Altimadark posted...
Okay, I'll give it a chance. Tell me about the Famicom Disk System.
Here's the very short story - In Japan, the first two Zelda games were FDS games. That shows the add-on wasn't really necessary, but it also shows that it had some decent selling software where it existed. Both beat a million in Japan, which was quite the feat at the time, and today they don't sell that in Japan even without being attached to add-ons. I can't think of a game released for any other add-on that comes even close. Hell, hitting 1 mil on base hardware in a single region is a mean feat today. The fact that you had to buy the NES, the FDS, and the game to get Zelda past a million in Japan alone is pretty stunning in a market that bought maybe (maybe) 1/3 of what is bought today.
The modern equivalent is like having Oblivion come out on an add-on for the 360 (and the 360 alone) and still being one of the best selling games of the year without a doubt. Your mind would probably be blown if Oblivion sold as much as it did while requiring the 360's HDDVD expansion, and so would mine. And that's what LoZ did. It sold massive numbers at the time (record breaking in some regions) and it did so while requiring specialized hardware on top of general hardware (In Japan, of course).
TLDR version - Zelda sold a **** ton on the FDS in Japan despite everything going against it, and is certainly the exception to the "rule" in this case. It was a huge success in Japan despite doubling up on required hardware, and the volume it sold proves without a doubt that the secondary-level hardware it played on wasn't an utter failure.
Super simple version - unless the FDS sold less than 2 million units in Japan and no one bought anything other than Zelda, then it had to have done decently, even though it doesn't compete with a full console.
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"Principally I hate and detest the animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas and so forth" - Jonathan Swift
BT with the victory!