...Zelda had released before Final Fantasy VII?
I'm not trying to start any flame wars here, I was just thinking. The PS1 was already selling 'respectably' before FFVII, but the media blitz for this game (and its' awesomeness, of course) is what really set the PS1 ablaze.
This chart shows how the two were selling just prior to, during, and after the launch of FFVII (september 1997). The chart has only Japanese data, since VGC doesn't have N64 and PS1 data outside of Japan.
PS1 was always outselling N64 even prior to the launch (though the race was somewhat closer in America), but it REALLY took off when Square's 200-pound gorrilla was released.
Now, both FF and OoT are similarly revered games that caused revolutions of a similar size in the industry and sold gargantuan amounts. However, OoT released fourteen months later than FF (November 1998) when the damage was completely irrevocable. My question is, what would the effect would it have had on that console battle if Zelda had released before FF, or at the same time? Would there be any at all?
As much as I don't believe in system-sellers, FF and Zelda are two of those rare games that are the exception to the rule, and, so shoot me, I think that Zelda (released in exactly the same form as it eventually was) could have evened up the sales, or at least made it closer.
(I'm aware that it would be impossible for the game to be just as good if released two years earlier. In fact, It was originally slated for 1996, but Miyamoto said 'this sucks. Start over'. This is just hypothetical.)
EDIT: The title should say 'gen' instead of 'thread' XD
