With more than 130 million copies worldwide, “The Legend of Zelda” video game saga has left an indelible mark, becoming one of the most successful and recognized franchises of all time. Since its birth 37 years ago by Nintendo, this franchise has captivated millions of players around the world.
Now, with their latest installment “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, Link and Zelda have once again shown that they are here to stay much longer.
REVOLUTIONIZING VIDEO GAMES.
In 1986, Nintendo brought the saga of “The Legend of Zelda” to life with the eponymous video game thanks to the creativity of Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.
This project began with a release for the Famicom Disk System that a year later became available for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
The rest is history: installments of the main series, as well as alternative video games, followed one another successfully. Zelda characters have even appeared in video games from other sagas. The “merchandising” is infinite and the legions of fans also seem to be.
Since its arrival, Zelda revolutionized the genre of action and adventure video games, thanks to a story centered on charismatic characters, memorable soundtracks, and graphics that always impressed for their time.
All of this, covered in a fantastic setting full of magic, in a universe forgotten by the gods whose fate rests on the shoulders of the protagonist, Link, and the princess who gives the games their name, Zelda.
Since then, his mark has been indelible. And it is that, although “now it may all seem very hackneyed, because we have become accustomed to many video games offering us the best graphic advances together with elaborate stories and characters; At the time, Zelda was quite an innovation,” they explain to Efe from Tus Juegos Retro (https://tusjuegosretro.com/).
That mark left by that first game, the one that gave rise to the saga, “The Legend of Zelda” for the NES, can be seen decades later: just a couple of years ago the title broke another world and historical record by selling at auction a original cartridge for 870,000 dollars, the most expensive price paid for a video game.
PAUSE IN A MILLIONAIRE SAGA.
But apart from that first game, to date, some of the Zelda titles have been unforgettable: “I think fans of the classic games would definitely go with ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’, although for some purists Don’t be so retro anymore”, they say from Your Retro Games. And it is that “Ocarina of Time”, released for the Nintendo 64 console in 1998, which to this day is still considered one of the best video games of all time, it sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.
Other titles that are also among the best-selling and most successful of the Zelda franchise are “A Link to the Past” (1991), “Link’s Awakening” (1993) or “Twilight Princess” (2006). But, for many, the only one that rivals “Ocarina of Time” and the first game, is “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”.
It is, in this case, a much more recent installment, which came out in 2017 for Nintendo Switch and WII U, and won the Best Game of the Year (GOTY) award, selling around 30 million copies worldwide. It was the indelible mark left by “Breath of the Wild”, which has also been the game after which Zelda has made its biggest stoppage without releasing new installments.
And it is that Nintendo has taken more than 6 years to bring Link back in a new adventure. Indeed, that is “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, released on May 12. And after so much waiting, he wanted to offer something different to his players: freedom, because “in ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ it is not necessary to follow a fixed path, it is possible to go to different places and find your own way of advancing in the story”, said Eiji Aonuma, producer of the title, in statements collected by La Vanguardia.
TEARS THAT REIGN.
And, judging by the figures, it seems that the idea has been liked. Because if the game had already generated expectations thanks to the high scores from critics, being the most valued in history in OpenCritic and the best rated of the year in MetaCritic; sales have not lagged behind.
In its first three days on sale, the video game has become the fastest selling, in general, in all of Europe. And also in the fastest selling Zelda game in the world: more than 10 million copies.
For example, in the United Kingdom it has become the best release of the year, surpassing “Hogwarts Legacy” (from the “Harry Potter” saga) according to Games Industry.biz. It is also the seventh game in history with the best opening in Japan. And according to Le Figaro, it has sold close to half a million copies in its first weekend on sale in France. In fact, experts think that it may surpass “Breath of the Wild” and become the best-selling game on the saga.
This is the case of Mat Piscatella, a well-known video game industry analyst, who believes that the title will be “among the 20 best sellers for years”, as he expressed on his Twitter account. Furthermore, after the recent success of the Super Mario Bros. movie, Aonuma does not rule out the possibility that Zelda will also jump into the movies: “I have to admit that of course I’m interested…
But, unfortunately, just because I’m interested in something doesn’t mean that something is going to happen,” he said in an interview with Polygon. In turn, the game’s director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, made it clear who has the power to make that idea happen. reality: “perhaps what matters here is the voice of the fans,” he commented to the same medium.
And, taking into account the enthusiasm of the fans towards this new video game and the enormous love that exists towards the saga, it seems possible that at some point we will see Link and Zelda tell us about their adventures on the big screen. But, what is clear, is that there are many others to play.
By Nora Cifuentes.EFE / Reports.
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