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They’ve been replaced by, well, a bunch of weirdos: there’s an old man who is too socially awkward for an in-person conversation but endlessly chatty whenever you call him on the phone, a friendly shopkeeper who turns homicidal if you steal anything, and a whole family of fourth-wall breakers — including a dad who warns you he’ll get lost in the mountains later in the game (he does) and a gaggle of identical kids who give straightforward gameplay tips and then admit they have no idea what they’ve just said.

Developed at a time when Twin Peaks was so popular in Japan that The New York Times ran a lengthy story about it, it’s easy to imagine how that legendary TV drama, co-created by Mark Frost and David Lynch — which begins as a mystery about the murder of a high school girl before spiraling into a surreal drama packed with eccentric characters and detours into the supernatural — might have bled into the Zelda franchise as well.

And that was the end of the story until a couple of months ago, when Mark Frost logged onto X and casually dropped a bombshell that lit up two totally different but equally passionate fandoms.

Nintendo veteran Yoshiaki Koizumi has previously taken credit for Link’s Awakening’s story, including the climactic revelation — 30-year-old spoiler alert — that the entire game has been a dream.

Last year, Time Extension’s Jack Yarwood tracked down a former producer at license holder Hi Tech Expressions, who confirmed that an ambitious-sounding Twin Peaks game inspired by Maniac Mansion was discussed but never went into production.

Most notorious is Deadly Premonition, originally announced as Rainy Woods with a trailer so obviously inspired by Frost and Lynch’s show that it feels closer to remake than homage.

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