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The Best-Selling Zelda titles

mrmickfran

mrmickfran

Member
I was bored and decided to compare to sales numbers of the Zelda series. Starting with the highest selling games.

Games released on multiple consoles have sales numbers combined in order to avoid confusion.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64/3DS) - 11.42 million copies (7.6 million for the N64 version, 3.82 million for the 3DS version)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii/GCN) - 8.69 million copies (7.26 million for the Wii version, 1.43 million for the GC version)
3.The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES/GBA) - 7.47 million copies (4.61 million for SNES version, 2.86 million for the GBA version)
4. The Legend of Zelda (NES) - 6.51 million copies* (NES sales)
5. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB/GBC) - 6.05 million copies (3.83 million for Game Boy version,2.22 million for DX version)
6.The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN/Wii U) - 6.05 million copies (4.43 million for the GCN version, 1.62 million for Wii U version)
7.Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)** - 5.79 million copies (Wii sales)
8. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64/3DS) - 5.39 million copies (3.36 million for N64 version, 2.03 million for 3DS version)
9. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) - 4.76 million copies (DS Sales)
10. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES) - 4.38 million copies*** (NES sales)
11. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons (GBC) - 3.99 million (GBC Sales)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii) - 3.67 million copies (Wii Sales)
13. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) - 2.96 million copies (Ds Sales)
14. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - 2.9 million copies (3DS Sales)
15.The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA) - 1.76 million copies (GBA Sales)
16. Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) - 1 million copies shipped (Wii U Sales)

Notes:
-Four Swords Adventures is the only Zelda title to never cross the million mark. (Not barring Triforce Heroes as that game isn't even a month old yet as of 11/15/2015)
-Neither of the Tingle games (Ripening Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love and Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland) reached a million either.
-It would be pretty difficult to keep track of Virtual Console releases since Nintendo never releases numbers for them



*There is a chance that numbers for this game could be higher if one would take the Game Boy Advance version into account, but numbers were never given for it.
**Included in a bundle with the Wii Zapper
***Same case as Zelda 1

So, what do you guys think?
If you guys find any discrepancies, let me know!

Major thanks to Celine and TheMoon.
 
A

abrack08

Member
... Skyward Sword was outsold by Crossbow training? What is wrong with the world?

I really really like Skyward Sword, disappointing to see it so low. Especially since it was on the Wii, which obviously sold really well itself.
 
J

James Scott

Banned
Links crossbow training was like 20-ish bucks bundled in with an accessory, probably why it's so high.
Would be nice if we got official numbers for a lot of those titles like SS
 
D

DownGrader

Member
At first, I wanted to say you should add NES Classics GBA re-releases too, but I realized you should add Virtual Consoles sales too which would be impossible.

EDIT: Nevermind, just read the asterisk.
 
M

Marjar

Banned
Really sad that Minish Cap sold so little compared to the others. It's really fantastic. Probably the most underrated game in the series.
 
N

NinjaCoachZ

Member
Crossbow Training was bundled with the Wii zapper, which is probably why its numbers are so abnormally high. If you wanted Umbrella Chronicles, you had to get it first.
 
T

Timeless

Member
OoT 3D was nearly a launch title for 3DS. (Missed it by around 2 months.)
Twilight Princess was a Wii launch title.

I think that helps explain the numbers for those two.
 
R

redcrayon

Member
Timeless said:
OoT 3D was nearly a launch title for 3DS. (Missed it by around 2 months.)
Twilight Princess was a Wii launch title.

I think that helps explain the numbers for those two.
Click to expand...
The 3DS lineup for the first year or so wasn't that exciting (I'm probably in the minority that loved the blatantly-ported-from-DS Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars). It took a long time for the 3DS to hit it's stride, OOT 3D was one of the few titles worth playing on it that summer.
 
TheMoon

TheMoon

Member
redcrayon said:
Didn't Skyward Sword also require a Motion+ controller? I think that probably limited sales a bit, anything requiring a specific peripheral usually takes a hit.
Click to expand...

It came bundled with the controller plus a music CD in every copy for very little more than regular price.
 
G

g11

Member
Maybe I'm totally over-estimating the popularity of Zelda, but those numbers all seem really low to me. I wonder how often Nintendo has run the numbers on the hypothetical of how well their games would sell if they were multiplatform. Those console margins have to be real nice to pas up probably double to triple the sales.

Makes me curious what the best selling single platform game of all time is. Outside of Wii Sports, it can't be anything much better than 10-15 million, right?
 
S

Sumio Mondo

Member
Edwardo said:
Oh wow, I'm kind of surprised that Majora's Mask isn't higher up there.
Click to expand...

Why? It's always been the "cult" game in the series. It released late on into the N64 life cycle and had a reputation of being more "hardcore" than other entires in the 3D series. It's the most niche 3D game in the series.
 
TheMoon

TheMoon

Member
g11 said:
Maybe I'm totally over-estimating the popularity of Zelda, but those numbers all seem really low to me. I wonder how often Nintendo has run the numbers on the hypothetical of how well their games would sell if they were multiplatform. Those console margins have to be real nice to pas up probably double to triple the sales.

Makes me curious what the best selling single platform game of all time is. Outside of Wii Sports, it can't be anything much better than 10-15 million, right?
Click to expand...

I think you might be used to multiplatform sales totals?
 
P

Peltz

Member
Skyward Sword deserves so much better. I still stand my opinion that it's a fantastic game in its own special way.
 
G

g11

Member
TheMoon said:
I think you might be used to multiplatform sales totals?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah definitely. When I think of a "big seller" I think of COD-like numbers or GTA. 15m+. 11m is nothing to sneeze at though, especially when you don't give away a fee to the platform holder, because you are the platform holder.
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
I was thinking about this when you go to any geek convention, obviously the main merchantise is OoT and TP, those two are easily the most popular by far and i assume they are what made Zelda a Nintendo "AAA" series.

You rarely see things of the other games, of course when you look hard enough you can see some WW, MM or even SS things, but those are much moré rare.

I hope Zelda U/NX attracts the attention of the fanbase/gaming community once moré, we need moré diversity!
 
K

King Al B

Member
So every Zelda title released (on a nintendo console) has sold more then a million copies? Thats good, right?

I love Zelda games.
 
J

johnsavage

Member
It's a shame Link Between Worlds didn't sell as much as the other entries. It's probably my favorite Zelda game.

ArkhamFantasy said:
A Link Between Worlds is arguably the best Zelda game, it deserves so much more.
Click to expand...

Mr Rivuz said:
I'm sad for A Link Between Worlds being so low, it's an awesome game.
Click to expand...

4MmX4zh.gif
Click to expand...
 
M

MikeE21286

Member
James Scott said:
Links crossbow training was like 20-ish bucks bundled in with an accessory, probably why it's so high.
Would be nice if we got official numbers for a lot of those titles like SS
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's kinda like when they bundled Wii Play with a remote for $40 and then it would chart every single month in the NPD.
 
S

Spieler Eins

Member
Best 2D Zelda (i.e. most lively overworld and best sidecontent right after MM) sells the worst and another entry gets all the mourning.

sbIl5V1.gif
 
D

dumbyugi

Member
Minish Cap and Link Between Worlds are my 2 favourite Zelda games so it's sad seeing them at the bottom of the list.
 
G

georly

Member
James Scott said:
Links crossbow training was like 20-ish bucks bundled in with an accessory, probably why it's so high.
Would be nice if we got official numbers for a lot of those titles like SS
Click to expand...

It's also technically not a "Legend of Zelda" title. Same way that paper mario or mario party isn't a "Super Mario" title.
 
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