SNL Takes a Comedic Swing at GTA 6 and The Legend of Zelda with Jason and Link Skit

Saturday Night Live jumped into the GTA 6 vs. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake debate with a fresh Weekend Update sketch featuring the two games' protagonists, Jason Duval and Link.

Fans of gaming might have been taken aback to see two of November's most anticipated releases get the SNL treatment in Season 52. The skit starred live-action portrayals of GTA 6's Jason and The Legend of Zelda's Link, played by Marcello Hernández and Mikey Day, respectively, and largely consisted of the two icons bickering over which game is superior.

Also featuring Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, the six-minute segment leaned heavily into gaming tropes like stealing cars, using RPGs, and solving puzzles in Hyrule. You can watch the full SNL Weekend Update segment below.

The protagonists from Legend of Zelda and GTA6 stop by the Update desk pic.twitter.com/19fsg7desg

The episode was hosted by Verity star Dakota Johnson, with Turnstile as the musical guest, and even included a surprise appearance by pop superstar Taylor Swift. The long-running sketch show has had its share of gaming nods over the years, but full-blown appearances by Link and Jason were certainly unexpected.

So, how did gamers react? Well… not great.

"Now, I don't know much about gaming because I've had sex," Jost began, joking, "but I'm told that people are calling your releases the 'Barbenheimer of video games.'"

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GTA 6 fans felt Hernández's Jason was lacking, with his Grand Theft Auto references mostly limited to waving an RPG and stealing countless cars. His costume, meanwhile, was little more than a bloody bandage and a tropical button-up shirt.

While this Jason seemed like a last-minute Halloween costume, Day's Link outfit earned praise for its surprising accuracy to the character's Ocarina of Time remake tunic. It included specific details, elf ears, and a convincing wig. The jokes, however, fell flat, mostly involving Link shouting about puzzles and insisting his tunic isn't a dress.

"I'm somebody who still watches SNL most weeks but this sketch was pretty rough," one fan commented online. "Basically all of the jokes here were ones I've already been hearing for like 20 years."

"Aren't these the same jokes we've heard about Zelda since 2000?" another added.

I was simply stunned by this: how unending it was, that old ass “people who play video games never have been laid” joke, a complete disregard for specificity in service of surface level nonsense, the middle school talent show presentation. Utterly baffling.

They were trying SO hard to make Link and Zelda look like nerd shit, but you could tell the sketch fell apart at the start when the crowd cheered louder for Zelda and the puzzle joke😭 https://t.co/YSYOSr8YkG

"This is funny but also confused how they are doing a parody of a character who we don’t know that well yet," one of the more positive comments said.

The SNL skit tapped into a topic gamers have been buzzing about for months. Major and minor titles have largely vacated November 2026 to avoid competing with GTA 6, with Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake standing as the biggest exception. Since GTA 6 won't be on the same console as the Zelda exclusive, the competition isn't direct, but gamers will still face tough choices in just over 30 days.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake arrives for Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, and GTA 6 is set for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19. For more, check out our latest look at the new Zelda re-imagining, and read up on what a new age rating revealed about Rockstar Games' latest.