Current Events > Zelda sells ten million

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1658819667492851713?t=VDgW9N9VZIvoI_TNrY7jGg&s=19

Diez millones de unidades

I'm glad this hidden gem series is finally getting the recognition it deserves

Was cuz of the mario movie I never heard about Nintendo till that movie came out

Until Breath of the Wild, the Zelda series was never a huge seller (besides Ocarina of Time and to a lesser extent Twilight Princess). Even Skyward Sword, which was released on the super popular Wii sold only 4 million lifetime copies.

I guess this is the format we'll get for every Zelda game

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

I guess this is the format we'll get for every Zelda game

It is. They said that very recently.

YellowSUV posted...

Until Breath of the Wild, the Zelda series was never a huge seller (besides Ocarina of Time and to a lesser extent Twilight Princess). Even Skyward Sword, which was released on the super popular Wii sold only 4 million lifetime copies.

it was such a bad seller nintendo delayed twilight princess on gamecube just so they can have a zelda game on the wii for launch

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

I guess this is the format we'll get for every Zelda game

What does that mean?
What changed?

divot1338 posted...

What does that mean?
What changed?

BotW/TotK changed a lot of stuff. Open world, no heart pieces, mini-dungeons, main dungeons don't have the traditional stuff (map, compass, Big Key, special item), a weapon and armor system system, etc.

Hayame_Zero posted...

BotW/TotK changed a lot of stuff. Open world, no heart pieces, mini-dungeons, main dungeons don't have the traditional stuff (map, compass, Big Key, special item), a weapon and armor system system, etc.

And people liked that?

It ruined the Assassins Creed games.

divot1338 posted...

And people liked that?

It ruined the Assassins Creed games.

You should try these Zelda games. They're crazy good

So old zelda just adventure games but with combat?

YellowSUV posted...

Until Breath of the Wild, the Zelda series was never a huge seller (besides Ocarina of Time and to a lesser extent Twilight Princess). Even Skyward Sword, which was released on the super popular Wii sold only 4 million lifetime copies.

The wii is a pretty poor receptor of popularity, because a lot of the Wii popularity was a fad. A lot of the monster sales weren't "hardcore gamers" who would invest into a game like Zelda. It was families who wanted to play Wii Sports and NSMBWii. That was doubly the case in late 2011.

The Switch has a userbase composed of many more "core" gamers who would be interested in a long from single llayer experience. A remake of a Gameboy game sold 6 million on it, and the Skyward Sword re-release quickly matched the sales on the Wii.

honestly, i prefer these open world Zelda games over the traditional dungeon crawler ones as well. just for the enormous freedom that it gives!

Blue_Inigo posted...

You should try these Zelda games. They're crazy good

I tried BoTW and it was an immensely jarring experience. I didn't get far at all but it still felt really strange to play a game constantly called a masterpiece and getting 10s across the board and finding it completely unimpressive and having zero clue where the praise was coming from.

divot1338 posted...

And people liked that?

It ruined the Assassins Creed games.

People liked it because it went back to the roots of the series. The original legend of Zelda wasn't "here's a linear chain of elementally themed dungeons where you're going to get a gimmick that you use in that dungeon and then once more to unlock a path to the next dungeon." It was "drop Link in a field, it's dangerous so take this sword, go adventuring". The franchise was inspired by miyamoto's child adventures in the woods behind his house.

The reason why people like the change up isn't because there's collectibles. They've all but outright stated they don't want people going around trying to collect everything. What makes this new format so great is that you can boot up the game, look in any direction, see something cool on the horizon, go on a little quest to get there, do a bunch of little activities along the way, and when you do arrive there actually is something cool to do. It's an adventure. And it really feels like it.

divot1338 posted...

And people liked that?

It ruined the Assassins Creed games.

Their open world isn't the same as what Ubisoft does. You're not really moving from checkpoint to checkpoint, exploring is more organic and rewarding. There's a sense of "ooh, what's that?", and you're more likely to find something unique.

s0nicfan posted...

People liked it because it went back to the roots of the series. The original legend of Zelda wasn't "here's a linear chain of elementally themed dungeons where you're going to get a gimmick that you use in that dungeon and then once more to unlock a path to the next dungeon." It was "drop Link in a field, it's dangerous so take this sword, go adventuring". The franchise was inspired by miyamoto's child adventures in the woods behind his house.

The reason why people like the change up isn't because there's collectibles. They've all but outright stated they don't want people going around trying to collect everything. What makes this new format so great is that you can boot up the game, look in any direction, see something cool on the horizon, go on a little quest to get there, do a bunch of little activities along the way, and when you do arrive there actually is something cool to do. It's an adventure. And it really feels like it.

LoZ1 has more to do though. LoZ1's levels have more meat than shrines and the stuff you get from caves in LoZ1 is a lot more rewarding than BotW giving you a weapon that breaks 5 hits later.

IceCreamOnStero posted...

LoZ1 has more to do though. LoZ1's levels have more meat than shrines and the stuff you get from caves in LoZ1 is a lot more rewarding than BotW giving you a weapon that breaks 5 hits later.

Sure, there are still differences, but the fundamental shift from the ocarina era back to a true adventure game is undeniable.

s0nicfan posted...

It's an adventure. And it really feels like it.

This is really the key that makes it so great. It feels like you are on an adventure more than any other open world game does. So many of the other games are just "follow this yellow line to your next objective, or go after one of the 500 collectables we put on the map for you". With Zelda there may be an indication of where to go, but the game doesn't tell you to get there a certain way, and there may be a lot of collectables, but you need to explore and find them, they aren't all just pinned on a map for you.

Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

I guess this is the format we'll get for every Zelda game

meanwhile, in 1986...

googs19 posted...

This is really the key that makes it so great. It feels like you are on an adventure more than any other open world game does. So many of the other games are just "follow this yellow line to your next objective, or go after one of the 500 collectables we put on the map for you". With Zelda there may be an indication of where to go, but the game doesn't tell you to get there a certain way, and there may be a lot of collectables, but you need to explore and find them, they aren't all just pinned on a map for you.

I think the best example of this are the memory fragments from the first game. All you have are a bunch of photographs from places around the world and you have to figure out where they are, eventually finding the exact right spot in the middle of nowhere to trigger the cutscene. There's no dotted line. No giant quest marker over the destination. Just a photo of a mountain range where you can kind of tell which direction the picture must have come from and that's it.

It actually makes you pay attention to the environment and landmarks so you can orient yourself. It doesn't feel like an objective on a quest log. It feels like you're actually trying to recover your memories by going to places you've been with only clues as to where those places are and it's up to you to figure it out.

Congrats Zelda

googs19 posted...

This is really the key that makes it so great. It feels like you are on an adventure more than any other open world game does. So many of the other games are just "follow this yellow line to your next objective, or go after one of the 500 collectables we put on the map for you". With Zelda there may be an indication of where to go, but the game doesn't tell you to get there a certain way, and there may be a lot of collectables, but you need to explore and find them, they aren't all just pinned on a map for you.

Aint nobody got time for that

s0nicfan posted...

Sure, there are still differences, but the fundamental shift from the ocarina era back to a true adventure game is undeniable.

Its not going back to an adventure game like LoZ1 though.

I prefer the older Zelda games. I hate games with large open worlds. Usually comes with slow traveling to get around. I'm sure there are faster methods at some point, but it's just not enjoyable for me. Also, I like that the music in the older games was a lot more memorable. I still remember the tracks from just about every town in the old games. I can't recall a single track from BOTW.

Scorsese2002 posted...

Aint nobody got time for that

Apparently at least 10 million people do.

Hayame_Zero posted...

BotW/TotK changed a lot of stuff. Open world, no heart pieces, mini-dungeons, main dungeons don't have the traditional stuff (map, compass, Big Key, special item), a weapon and armor system system, etc.

There are heart pieces they just come in a different sprite and they are actually "heart or stamina" pieces. Having two different macguffin for hearts & stamina would have been much worse than what we have now.

Also I think people do a disservice to how big some of these shrines are. To complete the Lomei shrine, you have to go to the ground and do a gloom covered land maze, then go to the sky and do another maze, then dive all the way from the sky through the land maze lomei to the depths for the depths lomei and fight a boss. It easily takes just as much time as a dungeon.

Over 4 million units of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom were sold in the Americas. 2.24 million units in Japan. 10 million units worldwide

Talk2DaHand posted...

2.24 million units in Japan.

Zelda has always been big internationally, but ironically didn't become a hit in Japan again until recently. After OoT, none of the games broke a million units until BotW.

Hayame_Zero posted...

Zelda has always been big internationally, but ironically didn't become a hit in Japan again until recently. After OoT, none of the games broke a million units until BotW.

Is this for real? Not even Wind Waker? Woah

I know Zelda was always big but with BOTW and now this it really feels like top tier blockbuster level stuff. Like the entire industry stops to make room for it. Very rare feeling overall.

It feels like it playing the game too. There's stuff here nobody else is even attempting to do. Sorta like Rockstar and Bethesda Game Studios this is its own interpretation of an open world that nobody else seems to know how to match.

googs19 posted...

or go after one of the 500 collectables we put on the map for you". With Zelda there may be an indication of where to go, but the game doesn't tell you to get there a certain way, and there may be a lot of collectables, but you need to explore and find them, they aren't all just pinned on a map for you.

and instead of 500 marked collectables they put 1000 unmarked collectables and instead of changing it up with new ways to solve puzzles like prior zeldas you'll be doing the exact same shit 10 hours into the game as 100 hours into the game.

also, to top it off the only meaningful stuff you really get for your effort literally comes down to more health/stamina/inventory slots.

pretty much one of the worst design decisions made in recent gaming history and somehow people still gobbled it up.

AsucaHayashi posted...

and instead of 500 marked collectables they put 1000 unmarked collectables and instead of changing it up with new ways to solve puzzles like prior zeldas you'll be doing the exact same shit 10 hours into the game as 100 hours into the game.

also, to top it off the only meaningful stuff you really get for your effort literally comes down to more health/stamina/inventory slots.

pretty much one of the worst design decisions made in recent gaming history and somehow people still gobbled it up.

Honestly? Simplicity is better a lot of the time. Too many open world games have bogged themselves down with checklist content and XP trees.

Finding out what happens when I stick a minecart to a rocket is just pure fun that a lot of these games forget.

I think back to Ghost of Tsushima that literally has no surprises within its open world at all. Just the same old checklist content and Mongols to fight. I'm following the motions and the game tells me what to do. Everything is polished to a sheen but I'm just following a script.

It's almost like if you make an open world that feels like a sandbox you can lose yourself in then gamers really resonate with it. GTA3 didn't blow minds back then because you could drive to different mission markers. It blew minds because the game gave us the freedom to randomly kill civilians and get into chases with police all on our own. Players appreciate the feeling of freedom. Always have. Zelda delivers that in spades now.

AsucaHayashi posted...

and instead of 500 marked collectables they put 1000 unmarked collectables and instead of changing it up with new ways to solve puzzles like prior zeldas you'll be doing the exact same shit 10 hours into the game as 100 hours into the game.

also, to top it off the only meaningful stuff you really get for your effort literally comes down to more health/stamina/inventory slots.

pretty much one of the worst design decisions made in recent gaming history and somehow people still gobbled it up.

I've done like 30 shrines so far and they've all been different things. Not to mention finding random mini games, mini puzzles, crazy enemies, and neat collectibles in the overworld. The game is busting with different things to do and see

Its probably at 15 million since this topic was created