Within 48 hours of Robin Williams’ suicide, over 50,000 Nintendo fans had signed a petition to Nintendo of America for a non-player character (NPC) in their upcoming The Legend of Zelda game to be named after the actor.  At the time of this article, the petition, which can be found on Change.org, is sitting at 110,257 out of a 150,000 goal, but Nintendo did not wait for the petition to reach its goal.

Nintendo has responded to Polygon.com about the petition with the following:

“We appreciate the outpouring of support from the gaming community, and hear the request of fans to honor him in a future game. We will not be discussing what might be possible for future games during this difficult time, but we will hold our memories of Robin close.”

In the age of the internet, our Facebook/Twitter/G+/etc. news feeds have been filled with myriad picture memes, videos clips, posts, and responses about the saddening end of the man, but this might one of the few things that actually make sense.

Robin Williams was a known fan of games, both table-top/pen and paper games like Dungeons and Dragons and video games like World of Warcraft and Battlefield 2 (amongst many others).  In fact, he named his daughter Zelda after the Princess of the original Legend of Zelda games.  The pair would go on to be star in a number of advertising for several Legend of Zelda titles.  Here’s an interview piece recorded while filming the The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of time 3D :

When you have a man who not only loved the games, but also played a bit of front man for them along with his daughter, it would make sense to honor the man with a bit of a tribute.

However, on a personal note, I would also like to say that I disagree with the petition.  It makes sense, but do we really want to see a big-headed goofy character named “Robin”?  Would we want to see a dominant and beloved actor during most of our formative years portrayed as a sad, little man living in a hut with his wife and daughter (who would be named after the Princess) in some town that would be a bit of downer?  Is that all Robin Williams was?

I will admit I feel a bit torn over it as I do think a tribute would be warranted, but at the same time, a tribute deserving of the man would detract from the game itself.  I would be surprised if Nintendo doesn’t do SOMETHING, but I would expect it to be either an official announcement of some sort, a touching video of Zelda Williams playing the game, or even just a “In Memory of Robin Williams” in the credit.

What do you think?  Should Nintendo name an NPC “Robin” or should they simply let it be?  Did you sign the petition?  Let us know in the comments below.