'It wasn't well received at Nintendo' - As GTA 6 and Zelda get bashed by Saturday Night Live, ex-employees recall Elon Musk's Wario controversy.

As US sitcom Saturday Night Live airs a sketch remaking the November showdown between Grand Theft Auto 6 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a pair of former Nintendo employees recall a more infamous SNL sketch from years past that didn't go down well. Read more

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An older SNL sketch featured controversial billionaire businessman Elon Musk on trial for being the bad guy as Nintendo character Wario. During the trial there was talk of Mario taking drugs, hiding pictures of Luigi Dick, while Wario Mask tried to convince the court that he was misunderstood.

"It didn't go well," Krysta Young said on the Kit and Krysta podcast (via Techradar ). Young was the former host of Nintendo Minute with Keith Ellis — the podcast's namesake — and both worked at Nintendo for more than 10 years.

"We were still there for it," Ellis added. "It was something that people didn't like...it wasn't well received at Nintendo," Yang said.

Ellis said that Wario's design came out of "left field" because it wasn't obviously connected to anything, since neither Mario nor Wario had been released at the time. "Why Elon Musk Wario?" Ellis recalled on People Surprised that "there were some threads that were coming in that were upsetting for Nintendo."

Nintendo had nothing to do with the plan, the two insisted, "but there's a lot of contact between Nintendo and the producers of SNL, [and] these other late-night shows. There are people who are especially focused on that part of Nintendo's communications team, making sure they get the games when they come out and have access to information."

In the latest Zelda vs. Young and Ellis praised Link's outfit — Ellis said, "It looked like it was custom-made for a remake," but the pair were mostly silent on the scene itself. "I thought it was good overall," Young said. "I wasn't rolling on the floor laughing or anything like that. There were moments where it was a little scary."

The Ocarina of Time remake was previewed in detail in September ahead of its November 5th release. The game's art style has been significantly updated, which has been the subject of much discussion, but there are also changes to the way the game works and functions. This is a significant undertaking.

Meanwhile, GTA 6 is looking big for its November 19 release.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Switch 2)