Breath of the Wild is the Highest Selling Zelda in Japan in 19 Years

Ishaan · Jan 24, 2018

There's actually a lot more to Phantom Hourglass's sales than just being on the Nintendo DS (although that is obviously a major factor). Here's a few other points to keep in mind:

The cel-shaded Wind Waker art style was considered appealing to Japan at the time to begin with
The touch controls made the game a lot more accessible and got a lot more "non-gamer" people playing
The Japanese version of the game was designed so tapping a kanji on the screen would display the yomigana reading. This made the game accessible to younger children

Unfortunately, even though Phantom Hourglass did introduce Zelda to all these new players, Spirit Tracks didn't quite manage to hold on to them. The train just wasn't new enough to bring that audience back a second time.

Sub Boss · Jan 24, 2018

Still can't believe Phantom Hourglass sold that much, what happened?

Ishaan · Jan 24, 2018

Sub Boss said:
Still can't believe Phantom Hourglass sold that much, what happened?

There's a post right above yours that touches upon some of the factors. Slowing down and reading might help. :)

Sub Boss · Jan 24, 2018

Ishaan said:
There's a post right above yours that touches upon some of the factors. Slowing down and reading might help. :)

I just noticed :O

Celine · Jan 25, 2018

Not said:
It's probably due to how popular the Switch is

https://www.resetera.com/posts/3700622/

Zeeman said:
The Oracle games are missing from the chart, any idea how those sold?

Oracle of Ages: 192K/373K
Oracle of Season: 190K/373K

Source: Famitsu (which is a different tracker from Media Create so keep it in mind).

EDIT:
For Media Create should be:

Oracle of Ages: 246K
Oracle of Season: 238K

Skittzo · Jan 25, 2018

Ishaan said:
Regarding a multiplayer Zelda in the next few years: I think this is rather likely. Aonuma himself has said he'd like to do it, using everything they learnt from BOTW.

I do feel taking Zelda multiplayer in Japan to see what happens would be something worth trying. The question is, what kind of game would it need to be? The easy answer is "Monster Hunter" but I don't know if Nintendo would care to develop MH with a Zelda skin and call it a day. I'd imagine they would like it to be a little more interesting than that.

I still think a Battle Royale type game would work extremely well with BotW's systems driven gameplay. Have a bunch of Hylians drop into an area and scavenge for food, weapons, and various other tools and battle it out.

I feel like this isn't the type of direction Nintendo would go, but the game as it currently is really lends itself to that style of gameplay.

hotcyder · Jan 25, 2018

Vault said:
That Ocarina of Time number is really impressive considering how poorly the N64 sold there

Minish cap was fucking robbed its 10x better then Phantom hourglass

The DS was an absolute monster tho, despite having two of the least interesting Zelda games.

Shame too because Minish Cap is the best 2D Zelda game.

Mokujin · Jan 25, 2018

Deserved, so, so close to my dream Zelda game ever since I played OoT.

There's room for improvement (mainly more fleshed out main temples) but the core concept was sooooooo good, can't wait for the next one!!