Rupee (The Legend of Zelda series)

Rupees from the first and third Legend of Zelda installments

Rupees are the unit of currency in the fictional lands of Hyrule, Termina, Labrynna, and Holodrum in the Legend of Zelda series of video games, acquired primarily by defeating enemies, by cutting tall grasses or bushes, or from treasure chests, and used primarily to purchase items in shops.

Rupees are otherwise identical gems of various colors, each color marking a specific denomination. The association between colors and values varies somewhat from game to game, but the standard has green rupees being worth 1 rupee, blue rupees worth 5, and red rupees worth 20. Other less common colors include yellow (worth 10 in The Wind Waker) and the original, Legend of Zelda, purple (worth 50), plus the especially valuable silver(worth 5 in Ocarina of Time, 100 in Majora's Mask, and 200 in Wind Waker) orange(100 in Wind Waker, 200 in Majora's Mask.), and gold(worth 200 in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask).

In the original game, The Legend of Zelda, rupees were yellow shining blue (worth 1) or just blue (worth 5) and players were limited to carrying 255 rupees, the maximum value an unsigned 8-bit integer can hold (see power of two). In A Link to the Past, this limit was extended to 999 and the three main types of rupees (green, blue, red) were established. BS Zelda, despite being a remake of the original The Legend of Zelda, also featured the 999 limit. In Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and The Wind Waker, the rupee limit began low (99, 99 and 200 respectively) but could be increased by acquiring larger wallets (to 200 and then 500 in the N64 games and 1000, then 5000 in The Wind Waker). The Minish Cap had wallet upgrading, but even after getting all the wallets the maximum was still the classic 999. BS The Legend of Zelda: Stone Tablets of Antiquity still holds the pure greed award, featuring an incredible maximum of 99,999 rupees, far more than any other Zelda game, but strict time limits made this nearly impossible to attain at the time of the original release.

The Legend of Zelda featured hidden caves with an apparently Hylian-sympathetic Moblin who would give a variable amount of rupees (while giving the cryptic message, "Its [sic] a secret to everyone.") In the same game is a man who operates the so-called "Money Making Game," in which Link can choose one of three rupees. He will then randomly either lose or win rupees. Later titles featured mini-games where rupees could be lost or won, often based on proficiency with an item.

Although later games have been more consistent, the manual for the original Legend of Zelda referred to the gems as rubies, while the scrolling screen in the game itself called them rupies (singular rupy). Thus, the origin of this word is likely a misinterpretation of the word ruby rather than an intentional reference to the real-life Indian currency, the Rupee. This is supported by the similarity between the び (bi) and ぴ (pi) characters in Japanese. Also note that the name of the currency in the French translation of the Zelda no Densetsu games is rubies. The spellings rupees and rupies are often used interchangeably.

Although rupees are used most often to buy items in shops, occasionally they have other uses. In the original Legend of Zelda, one rupee is used up every time Link shoots an arrow. In A Link to the Past, if a set amount of rupees were thrown into a certain fairy fountain, a fairy would appear and increase Link's carrying capacity for bombs or arrows, at the player's choice. In Ocarina of Time, collecting all the White Rupees in a particular dungeon room unlocks the locked doors.

In Majora's Mask, rupees are one of the items that cannot be taken back in time with Link; however, there was a bank at which rupees could be deposited, and the player retains their bank balance throughout the game, (though the bank itself had a limit of 5,000 rupees. This could be extended to 5,499 rupees should the player deposit 500 rupees after having deposited 4,999 rupees).

Rupees are important in every Zelda game, but are central to the gameplay in the multiplayer The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. As such, this game adds black rupees, which causes rupees to scatter across the ground; and rupee shards, which when collected can add up to a rupee of great value.

The only titles to feature monetary systems other than Rupees are Oracle of Seasons, where the Subrosians would only accept Ore Chunks as currency, and Four Swords Adventures, where the players collects Force Gems rather than Rupees and although not an official currency in Hyrule, they are sometimes spent in exchange for something (such as a divination in Kakariko). Rupees were also absent in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which had no currency system.

Appearances in other games

* Ingots, from Clu Clu Land, highly resemble Rupees from the original game. However, Clu Clu Land came first, meaning it is most likely intended as a cameo, much like the Book of Magic originating from Devil World
* Sometimes when looking through drawers in Animal Crossing, a message will say "You found 100 rupees! Too bad you can't use them here."
* In Donkey Kong Country 3, after the refusal to buy a shell from the Bazaar, he claims that some guy named Link didn't have enough Bear Coins but wanted to pay in Rupees instead. After that he left, muttering about his shell being the wrong shape or something.