Pokemon is unquestionably bigger than Zelda. Animal Crossing is still rising, it's hard to say what kind of upper limits it has.
I don't even know what Zelda is anymore. I've always said that Zelda is one of the few Nintendo home console properties (before they started making RPGs) that made me want a Nintendo home console, but I'm not so sure of that. Skyward Sword didn't even make me think of wanting a Wii. It feels kind of strange and I feel a bit guilty because of that but that's the way it is. Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but I didn't feel any magic from it.
I think that happened with other people as well, where somewhere in their heart they subconsciously thought, "that's not Zelda," and lost interest. If that's the case, then the Zelda IP might be sinking rather than rising. I'm very interested in seeing what Nintendo does with it next.
