# Zelda-like
## English
### Alternative forms

* Zeldalike

### Etymology

From Zelda +‎ -like.

### Pronunciation

* Audio (US):(file)

### Adjective

Zelda-like or Zelda-like (sense 2) (comparative more Zelda-like, superlative most Zelda-like)
* Resembling or characteristic of American novelist, painter, playwright, and socialite Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948).
** 1971 February 15, John Seelye, “The Persistence of the Suffering Woman”, in New York, volume 4, number 7, page 40:Most Zelda-like, and so is her subsequently futile, shabby career, a series of TV parts.
** 1973, Good Housekeeping, page 139:Though she has been hunting for another story that would allow her to create a Zelda-like role, she still is holding out for the real thing.
** 1975, William Targ, Indecent Pleasures: The Life and Colorful Times of William Targ, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 215:Caresse [Crosby]’s autobiography, The Passionate Years, reveals that she and her husband led something of a [F.] Scott [Fitzgerald] and Zelda-like existence, but their devotion to literature and fine publishing was unsurpassed.
** 1975, Carolyn Brimley Norris, The Image of the Physician in Modern American Literature, page 49:[F. Scott] Fitzgerald may have made Dick [Diver] a psychiatrist for several reasons: distancing, and also in order to let his character associate with a Zelda-like psychotic, to give him entree into the upper classes abroad, and to create irony with his mental decline--"physician, heal thyself."
** 1984, Jackson R. Bryer, The Critical Reputation of F. Scott Fitzgerald: Through 1981, Archon Books, →ISBN, page 177:Traces the Zelda-like Southern belle figure from warm and charming in “The Ice Palace” to vicious and cruel in “The Last of the Belles”; […]
** 1986, Kirkus Reviews, pages 414–415:The three try to pretend that life is intact as an intricate sexual sharing goes on, but Catherine, in a Zelda-like way, becomes increasingly vindictive and hostile, especially toward David and his “work,” and ends up one day burning the stories (about his father) that he has lately been writing and that he considers the best work he has done.
** 1987, Kenneth Schuyler Lynn, Hemingway, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 288:Only in the Zelda-like crazy wife in The Garden of Eden would he [Ernest Hemingway] be able to see himself in such a woman.
** 1990, Suzanne Comer, Common Bonds: Stories by and about Modern Texas Women, Southern Methodist University Press, →ISBN, page 110:When James Jones finished the long haul of From Here to Eternity, he, Zelda-like, gave himself up to the dance.
** 1995, Elizabeth Anne Weston, The International Theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Literature, Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 72:Gradually, she replaces her belief in Bill with a Zelda-like devotion to ballet, by which she regains her youthfulness.
** 1996, Speaking of History: Dance Scholarship in the '90s, page 102:A Nutcracker viewer might think ballet is pretentious because the Diane character on "Cheers" showed that aspect so well in a Zelda-like episode.
** 1999, Theatre Record, page 906:Helen Catos, the central character of Between Love and Passion, is a Zelda-like scion of New York’s gilded set.
** 2002, Book Review Digest, page 98:(It) is a verse novella that caroms here and there but essentially revolves around a certain Louise, based loosely on the film star Louise Brooks, and a cast of [F.] Scott [Fitzgerald]- and Zelda-like characters.
** 2003, Midwestern Miscellany, page 55:However, [Scott] Donaldson sees a complexity in Fitzgerald’s portrayal of this Zelda-like character, for as he continued to write about the South in his Tarleton trilogy, Fitzgerald portrayed her as increasingly self-centered, irresponsible, fickle, and artificial, as exemplified by Nancy Lamar in “The Jelly Bean” and by Ailie Calhoun in “The Last of the Belles,” who reflect [F. Scott] Fitzgerald’s gradual disillusionment with the South and his beautiful Southern wife.
** 2006, E. Ray Canterbery, Thomas D. Birch, F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence, Paragon House, →ISBN, pages 72 and 104:[F.] Scott [Fitzgerald] sent a chapter about the increasingly Zelda-like heroine to Zelda and it appealed to her sense of great importance. […] The animate object of Dexter [Green]’s desires is Judy Jones (aka Ginevra King with Zelda-like behavior), a child of wealth whose selfishness, manipulations, and infidelities are overlooked by Dexter in favor of her physical beauty and “passionate energy.”
* (video games) Having similar characteristics such as atmosphere and gameplay to the Legend of Zelda series.
** 1994 August, Edge, number 11, page 41:The Tale Of Poporokuroisu – a Zelda-like RPG with great characterisation (SCE)
** 2003, Pojo’s Unofficial Dragon Ball Z: The Complete Player and Collector’s Guide to Every Card and Character, Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 46:At its heart, “Legacy of Goku” combines RPG and action elements to form a very Zelda-like feeling, but with the addition of experience points.
** 2010, José P. Zagal, quoting Timothy, Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education, ETC Press, →ISBN, pages 84–85:Eventually I ended up finding how to enter a cave and completed a Zelda-like dungeon “level” to rescue the dog.
** 2011, Classic Videogame Hardware Genius Guide, Imagine Publishing, →ISBN:Anyway, if you’re looking for a Zelda-like adventure for your machine you won’t go far wrong with Golvellius 2.
** 2018, The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia, Dark Horse Books, →ISBN:He [Hidemaro Fujibayashi] steers away from game play that doesn’t feel “Zelda-like,” instead asking how that game play can provide a fresh perspective on the familiar and beloved world of Hyrule.
** 2019, Chris Scullion, The NES Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Pen and Sword WHITE OWL, →ISBN, page 73:Faria[: A World of Mystery and Danger!] borrows elements from numerous games: although the town exploration and random battle encounters are similar to traditional RPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, these battles are Zelda-like real-time fights.
** 2021, Tim Summers, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: A Game Music Companion, Intellect, →ISBN:[Koji] Kondo may be making such compositional choices deliberately, or he might simply be writing music that he thinks is ‘Zelda-like’ in style, which manifests as these motivic echoes.
** 2021, Mark Leslie, Fear and Longing in Los Angeles: A Canadian Werewolf Novel, Stark Publishing, →ISBN:A Zelda-like Quest to Fight an Unbeatable Foe
** 2021, Patrick Hickey, Jr., quoting Joe Mirabello, The Minds Behind Shooter Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers (Studies in Gaming), Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, →ISBN, page 146:[…] it wasn’t the first game to really combine roguelike elements such as perma-death and random generation with another genre (in this case, a Zelda-like dungeon crawl), but it was by far the one that captured the most attention.
** 2023, Karen M. Cook, “Xandir P. Whifflebottom, Video Game … Hero?”, in Lisa Scoggin, Dana Plank, editors, The Intersection of Animation, Video Games, and Music: Making Movement Sing (Routledge Research in Music Series), Routledge, →ISBN, page 80:Much like his appearance, sonic cues associated with Xandir [P. Whifflebottom] clearly stem from well-known video games: There are Mario-esque leaping sounds, Sonic [the Hedgehog]-like metallic arpeggios, and in a direct nod to The Legend of Zelda (and tangentially to Super Mario Bros. 3), a recorder that whisks Xandir away from danger. Yet these cues are often used in comedic fashion outside of the contexts with which those sounds would have been associated in the original games. The Zelda-like recorder, for example, creates a tornado that, in carrying Xandir away, also destroys a trailer park.

#### Synonyms

* Zeldaesque