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General Zelda Zeldas Downfall in Japan?

Unlucky Monkey

The Great King of Apes
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May 17, 2011
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NRW, Germany
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Is it the Wii U or The Legend of Zelda in General in Japan? The Wind Waker HD mades the most horrible Debut of a Zelda Game ever in japanese sales. Since it's launch on September 26th, the Game sold only 30.000 Copies. You barely find it on the Amazon Japan Bestseller Charts. Even for a Wii U Game, this is pretty bad. Let's take a look at Pikmin 3, it sold in it's debut week over 60.000 Copies. The japanese Miiverse of Wind Waker HD is also pretty empty. About 11.000 Posts. The game is available in Europe since Yesterday, and there are already about 15.000 Posts.

Well, you can say the game did not sell well because it's a Remake and the bad sales of the Wii U, but look at Skyward Sword, it was also a commercial Failure in Japan. It sold only about 360.000 Copies in Japan. In the US and in Europe, the Game sold over a million each. Let's go back to the past even more. Twilight Princess, a Bestseller in the US and Europe (sold over 3 Million Copies in the US), sold only about 600.000 Copies in Japan.

This reminds me of Kingdom Hearts, some sort. Kingdom Hearts is also a Franchise, not selling millions in Japan. It's not even popular among these people. I, for myself, was not aware The Legend of Zelda is not that popular in it's Homeland. What could be the reason behind this?

Anyway. Besides of "Zelda is not that popular in Japan", I can't believe Nintendo will be impressed about the 30.000 sold Copies of Wind Waker HD in Japan. But, from what I've heard, Japan did not even got a Limited Edition.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
You take an unpopular Zelda title and remake it...and you expect it to do well?
 

Unlucky Monkey

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Location
NRW, Germany
You take an unpopular Zelda title and remake it...and you expect it to do well?

You know DL, it's hard to discuss with you. When it comes to Zelda, I only hear "This Game Sucks" "That Game Sucks". I know you played Ocarina of Time about 200 times, and you still love it, but, believe me, Wind Waker have a huge Fanbase ;)

The Problem is not Wind Waker, it's Zelda, as I wrote before, in General. Skyward Sword performed bad in Japan by Millions of Wii devices sold. So you don't have to be a genious Wind Waker sucked even more if you look at the sales of the Wii U.

Is there any other Zelda besides of Ocarina of Time, you like?
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Wind Waker doesn't suck. It's just not popular. Expecting a remake of an unpopular game to do well is just asinine.
 
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Salem

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Wind Waker doesn't suck. It's just no popular. Expecting a remake of an unpopular game to do well is just asinine.
WW isn't unpopular to my knowledge, I mean it's the fourth best selling game on the GCN, I remember that it even broke records in pre-orders at the time, those two facts have to count for something at least.
 

Ventus

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WW isn't unpopular to my knowledge, I mean it's the fourth best selling game on the GCN, I remember that it even broke records in pre-orders at the time, those two facts have to count for something at least.

The GCN itself wasn't very popular compared to other systems. That being said, TWWHD had almost zero appeal to anyone. No one sought this remake out; people were, have been, and still are clamouring for MM3D. If you push out an unprecedented, un-desired product...well you just can't expect it to do well.

But, there's also the fact that Japan isn't very well suited towards console gaming in general. The Japanese lifestyle apparently is more suited towards on-the-go experiences, and the Wii U just isn't one of those experiences.

edit: Check this chart out
52-Image-11.jpg


Zelda in general appears to be unpopular in Japan; despite its heavier Eastern influences, the series is more appealing to the Western audience for reasons I can't really say [I'm not experienced in the Japanese market so I don't know what's in and what's not]
 

Salem

SICK
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May 18, 2013
The GCN itself wasn't very popular compared to other systems. That being said, TWWHD had almost zero appeal to anyone. No one sought this remake out; people were, have been, and still are clamouring for MM3D. If you push out an unprecedented, un-desired product...well you just can't expect it to do well.
Vents pls.

But, there's also the fact that Japan isn't very well suited towards console gaming in general. The Japanese lifestyle apparently is more suited towards on-the-go experiences, and the Wii U just isn't one of those experiences.
what?

Zelda in general appears to be unpopular in Japan; despite its heavier Eastern influences, the series is more appealing to the Western audience for reasons I can't really say [I'm not experienced in the Japanese market so I don't know what's in and what's not]
(Also talking about the chart)Could it be per chance that Japan's population is nearly a third of the USA, therefore less sales in general for video games in Japan?
 

Kybyrian

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Didn't I already answer this one?
Well... let's consider a little more than just raw sales here. Japan has a population of roughly 127 million. The United States has over twice - nearly three times - as many people as Japan. You're going to see radically different sales numbers anywhere you go. Plus, if you're throwing Europe into the equation, the entire continent of Europe has just over 700 million people. The major countries which comprise the majority of the European population are also the ones that are going to receive it and purchase it the most. So, in a nice ratio, the sales numbers seem almost natural. You can't say that it was infinitely more popular in Europe or the United States than in Japan when the numbers should reflect roughly as what they have. I think it's alright to say that the popularity has dropped moderately, but you're also getting a fanbase that is moving up in age and game designs that are becoming gradually less appealing to younger gamers, if I may say so myself.

Ocarina of Time probably had a perfect setting and story to draw in younger gamers, and those early games as well as those further back in the series established a solid fanbase. A lot of those move away over time, however, and those fanbases aren't necessarily replaced at an even ratio in the younger generations. I don't think it's a good thing that Zelda is dropping in popularity, which it seems it is, but I can't say it's infinitely surprising. I've grown away from the series over time, as well. I don't find them as enjoyable and am not as compelled to finish them anymore.
 

Justac00lguy

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I think a lot of people are actually ignoring the fact that the poor sales are probably due to the poor sales of the console as a whole. If we're comparing this to the popular remake of Ocarina of Time then you have to realise that the Japanese market typically prefers handheld consoles - as why the 3DS did exceptionally well and that probably led to the success of the remake as a whole.

Then there's also the factor that both the game and console were released in a similar time period, so a lot of consumers would have purchased the game within a console bundle, The Wind Waker HD was released almost a calender year ahead of the Wii U's launch.

I'd say this is the main reason, I don't think you can blame the game itself, the game is popular despite a lot of people claiming it's not - take a look at sales figures for proof.
 

Jimmu

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You can't really say that bad sales of a REMAKE means Zelda's downfall. Most of them probably already have it and don't want to upgrade or don't have a console. I'm sure A Link Between Worlds will sell much, much more.
 

ケンジ

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This caught my interest. Let's see where this goes. I'll tackle this one by one.


As a resident of Japan and as one who was raised here along while living in the Philippines, I can whole heartedly say, that the Legend of Zelda is popular In Japan. But Wind Waker is not much of their taste. I think the term everyone has mixed opinions about the game. Although it made into the top 20. It's top 7, and the top 1 is Monster Hunter since September 14th.(It had that position since it's released date and it STILL holds it this week.). This proves it (The Period of this chart was from September 9 to 26. Japanese beware.) Despite being 7th, and despite WW selling 30,264 units, it's considered the Top Wii U game of this week. Most stores have already restock this week with more WW. But sales are not strong as last week. The list didn't count Digital copies I've read.

There are many reason as to why it's like this, the most common is as you've said, Wii U sales, And it's a Remake. Others right now are more interested in more serious Zelda and more action packed. But it had to do with timing, and it's promotions. WW Commercials aired on Televisions here randomly and they don't catch much attention, compared to the endless Pokemon Commercial that are EVERYWHERE.

As to the Miiverse, a lot of people play WW without turning on Miiverse for the first time. I didn't. Even though I played WW before, I don't want to know where they got the updated items and locations etc. I rather play in peace. By my second Playthough, I was right, since most bottles were now spoiler filled. And had photographs since collecting for the Nintendo Gallery is easier.

Despite Japan not getting a WW Bundle, we do get WW HD Music CD. Which is good. I haven't heard any music from HD onto Youtbe(at least not yet).
I have no idea if this contributed or not, but I thought I'd give my thoughts.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
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Oct 28, 2012
Wind Waker did well by Nintendo standards because it's LOZ. For LOZ standards, it did pretty poorly. It didn't sell that well and it has more infamy than Zelda II (mainly due to Zelda II's obscurity). OoT is the 2nd best selling Zelda, yet OoT 3DS only had a measly...3.2m sales. With Wind Waker's poor sales and bed rep, I'm surprised that WWHD even has a chance of receiving 1m sales.
 

Dio

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Zelda is just a bit too westernised to appeal to the Japanese market. Although it may seem to have a lot of eastern influences to someone from the west, it is certainly not as eastern compared to most JRPG's. That is because Zelda is tailored to cater for the western audience, therefore it is the west where the games are going to be popular.
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
First off, it's The Wind Waker isn't unpopular. If it was, there would be no remake.

Second, this is a case of other countries liking something more than its base country. That's not to say Zelda isn't popular in Japan, but compared to Pokemon it isn't as popular. Zelda isn't the only victim of this. For example, Kim Possible has a much stronger following in Germany than America (part of the reason it got a fourth season)
 

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