To exponentially and massively expand on your comment...
Zelda, Mario, Metroid, etc are to gaming what Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and Slayer are to Metal.
If someone says "I'm a metalhead" or "I listen to metal" and the first bands they name off are Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and Slayer... You've got a poser on your hands.
Like, look, if you were truly a metalhead you'd know that it's fucking pointless as fuck to say you like them----Liking them is a given. Tell me what ELSE you like. If I'm asking you who you listen to, I want to know if you listen to Doom? Power? Death? Black? Thrash? Prog? Folk? Psychadelic? NWOBHM? what?
Fuck, even my mother knows who bloody Maiden is. When you're telling me you like maiden you're not expressing an interest in Metal, you're telling me you like people knowing you like metal, by naming off the one band that bloody EVERYONE will recognize
not liking them on the other hand, is worthy of mentioning.... if the topic comes up. Bringing it up yourself is a bit of a faux pas
And in high school, every single time you'd see a girl with a non merch-band t-shirt on, it'd be some Iron maiden shirt they picked up at Hot Topic and they couldn't even fucking name the album cover used for the shirt even though 9 times out of 10 it was fucking Number of the Beast
It's the same thing with Mario, Zelda, etc
They're entry level and seminal.
They're some of the oldest, best selling, most well known games in existence, that have served as a template for nearly everything that has come after.
At this point they're more symbolic than anything.
So just like with Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, ETC----Even though you'd be a damned fool to say they're anything but among the most influential and well known metal acts in existence and have acted as templates for numerous bands to come in the last 4 decades since their inceptions and are still used as a measuring stick of quality for other bands to be compared to...
If those, (Zelda, Metroid, Mario, etc) are the first games you bring up and feature prominently in your interests... 9 times out of 10 it means that you haven't played very many games and haven't really branched out into the hobby and explored more of it.
Like, yes, I know you like Mario, Zelda, etc... That's a given. But do you like Shooters(First or Third person)? MOBAs? RPGs? Adventures? Sims? Fighters? MMOs? 4X? Diablo-Likes? RTSs? Tower Defense? Visual Novels? Stealth? Beat-em-ups? Shoot-em-ups? Bullet Hells? Survival Horror? Throw me a bone and give me something interesting to talk to you about ffs
If I'm bloody asking you about your interest in metal or games, I'm looking to gauge your interest so I know if we share the same tastes, and maybe exchange names of games/bands that I might not have heard of or tried out, and I want to jump at the chance to share bands/games I love that maybe you don't know about
TL;DR Women flock to Zelda because it's the first thing most people will hear about, so it means that the "Gamer gurlz" will latch onto it for attention cred since everyone they speak to will know of it, while the true gamers will continue to hold a fondness for it due to its quality and nostalgia factor of being among the first games they were introduced to.
Edit: This kinda transformed a bit away from what it was originally intended... But the concept remains valid---Zelda is entry level, and fucking EVERYONE likes it, so naturally women would flock to it because it's the first ones they'd hear from their friends, or because it's simple enough that their older brother or uncle or boyfriend or whatever thought it would be a good starter game to introduce them to the hobby with, since it's high quality and easy to grasp with fantastical, romantic themes, or whatever.
