“It’s supreme arrogance, bordering on stupidity,” I vividly recall one prominent writer saying.
This was a different time.
Nintendo’s Wii U console had been a catastrophic failure and the 3DS was showing its age.
There was no shortage of criticism aimed at Nintendo’s business decisions in 2016.
Nevertheless, at that E3, with just a single game, Nintendo stole the show.
It felt like a moment.
The Legend of Zelda has always been an important series.
Yet when it comes to cold hard numbers, it’s notoriously inconsistent.
By comparison,Mario Kart Wiisold over 37m copies and New Super Mario Bros Wii broke 30m.
It follows a familiar pattern.
Then Breath of the Wild happened.
It was certainly a huge launch.
That last stat was certainly an odd one, but otherwise, none of this was particularly unusual.
Zelda games frequently receive rave reviews, 95+ Metacritic scores, and they typically sell well to begin with.
Breath of the Wild just kept selling however, and it’s still going.
It’s now over six years old, and the game is still appearing in the UK Top 20.
The key to that change is the game itself.
And it’s this that Nintendo is leaning into with Tears of the Kingdom.
As we’ve seen, second Zelda games on a console can be tricky.
But comparisons to Zeldas that came before won’t tell us much.
The series is operating on a different level today.
