Zelda Gets Mediocre Debut in Japan

[osed125]

the_dengle said:

osed125 said:

Let's look at 3 of the best selling Zelda games. Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and the original NES one.

First OoT:

• N64 install base in NA: 20.11m
• OoT copies sold in NA: 4.10m
• Attach rate of ~ 0.20

• N64 install base in Japan: 5.54m 
• OoT copies sold in Japan: 1.45m
• Attach rate of ~0.26

Second Twilight Princess:

• Wii install base in NA: 44.85m
• TP copies sold in NA: 3.60m
• Attach rate of ~ 0.080

• Wii install base in Japan: 12.74m 
• TP copies sold in Japan: 0.60m
• Attach rate of ~ 0.047

Third Legend of Zelda NES:

• NES install base in NA: 33.49m
• LoZ copies sold in NA: 3.74m
• Attach rate of ~ 0.11

• NES install base in Japan: 19.35m 
• LoZ copies sold in Japan: 1.69m
• Attach rate of ~ 0.08

As you can see only Ocarina of Time had a bigger attach ratio in Japan than NA, the other games have a smaller one in Japan. The rest are probably the same, maybe the handheld ones have a bigger attach ratio in Japan considering the handhelds popularity.

Now do Wind Waker.

I did more after that post, Wind Waker has a bigger attach ratio in Japan (0.22 vs 0.20). I also did the handheld games and surprisingly Phantom Hourglass has a bigger attach ratio in NA than Japan (0.031 vs 0.028). I'm too lazy to do all Zelda games but if the pattern stays the same, is obvious too see that considering the market difference, Zelda is more popular in NA than Japan (in most cases).