Nintendo Responds to Petition to Create a Robin Williams Character

Robin Williams was an actor extraordinaire, gentle soul, and lovable nerd. As a big fan of video games, he named his daughter Zelda after the Nintendo character in The Legend of Zelda, starred in commercials to promote the game, and wasn't shy about his other love for World of Warcraft.

After the actor took his own life last week, a man named Nick Schaedel started a petition to get Nintendo to honor Williams in the new Zelda game coming out. "I would like to suggest that . . . Nintendo of America and the Treehouse name one of the characters 'Robin' in his memory. He won't get to play it, but he'll live on forever in a universe he always loved."

After more than 109,000 supporters signed it, Nintendo released a statement. "Robin Williams was loved at Nintendo," it said. "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."

It's no promise but rather an acknowledgement.

Schaedel commented on the Change.org petition after reading the statement. "This petition was born of a sense of loss, and a desire, as the news coverage turned away from celebration of Robin's life and into the deeply personal circumstances of his death, to focus again on something positive."

This comes after fans of Williams successfully petitioned to have World of Warcraft create a character in his memory.

"If Nintendo doesn't do anything, then this petition simply stands as a reflection of a lesser-known way that Mr. Williams touched the lives of many people," Schaedel had previously commented. "That's fine too."

Watch Williams in a Nintendo commercial with his daughter, Zelda.