Saturday Night Live weighed in on GTA 6 vs. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake with a new Weekend Update skit featuring video game protagonists Jason Duval and Link.
Gaming fans were probably surprised to see two of November’s biggest releases represented in SNL Season 52. The bit starred live-action versions of GTA 6’s Jason and The Legend of Zelda’s Link, played by Marcello Hernández and Mikey Day, respectively, and mostly saw the two icons arguing about who has the better game.
Also starring Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che, the six-minute video game skit laid it on thick with references to stealing cars, buying RPGs, and solving puzzles in the kingdom of Hyrule. You can see the SNL Weekend Update segment in question below.
The protagonists from Legend of Zelda and GTA6 stop by the Update desk pic.twitter.com/19fsg7desg
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) October 4, 2026
The SNL episode was hosted by Verity star Dakota Johnson with musical guest Turnstile and even featured a surprise cameo from pop music mega-star Taylor Swift. The long-running celebrity skit show is no stranger to nights like this, and although it’s been known to feature the odd gaming reference here and there, it’s safe to say full-on appearances from Link and Jason probably weren’t on anyone’s bingo card.
So, how did this go over with gaming fans? Well… It’s not great.
“Now, I don’t know much about gaming because I’ve had sex,” Jost opened the bit, joking, “but I’m told that people are calling your releases the ‘Barbenheimer of video games.'”
— Rampage (@RR4mpage) October 4, 2026
GTA 6 fans say Hernández’s Jason leaves much to be desired, with his references to Grand Theft Auto most limited to waving around an RPG and stealing lots and lots of cars. The outfit that helped him bring Jason to life, meanwhile, is little more than a bloody bandage and a tropical button-up.
While this Jason falls more into the last-minute Halloween-costume category, Day’s Link getup has received praise for being shockingly accurate to the character’s specific Ocarina of Time remake tunic. It had some of the same specific details, too, and even came with elf ears and a convincing-enough wig. The jokes, however, didn’t land quite as well, and mostly involved Link yelling about puzzles and arguing that his tunic is not a dress.
“I’m somebody who still watches SNL most weeks but this sketch was pretty rough,” one fan online said. “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.
— That Week In SNL (@ThatWeekInSNL) October 4, 2026
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
— An Average Gamer – N (@AnAverageGamerX) October 4, 2026
“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 stemmed from a place that gaming fans have been anticipating for months. Games big and small have (mostly) completely cleared out of November 2026 to avoid launching against GTA 6, with Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake remaining as the biggest exception to that rule. Considering the former won’t be available on the console the latter is exclusive to, there won’t be quite as much competition, but gamers will absolutely still have some tough calls to make in just a little more than 30 days.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake launches for Nintendo Switch 2 November 5, and GTA 6 is set to follow for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S November 19. For more, you can check out our newest look at at the new Zelda re-imagining, and you can read up on what a new age rating told us about Rockstar Games’ latest.
