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Killiana1a on 10 September 2010
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Khuutra said:
Killiana1a said:

Why does Zelda sell so well outside of Japan? One word answer:

Nostalgia.

Zelda like all great series does not differ from the original formula that made it a phenomenon. In each Zelda game you can expect an overhead world, dungeons, Link starting with laughable gear, master keys, compasses, maps, and the dungeon treasure.

This familiarity is beloved in the West where we are inundated with gritty games with heavy mature content. Players need a light-hearted game that takes them back to the innocence of their youth. Playing Zelda is basically going back into a time machine into that magical period when you were 8 to 14 years old.

This explanation is.... interesting, but somewhat problematic. Do you mean to say that nostalgia and adhering to core principles (which some would argue Zelda no longer does; that's part of why this is problematic) does not appeal to the Japanese gaming populace?

I am going to interpret core principles as the features what I can expect in any console Zelda game. I will leave the handheld Zelda games out of this as Nintendo took liberties with Spirit Tracks that many found unappealing.

What can I expect in a console Zelda game:

1. World I can free roam in. May not be GTA style, but I can wander around it.

2. Dungeon/Instance-based gameplay.

3. Each dungeon/instance will have a master key, compass, map and dungeon/instance treasure used to beat the dungeon/instance boss.

4. Starting out at the bottom and progressing with better gear and abilities as the game goes on.

From Twilight Princess on back to the original Zelda, this is what I have come to expect from a Zelda game on my console. This is why many others and I have very fond memories of Zelda games. Zelda in this respect is in many ways the anti-Mario series of Nintendo's biggest franchises. Where 2D Mario games were linear and felt constricted, Zelda felt open during a period in gaming where the term "sand box game" had yet to be invented.

Japanese gamers preferring handheld gaming over console gaming have become disenchanted due to the liberties taken during Spirit Tracks and earlier hand held Zelda games. I cannot speak for them.

Furthermore, there is an innate innocence to Zelda which makes each new Zelda game feel like a breath of needed fresh air during this era of ultra realism laced with ultra violence and sad endings. Gamers today are so inundated with your Max Payne and GTA style games, each Zelda game takes them back to their youth where everything was not up in your face all at once.

Finally, there is a certain sense of direction to Zelda games, which make them less intimidating than say a Red Dead Redemption or Grand Theft Auto. I can and have spent hours doing absolutely nothing to progress the story in Grand Theft Auto 3. With Zelda, you can spend hours walking the map looking for heart pieces, but sooner rather than later you will come back to the next dungeon to progress the game.

In this sense, each Zelda game is not a terrible time sink players will find wasting their lives away in at the expense of real world priorities. Zelda has a definite beginning and end with a memorable middle part. Sand box games do not because they can be played how the player wants to play it at their own pace.