The Google Maps team has a soft spot for video game characters. Their most recent stunt involves replacing the generic Street View character with Link from "The Legend Of Zelda."

The hero clad in a green tunic has all the functionality of the regular Pegman character — which is to say, not much. You can drag Link around the map and plop him down in a point to zoom into the map, and he'll rotate and move along with you as you navigate in Street View.

It's a neat little addition, but not quite as exciting as previous video game appearances in Google Maps. Last year, the tech company turned entire cities into a Pac-Man game; and in 2014, they scattered Pokémon across the globe and tasked people with rounding them all up.

Link's appearance in Google Maps is part of a marketing push by Nintendo to promote the HD remaster of "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess," which was released Friday in North America. Since the game doesn't come out until next week in Japan, Link's going to be sticking around the Maps screen for a few more days.

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Rose Scott signals as Closer Look goes on air in the WABE studio. An Atlanta resident left WABE a $3 million donation, a boost after WABE lost $1.9 million in annual funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. (Ben Gray / AJC file)

Credit: Ben Gray