PrincessZelda

Here's a funny little thing. A clip from an episode of Password Plus - a US game show where celebrities would team with members of the public to guess 'passwords' from single-word clues - shows a contestant referring to a 'Princess Zelda' years before the world ever met Nintendo's princess.

Mention the name 'Zelda' these days and arguably most people will assume you're referring to the princess from Nintendo's eponymous legendary series - the franchise has become famous enough to seep into wider popular culture outside the realm of video games. On the other hand, some people might think of Zelda Fitzgerald, novelist and wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald (after whom Shigeru Miyamoto named his princess), or perhaps Zelda Spellman, one of the aunts of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

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This particular 1982 episode of Password Plus comes from a good few years before Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda launched in February 1986 alongside the Famicom Disk System. Not only can you enjoy a hit of nostalgia from its early '80s style in all its glory, but you can also witness contestant 'R.J.' unwittingly predicting Nintendo's second-most famous royal as he says the word 'princess' while trying to elicit the word 'Zelda' in the video below. The exact moment is at 9 minutes 12 seconds:

Oddly, earlier in the episode we learn that he's a computer programmer for a medical laboratory that also enjoys writing 'computer video games'. Well done, R.J. - you unknowingly conjured the name of a gaming icon years before the rest of the world would meet her!

Gina Hecht

Thanks to Mario500 for the link to this oddity.