Are People Buying the Games Simply Because of the Name?

[Majora's Cat]

I always do tons of research before buying. It's only sensible. Anyway, I think lots of horrific games are purchased because of their titles. Take Mario for instance. The vast majority of his games are those which you want to burn and never touch again. That's really how bad it is... yet the fact that "Mario" is on the front cover of a game means it's going to sell millions. That is why I believe all people who buy terrible Mario games (which is most of them) are very ignorant and easily persuaded (or simply too young to understand what a good purchase is). Now Zelda... that's a different story. When a true Zelda title comes out, you know it's good. Zeldas (just the original releases, though) have never received lower than an 84% on GameRankings. 84% is still a very impressive score, and that being said, that is the score of FSA (the least appreciated Zelda). See what I'm getting at? Mario is just overused by Nintendo to sell millions. It works, too. How I wish those idiots that bought Mario Party 8 (myself included) could've at least spent their money on something worth the time. I regret it dearly.

 

[Turo602]

The name is a big part of the reason we buy them. Nintendo hasn't let us down since the release of the first Zelda. So when we hear a new Zelda game is coming, we get excited and know that Nintendo is still putting a lot of effort in the Legend of Zelda. I mean come on, it's not like if we're dealing with Sonic here. I personally look up my games and check IGN's reviews and then I decide to buy it. If a game called the Legend of Zelda Link's Book Club came out and got a 6.0 on IGN, I'll still get it being the long time Zelda fan I am, but I choose the price. I either decide if it's worth a first day full price or wait it out and get it cheap on a really cool deal. Same goes for Sonic, Sonic games have been going down hill, but because of that, I wait til Sonic games are 20 bucks or less. But now Sega is putting in effort on the two latest announced installments. It's not like Zelda games have been sucking that people buy it for the name. Zelda games have proven themselves to be really great buys and plays compared to most games out now.

 

[Aero_Dynamic]

Well, the name kinda shows whats in it. Sonic and the Secret Rings, It's about Sonic and some secret rings. Also for Zelda, it would be The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, it means it's about the legend of Zelda, and about the Skyward Sword. So I can assume if a game is called Super Killer Soldier 3 Rise of the Dead (lol) he/she will buy it or not buy it cuz of the name. As for me, I always research about the game I want to purchase.

 

[DigiZero]

yes and no
Yes,i mean I only bought the games because they showed to be good and seemed to have what everyone likes in a videogame.PLus i expected them to be better every time a new one came out so i'd go buy them if they said LoZ.
but no because i personally never liked the ones with toon link in it,for me it just didnt.......(thinks)....it just didnt click.
Also the one of Crossbow training, thts just pure nonsense, there's no point in it so i wouldnt go for it.

 

[Kybyrian]

I really think that a ton of people are just buying the games because of the name. There are a lot of people out there who expect every Zelda game to be very good after playing some of them, so they buy them all regardless of how good that they hear they are. I know I did it with Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. I heard they weren't very good games before I purchased them, but I had to buy them to try them for myself anyway. I didn't like them, either.

I don't blame them for buying them just because of the title, though. They deserve a good game with every release. Nintendo didn't fail us back then, so why should they fail us now? We all have to try the games for ourselves, even though it may sound horrible or looks really bad. If Skyward Sword looked very unappealing, I'd probably still buy it regardless. I like the series and want to try the game even though I think I might not like it.

 

[KrazyKyuubi]

I would buy games all the time based simply on the name. My mother stops me though.

Of course, normally if you buy games because of the name, there have been ones before it that were good so the new ones should be good too, right? That's how I think. And one day I'll waste a bunch of money on a worthless game. But that's besides the point. I know for certain I'll be buying Skyward Sword without a doubt since all of my other Zelda games have been some of the best games I've ever played.

And to be honest, I would so TOTALLY buy and play 'The Legend of Zelda: Link's Happy Fluffy Pink Flower Picking Quest' That's like epic in a box. :3

 

[kittensouls]

i read the reviews, personally

 

[athenian200]

It's a bit more complicated than that for me.

I'm more likely to buy a game when it has that name, but only because I know that the majority of the games in the series have been very good. But if it were actually a bad game, I would notice that and it would negatively impact my perspective on the series. It's not so much the name, so much as the series that the name represents... my memories of all the previous games bearing that title, and the expectations associated with them.

Another point I'd like to make is that I actually enjoy Zelda-style games even when they're called something else. Star Fox Adventures, for instance, felt a lot like OoT in some ways. I really liked the game, although most Star Fox fans hated it for being a departure from Fox's normal adventures.

So, I'm not buying the name, I'm buying what I think the name represents... if I don't get the impression it still represents that, I won't buy it. Conversely, I would consider buying a game I've never heard of if the gameplay I hear described sounds similar to Zelda.

 

[mattsimme]

If the title says Zelda, then i'm buying it!!!

 

[AlaskaAce1996]

I agree, many people wouldn't buy a Zelda game if it wasn't The Legend of Zelda. Another major factor on why this series is still going strong is that fans of the series would never call an offical Zelda game bad.

 

[February Eve]

There are actually two groups of people buying it for the name. Not just the current fans of the series, but also the people who have heard of the series and never played it. While the latter are not just buying it for the name, they have probably heard the associations with it. I even fit partly into the latter group, even though I played the original Legend of Zelda when it came out. It was only last year that I got a new console again for the first time since childhood, but I'd always heard about how Ocarina of Time was a classic, and I knew it was a popular series. In that sense, I fit in the latter group, though later I bought other games because I knew I enjoyed the Zelda universe, so I fit in the first group.

Nintendo wants people to buy it for the name, though (because of it being associated with quality). The flagship series help to drive console sales. The fact that Zelda was on the virtual console was not the main factor for my buying a Wii, but it certainly helped. On the other hand, it can only go so far. I still haven't bought Spirit Tracks because while I'm sure I'll enjoy it, I'd basically be buying the DS solely for that and I wasn't sure what else I would play on it. Now that the 3DS is coming out and there are several games I want on it, I'll be getting that console eventually, and the fact that I'll be able to play several Zelda games on it helps push me from "That looks cool" to "I want it!"

That's also why - as much as I enjoy seeing what people can come up with - we won't get a game like those in this thread. Nintendo wouldn't want to dilute the brand since it's not just game sales they're losing.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

In my case, not necessarily. As Axle said, Zelda has proven itself an amazing series, to the point where title doesn't really matter to me. I'm a big fan of Mario also, and the name of their games are not the best, with many numbers to use for sequels (ex. super mario bros, super mario bros 2, super mario bros 3, and the super mario galaxies, etc.).