TOKYO – A six-year wait came to an end for Zelda fans across the world on Friday as Nintendo released the long-awaited next instalment of its revered gaming saga.
The game – featuring the exploits of Princess Zelda and the elf-like warrior Link – has sold 125 million copies worldwide since its first edition in 1986.
It helped forge “open world” games where the player is free to roam in virtual landscapes – an idea later taken up by games from Grand Theft Auto to Skyrim.
But its main challenge in 2023 will be to boost earnings for Nintendo and prolong the life of its Switch console, which experts say is in its dotage after seven years on the shelves.
In Paris, fans who lined up late at night applauded as a shop opened, streaming in – some clutching Link toys or wearing elfin ears – to snap up Tears Of The Kingdom.
“I’m going crazy actually because it’s been six years that we’ve been waiting for this game,” 19-year-old Taylor Meguira said as he waited in line.
“When Breath Of The Wild came out, it was a real revolution in the world of games,” he added, referring to the 2017 instalment. “Knowing that there is a sequel, which is coming out in an hour or a little less, it’s just incredible, it just makes me so happy.”
Clips circulating on the Internet racked up millions of views before the release, and the game is expected to be “by far the biggest contributor to Nintendo’s sales this year”, said Dr Serkan Toto, an analyst at Kantan Games.
Yet the franchise’s launch was something of a gamble for a company then best known for Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros.
‘Pioneer’
The first episode, The Legend Of Zelda, plunged gamers into an unknown universe largely without instructions.
Creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who also gave life to Mario, was inspired by his childhood explorations of the Japanese countryside to offer a landscape of forests, lakes, caves and mountains.
“The scale of the game was huge at a time when most games were finished in an hour or two,” said Mr Kiyoshi Tane, an author specialising in the history of video games. “It was something of a pioneer of what open-world games would become.”
The first Zelda hit the market a few months after Super Mario Bros but the two games were far apart on the gaming spectrum.
While Mario runs from left to right through various platforms, Zelda “encouraged the player to explore, discover and map its world and take on its challenges”, said Mr Mark Brown, who analyses game design on his YouTube channel.
It was a smash hit from the start, and for the next two decades, it pushed the boundaries of game design.
The 1998 edition Ocarina Of Time pioneered a system that allowed gamers to aim properly in 3D.
Yet, sales of the game had hit the skids by the turn of the 2010s.
‘High bar’
Nintendo wanted to expand the game’s appeal but managed only to create editions that satisfied nobody.
Hardcore fans drifted away and its popularity waned.
“The development team had a sense of crisis,” Mr Katsuhiko Hayashi, representative for Famitsu Group which publishes industry magazine Famitsu, said.
The designers rethought the basics of the game, eventually creating 2017’s Breath Of The Wild, which launched alongside the Switch and has since become the best-selling edition of Zelda.
“This game set a high bar for the open-world action-adventure genre, and Zelda is still at the top,” said Mr Hayashi.
Despite its success and the enduring popularity of Nintendo’s other franchises – demonstrated by the 2023 smash hit Super Mario Bros Movie – the firm on Tuesday forecast a 21 per cent drop in net profit for 2023.
Still, Mr Charles-Louis Planade, an analyst at Midcap Partners, reckons Tears Of The Kingdom could become “the best-selling game in history”, potentially approaching US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) in revenue.
In Paris, student Emilie Sastre said she “couldn’t miss the chance to get it” immediately on release.
“I grew up with it. It was the first game I had on my very first console,” the 18-year-old added. “I’ve been waiting impatiently ever since this sequel was announced.” AFP
