’s own history with the Nintendo classic. Another player is also stuck on a game, having logged over 21,000 hours in it.
