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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of the most beloved classic titles from the Super Nintendo library, with the game releasing originally in 1991 on Japan, and 1992 overseas. The game vastly enriched the characters, lore and world of Hyrule, and pretty much cemented what was going to become the basis and standard for almost all subsequent 2D Zelda titles from there onwards.

Since its release, many secrets and glitches hidden within the game were slowly being found, with one in particular being a pretty unique room that the player could get into under very specific circumstances, being under a glitched behaviour that warped the player into this room as some form of failsafe when the game encountered such glitched state. This "failsafe" room has a dialogue tile within it that says the following:

My name is Chris Houlihan.
This is my top secret room.
Keep it between us, OK?

The method to replicate this glitched behaviour is explained in detail on several YouTube videos.
Nintendo Power held a contest back in 1990, and the winner of said contest would get its name immortalized in one of Nintendo's upcoming videogames. Chris Houlihan was the winner, and his name became immortalized into A Link to the Past since then.

However, the actual identity of the real Chris Houlihan, or the story behind him, was a mystery to everyone online throughout the almost 35 years since the release of the original game back in 1991, with no one being able to contact or know who this person was, prompting several users online to think the character was just a made up name, making the real Chris Houlihan almost as elusive as the room he was featured in.

It wasn't until September 10th, 2025, that gaming YouTuber Kevin Hainline bumped into the ellusive Chris Houlihan through a series of interesting events. His mother mentioned that she met person with the last name of Houlihan through Houlihan's profession (which Hainline kept a secret in order to keep Houlihan's real identity intact). This prompted Hainline to ask his mother what the first name of the actual person was, to which she responded: "Chris". Kevin then explained the whole story behind this character, with a person by the name of Houlihan being the Nintendo Power winner and getting his name into the game.

Hainline, still in disbelief, left the topic aside thinking it was merely a coincidence, and that the person was probaly just an homonym to the original Chris Houlihan. Despite this, Hainline's mother didn't stop there, and she asked the person directly if he was the same person his son talked to her about, and interestingly enough, the person confirmed that he was indeed the real Chris Houlihan, being his father the one that used his named to be immortalized through the contest instead of his. Hainline wanted some kind of proof, to which his mother asked Houlihan directly if he had any proof, Chris did mention he might still have the letter sent to his dad stored in a box somewhere in his childhood home's attic, but Chris simply didn't give it much attention and left it aside.

Years later after that interaction, Hainline's mother got an email from Houlihan, and alongside the email, came an attached picture of the original letter sent to Chris from Nintendo of America, all the way back in September 19th, 1991, to which Hainline's mother forwarded it to him, sharing the contents of the letter and the whole ordeal on his YouTube channel:

September 19, 1991

Dear Chris:

I'm sorry we haven't been in touch with you for a while. Unfortunately, it isn't quite as easy as it sounds to make additions to new games. Early last winter, we included your name in the World Cup Soccer game, which I have enclosed, but only your first name was used. (On the US team you'll find "Chris"). We decided that was not nearly enough. Since then, we've looked at the possibility of using one of the characters in Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters or Metroid 2--both for Game Boy--but the only characters available to be given names were hideous ogres. As you can imagine, we didn't want to immortalize the name of Houlihan as a monster.
So, what are we doing now? Well, we have contacted Mr. Miiamoto in Kyoto, Japan. He's the guy who created the character of Mario and designed most of the Mario and Zelda games. It is our hope that your name will be given to a good character in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which by the way is the name of the future Super NES Zelda game. Other possibilities include a radical new game called Lunar Chase and a Super Mario World sequel for the NES based on the Yoshi character.
As soon as we have confirmation on this matter, we will let you know.

Very Truly Yours,
NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.


Scott Peland
Nintendo Power Editor

P.S. The real name of Zelda 3 mentioned above is top secret information. So, please don't talk to any nosy reporters or industry spies.

Enclosures

Everything according to the original contest, the names, the people involved, and everything else matches accordingly to believe that this is, indeed, the original Chris Houlihan that was immortalized in Zelda III all those decades ago.

However, there's one more intetesting bit that wasn't previously known.
It seems, and thanks to the contents of the letter, that Chris' name was immortalized not only on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but his name was also added to yet another Nintendo title released in 1991. Hainline initially thought it was the NES localization of Nintendo World Cup (which was originally a Kunio Kun game titled Kunio-kun's Nekketsu Soccer League in Japan). Despite this, there's no player named "Chris" in the US team. But World Cup did get a port later on for the Game Boy, and surprisingly, Chris' name is within this port, with Nintendo replacing the name of "Terry" from the original NES release with his for this Game Boy port.

After decades and decades of speculations, dead ends, and people in disbelief, the real Chris Houlihan has finally been found, giving closure to yet another long-lasting gaming mystery thanks to Kevin Hainline's odd course of events.

 

[Pleng]

Nah, he just doesn't care at all for video games lol. He's like "eh ok? ". I bet nobody in his life knew this entire time he was in a Zelda game except him and his dad.

It could be that, but I doubt it.

There's clearly opportunities for becoming a minor celebrity, and even make himself a bit of money from the story. The fact that he's not interested in doing so suggests to me that it goes deeper than that.

 

[SonyUSA]

It could be that, but I doubt it.

There's clearly opportunities for becoming a minor celebrity, and even make himself a bit of money from the story. The fact that he's not interested in doing so suggests to me that it goes deeper than that.

He's a real estate agent, he doesn't need the pennies from some minor appearances he -may- get paid for that he knows almost next to nothing about because his dad did it all for him. What's left to tell? The guy in the video pretty much covered all of it.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

The worst part is that he does not give a single F about being in one of the greatest games ever made...

Shame, I don't care if you like games or not... having your name in that sorta thing would have me over the moon. Ah well. Still cool to hear more about this weird room in Lttp.

 

[GTRagnarok]

Now find Kurt Zisa, whose name was used as one of the optional bosses in Kingdom Hearts. I'm not convinced he's real.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

The news we actually needed.

 

[Lazyt]

is this a clickbait? because i literally and vividly remember a video interview of Chris Houlihan. Saying and explaining how he did won the context. It must be a years old video, I cannot find it anymore. I saw it years back The guy look like in it in his 20-30s.

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[lordelan]

Cool write-up!

 

[chaoticdaos]

Which is more popular?
Chris Houlihan?
or
Nude Code for Tomb Raider?

30+ years and Chris' still a relevant gaming icon?

Nintendo should officially make a character named Chris Houlihan in Zelda's Lore.

Allegedly there is an Error houlihan.

 

[Deleted member 702243]

Chris Houlihan is howtobasic

 

[Maximo101]

So who's more famous the youtuber than gets sued by Nintendo or the guy who gets his name in a Nintendo game from the last century?

 

[Pleng]

He's a real estate agent,

He may or may not be a real estate agent.

 

[nmagod]

He didn't volunteer to have his name put in the game, his dad did that for him. Maybe he feels aggravated by his dad doing it. I'd be f*ing livid if anybody had done that "for me".

wait until you hear about the skyrim kid

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Which is more popular?
Chris Houlihan?
or
Nude Code for Tomb Raider?

30+ years and Chris' still a relevant gaming icon?

Nintendo should officially make a character named Chris Houlihan in Zelda's Lore.

When you've got gaming trivia channels still mentioning you you're gonna be an icon to everybody who can't fall asleep at 3:00 AM.

 

[marsilies]

is this a clickbait? because i literally and vividly remember a video interview of Chris Houlihan. Saying and explaining how he did won the context. It must be a years old video, I cannot find it anymore. I saw it years back The guy look like in it in his 20-30s.

You're probably misremembering, since if there'd been any evidence prior to now, the conspiracy theory that he didn't exist wouldn't have gained traction.

From 2023:
https://www.smashjt.com/post/chris-...y-from-the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-to-the-past

From 2024:
https://www.smashjt.com/post/chris-...y-from-the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-to-the-past

And the video that spawned this response video (look at the pinned comment):

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Good thing those are not horrible games. Imagine having your name in a secret room in Rise Of Lyric.

Imagine having your name in one of those shovelware porno games on Steam. Like your name is graffiti on a wall in one of the creepiest scenes in "Futa Elf Schoolgirls 6: Deluxe".

 

[Jayro]

Why??!! The guy clearly wants nothing to do with it. Leave the poor dude alone.

He sounds like quite the unappreciative douche canoe.

 

[marsilies]

He sounds like quite the unappreciative douche canoe.

Or maybe just not interested in pursuing the microscopic bit of niche fame that having your name in an odd fail-safe room of a 30 year old game would give. If he was actively flaunting this online, people would consider him a pathetic fame whore, worse than Billy Mitchell still desperately clinging to is 80s high score fame. It's like if an author used your name as a character in a book in a genre you're not really interested in. It doesn't really amount to much in terms of "accomplishment," especially since he didn't actually win the contest, and it's only of interest to a small niche of people.

That said, selfishly I think it's a shame his dad didn't put his name in, since his dad was the gamer and likely would've been happy to talk about it at some point to some publication over the last 30 years.

 

[Pleng]

He sounds like quite the unappreciative douche canoe.

Why should he appreciate it?

 

[Jayro]

Why should he appreciate it?

It's an incredible honor being immortalized in a video game, let-alone one as iconic and as popular as a Zelda title. There are literally billions of more deserving people who would have loved to take his place in the game I'm sure.

 

[wurstpistole]

Maybe he's sick of hearing about the game.

He didn't volunteer to have his name put in the game, his dad did that for him. Maybe he feels aggravated by his dad doing it. I'd be f*ing livid if anybody had done that "for me".

I'm sure his dad thought he was doing a nice thing by burdening his son with unwanted attention, but jeez... Imagine having to deal with that all your life if all you wanted was a bit of peace.

yeah... I think you might be taking this a little bit too seriously. He's not an A-level celebrity. I am pretty sure he is getting next to no attention for this, and never has had.