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‘Link’ from The Legend of Zelda replaces the usual ‘Pegman’ on Google Maps today

If you open Google Maps today, you might find a pleasant little surprise waiting for you. In order to celebrate the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on Wii U, Nintendo and Google have partnered up to replace the usual “Pegman” Street View guy with a miniature version of Link…

This isn’t the first time that Google and Nintendo have partnered up, and it’s not the first time the two companies have done a Google Maps gag either. On April Fools day in 2014, Google listed a Pokemon Master job listing and launched a Pokemon minigame in Maps, which had users searching for game characters that were randomly hidden throughout the map.

But Google and Nintendo’s ties go even deeper than that. Niantic Labs, perhaps best known as the creators of the popular mobile game Ingress, was previously owned by Google. The group is set to launch a game called Pokemon Go, and last year raised more than $20 million from both the Mountain View company and Nintendo.

And while not exactly a partnership, it’s worth noting as well that Nintendo seems to finally be admitting that launching games on mobile phone platforms — including Android — might be a good idea. The company is planning to launch its second mobile game this year featuring a “very familiar” character.

To find Link in today’s Google Maps Easter egg, head to the Google Maps site and look for the beloved Nintendo character in the bottom-right of the screen.

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Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.