The Bizarre Legend Of Zelda Spinoff Game You Likely Never Played

Link has been saving the kingdom of Hyrule from certain doom since 1986. Running around a map littered with Ganon's underlings, puzzle-filled dungeons, trusty trinkets, and clever Easter eggs has been the main hook of The Legend of Zelda in 2D and 3D form. The original Zelda game is known as one of the most defining releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and many of the mainline sequels that followed it are held up as some of the greatest games of all time.

Like most iconic video game franchises, The Legend of Zelda has given its fans a lengthy lineup of fun and sometimes weird spinoffs. The ill-fated Philips CD-i console featured three side-scrolling Zelda games that quickly gained notoriety for the poor quality of the animated cutscenes. Plus there's a collection of Japan-exclusive Zelda games, a motion-controlled crossbow training game for the Nintendo Wii, and even a Dynasty Warriors-esque beat 'em up that features Link and his huge assortment of friends and foes as playable characters.

One of the strangest Zelda spinoff games focuses on one of the series' most peculiar side characters. Chances are you probably haven't played it unless you imported it from Japan or Europe. So, what exactly have you been missing out on?

The hilariously named Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland focuses on the Zelda character named Tingle, who debuted in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Because of the character's immense popularity in Japan, Nintendo made the decision to give Tingle his own handheld adventure and release it as a Nintendo DS exclusive in 2006 before bringing it to Europe a year later.

The hook of the game revolves around Rupees, the main form of currency found within The Legend of Zelda series. Players are tasked with obtaining as many of them as possible due to a lofty promise given to Tingle on behalf of a character named Uncle Rupee. Should Tingle meet the Rupees requirement demanded by Uncle Rupee, Tingle will get the honor of entering the fabled paradise of Rupeeland.

Tingle's rupee collecting journey places him in a variety of locales where he bargains with other characters for information, hires bodyguards, ascends a giant tower to access new lands, and obtains items that can be sold for further profit. Tingle gets the Rupees he needs merely by exploring and braving the many dangers present within the game's dungeons.

This isn't the only Zelda spinoff game that's all about Tingle. He also got the starring role in Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love and Tingle's Balloon Fight DS.