I think it's because of:

- The artstyle: even if WW looks beutiful, it did turn off a lot of people from the game.

- TP was a launch title: it's one of the best games offered on the Wii when it was released, people wiill buy it.

-Userbase: there's like a shitload of Wii owners.

awesome thread, i love the zelda series. its the reason i got a wii in the 1st place.

Thanks Robot.

I've extended the poll deadline for one more hour to try to get a few more votes.  I'll post the results soon after the hour is up.

Does anybody else have any thoughts on why Zelda:Twilight Princess saw a 17% increase in sales over Wind Waker?

Possible explanations already discussed:

- The change in art style from Wind Waker to Twilight Princess.

- How much did being a launch title help Twilight Princess.

- How much did the Gamecube version of the game hurt the Wii version's sales?

- Do traditional Nintendo games appeal to the Wii's expanded audience?

Does anybody have any thoughts on the marketing/promotion compared to each other?

I know Wind Waker had the preorder bonus of getting the Oot and Master Quest disc, and I think I remember that caused the game to hold the record for most preordered title for awhile. Anecdotally however, it seemed Twilight Princess got more print and TV ads.  But I think overall the marketing/promotion was stronger for Wind Waker, and doesn't explain why Twilight Princess saw an increase in sales.  What do other people think?

Well I never got very many votes, but here are the results from the few I did have.  I am going to open the poll back up, and if I get a signficant number of new responses (another 15 votes or so), I'll update the chart. And thanks to those of you who did vote.

So as you can see most people did think that the increase in sales over Wind Waker was impressive, despite not comparing to the increase in Wii sales over the Gamecube.  Of the people who thought it was impressive, the most popular response was "being a launch title". And of the people who voted not impressive, the most popular explanation was "not appealing to the expanded audience" although I would like to know how these people feel about Khuutra's idea, about why Phantom Hourglass was able to see a big increase in sales over Minish Cap on GBA.  Any other thoughts about the poll?

Did I vote impressive? I thought I voted not impressive, but I got the impressive question at the end.

I do not think that Zelda's popularity particularly waxes or wanes, is the thing, though I'm not sure why I think that. We have the Zelda diehard who buy the majority of the game, then 2 or 3 million other folks who buy from time to time.