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Fans ask Nintendo to honor Christina Grimmie in next Zelda game

The former "Voice" contestant, a giant Zelda fan, was shot and killed June 10, and some fans think a game inclusion would be a fitting honor.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
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Christina Grimmie in a photo she tweeted in March.

 Twitter

Fans of singer Christina Grimmie knew she had another love in addition to music -- the Legend of Zelda games. So much so, in fact, that her YouTube user name was zeldaxlove64. And in a mischievous video from 2010, she poses in front of Zelda and other gaming posters while adding music from Zelda into hits by contemporary stars such as Eminem and Rihanna.

Grimmie, who placed third in the sixth season of "The Voice," was shot and killed on June 10 after a concert in Orlando, Florida. Since then, her mourning fans have taken to Change.org to petition Nintendo, maker of the Zelda games, to include the singer's image in an upcoming game.

One petition asks that a non-player character be named for Grimmie. That petition had nearly 59,000 signatures as of Wednesday evening. Another petition with more than 17,000 signatures gets even more specific, asking that the singer be added as an elf.

"Christina tweeted a while ago that if she died she would like to come back as an elf," the petition text notes. "We want to help make her wish come true and Nintendo can help us do that. Anyone who followed her knows how much she loved the Zelda games. It would be an amazing tribute to see her as an elf in a new Zelda game. Plus Grimmie would be a fantastic elf name."

While the petitions have been circulating since shortly after Grimmie's murder, Nintendo responded to a Time.com inquiry with a statement on Tuesday.

"We are aware of the outpouring of support for her, as well as the petition, but we won't be making any creative or content decisions in this time of mourning," the game company said.

Grimmie's brother, Marcus, is on board with the idea, and posted his support on Facebook. "My sister deserves this," he wrote of the petition just two days after his sister's death. "Biggest Zelda fan of all time."