Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Remember that the Wii in Japan didn't launch with Wii Sports. If all you have is cash for 1 game for your system, you want one that will impress your friends. Zelda would then sound like an obvious 2nd choice, but then Wii Play comes with an extra WiiMote, suddenly that looks like a better deal. Now you have 3 must-purchase games. What do you choose?

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Blasphemy!

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Wrong. It's not because of the franchise but the type of game.
If you look at sales charts for other big established series, such as Final Fantasy, MGS, Dragon Quest, GT etc. they all have similar dropoffs after the first two weeks or so. The magic of DS (and soon to be Wii) are all the games that have bucked the trend (and mostly aren't established hardcore fan favorites) and continue to sell well even a year after release.

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You also have to consider who is buying the new console and why they're buying it. Zelda is a big, long, complex game. It's not something that is going to appeal to my mom. So if the Wii is truly being purchased by casual or lapsed gamers, then you'd expect lower sales figures for these 'games for gamers'.

Zelda's performance isn't that bad considering that the game has maintained its position week after week even though the Wii has been in short supply since launch. I doubt that we'll see it jump back into the top ten, but if it can stay the course over the next few weeks or months it will be considered a hit.

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My problem with Twilight Princess is that it does not feel like anything new. Ocarina of Time was so flawless in almost every aspect. The translation from 2D to 3D while maintaining the classic storyline feel were its biggest strengths. It became the basis for nearly all future Zelda games. Nintendo can't top that. Twilight Princess isn't anything spectacular. I'm nearly 20 hours into it (almost at the third dungeon), and I still haven't a clue what's going on in this game. The story feels awkward and disconnected. Ocarina of Time (and even Majora's Mask) were able to get people emotionally involved in the game, in essence, making them part of the game by forcing them into the role of the hero. Twlight Princess feels too much of a third-person story. It still is entertaining and fun, but things that were once novel are starting to become the norm and therefore aren't exciting anymore.

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I have the same view but from the opposite position: I want Twilight Princess to be less like Ocarina of Time because I DON'T like Ocarina of Time.

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I picked up a copy of Twilight Princess for my Nintendo GameCube and was surprised at how much I didn't really like it. After playing games like Okami and Shadow of the Colossus, this title doesn't come close to the level of innovation and polish found in either of those games.

What really struck me as odd is that when this title received an 8.8 from GameSpot and people went bananas claiming that rating was an outrage. Personally, if I had to review this game, I'd give it between a 7.5 and an 7.8.

Kudos to the people of Japan for not buying into the hype.

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I'm sorry. ^ Duplicate post above. ^ I am still learning the intricacies of email.

IGNORE ME!!!

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That chart doesn't show how well the other games did. Looks to me that 1 out of every 3 people who bought a Wii also bought Zelda. That makes for a 33% attach rate. Since there are over 10 launch games for the Wii, that means those 10 games have to share the other 66% attach rate, meaning every other game had an average attach rate of 6%... so you *could* say that Zelda is doing better than any other game, selling roughly 5 times better, infact. Of course I don't have enough data to say that with any certainty, I'm just saying there's no information on the provided link that shows any other game selling better than Zelda.

@Matt
It all starts to make sense by the end of the 4th dungeon. Make sure to wander around a lot talking to people and read every line. Don't let yourself miss a thing!

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Thank God for Japan. They know an overrated game when they see one.

I love the franchise more than most people, but IMO, it's zenith was ALttP. Ocarina was phenomenal for its time, but hasn't aged well. The last few console games have been either pathetically unengaging, challengeless and derivative.

Even though TP feels all too familiar, had the game actually been even SOMEWHAT challenging, so many of the game's faults could have been overlooked or ameliorated.


-SynikaL

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Err, it's supposed to read:

"The last few console games have been pathetically unengaging, challengeless and derivative."

These blog sites desperately need updates.


-Syn
(edit function, please)

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They need to make it harder.. its too easy.. I mean, its all nice and good to make it easy to beat, but this is ridiculous.. there's no threat of failure.. I might as well watch the game be played...

also, the game seems very much like Ocarina.. they tried a new graphical style w/ wind waker, and was so hated, they went back to a safer approach, and then forgot to take any risks.. the game got stale..

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What this chart fails to address is how early/late into each console's life that Zelda came out in. Sure, OoT sold a crapload when it came out, but the N64 had an established user-base, as opposed to Twilight Princess being a launch title for the unproven Wii. Does the chart even count Gamecube numbers?

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My immediate thought on this is that despite having motion control functionality and a refined aiming mechanism, the Zelda game is largely a solitary experience, whereas Wii Sports catches the attention of what we picture the typical Wii user to be: a more 'hyperactive' gamer.

Also, Zelda still comes across as being a port of a gamecube game, albeit a great game (i was disappointed with the post-final battle ending, though). The mini-games utilized the new controls in an interesting way, but I felt that after beating most of them (barring fishing), there wasn't much satisfaction in replaying them except to gather money.

So who knows? Just some (inherently biased) personal insight.

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Twilight Princess, more than any Zelda game before it, starts off very slowly. I didn't enjoy the first 10 hours of the game or so, but by the time I finished the third dungeon I was in love with Zelda all over again.

Right now, just after finishing the 5th dungeon and spending a lot of time exploring and enjoying the world, I can barely tear myself away from it.

Is it innovative? No -- it doesn't try to be. But it's good. It's damn good and it's the best single player game I've played in recent memory (Resident Evil 4 would have been the last one I can remember even being close to this good).

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uh...i like TP :(

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I can ditto all the others here: Z:TP is waaaay overrated. The controls are a bit unresponsive & "tacked on" feeling, weak, it's way too easy once you've got eight hearts or so, and worst of all, there's only ONE PATH through the game. I'm 46.492% persent through, and haven't been given a single real side quest. I don't count the collectibles -- they are ongoing throughout the game. When I was asked to rescue the Zora prince, I think, yay, a side quest! After wandering around a bit to find something else to do, it's clear that no, you have to go rescue the prince to progress the story. There are infinite possibilities of action, but only one real path. What's the fun in that?

I am working my way through it and enjoying the ride, but if there's only one path to success, let's keep the player "on rails" shall we? Don't send me off into an infinite universe hunting for "something hot" to heat up the zoras unless I've got several different ways to accomplish that.

This is why I'm a mario over zelda fan. Mario 64 has a much smaller world, but at least you have many pathways to get the stars you need to rescue the princess.

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