Wind Waker almost killed Zelda....but did Twilight Princess revive it?

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LordelX

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#1 LordelX
Member since 2004 • 1376 Posts

In a recent interview with Aonuma on this very site, he mentioned how Wind Waker had almost killed the franchise, and how if Twilight Princess hadn't of worked it would have basically been the last Zelda. Now, I know most of you want to put up arms and defend Wind Waker to the bitter end, but please remember, you are a minority. The issue is not whether Wind Waker was a good game or not, because it most definately was....it's how the game was recieved by the mainstream gaming public.

Has Twilight Princess really made the Zelda franchise top tier again in the eyes of the average gamer? I don't live in North America so I wouldn't know.....but judging from the reactions I see on this site, I would say Twilight Princess has suffered somewhat of a backlash. I imagine a majority of people who play games are not nerds like us that bother to notice what other people think on some gaming site.

So how was Twilight Princess recieved according to the masses? Is Zelda back in a big way, or is it just another entry in a franchise that is slowly slipping of the mainstream gamer's radar and into a niche category with the likes of Castlevania and Mega Man?

Any opinions?

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bxgt

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#2 bxgt
Member since 2006 • 3035 Posts
dude zelda is one of the best series around, nothing even comes close to in in terms of gameplay so if you think a series like that will ever die out think agian.Also i can bet you 7 out of every 10 true zelda fans loved wind waker. and last but not least The Wind Waker has presold 560,000, that means just in preorders it beat gta vice city
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beat89

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#3 beat89
Member since 2004 • 870 Posts
Well it sold like nuts, and was recieved well by the gaming press, but I'm not realy sure what you mean when you say "So how was Twilight Princess recieved according to the masses"
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Iorning_board

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#4 Iorning_board
Member since 2005 • 1853 Posts

Didnt Zelda: TP sell at a 2/3 ratio at launch in NA

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ExactlyEv

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#5 ExactlyEv
Member since 2007 • 106 Posts

I don't recall reading Aonuma saying that WindWaker almost killed Zelda.

All he said in the interview was that the game wasn't as well recieved in Japan as it was here in NA.

With regards to Twilight Princess, he states that it was refreshing and a reborn effort to implement something like the Wiimote control scheme to the game. Also, he states that TP had to be realistic because he wanted to keep zelda fans and at the same time, he was trying to sell the concept of the Wii as well.

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diangelogrey

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#6 diangelogrey
Member since 2004 • 932 Posts
I wouldnt say Wind Waker fans are the minority.  Just about every poll here shows people loved Wind Waker.  I think Twilight Princess is a totally different game, but it wasnt a series that needed reviving, people love Zelda and the games are always high quality and always sell well.
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colonel_beeb

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#7 colonel_beeb
Member since 2006 • 2020 Posts
The next zelda has to be a revival to the series or im not going to buy it. TP was good but it didnt match up to any of the zeldas out there, even MM. I cant understand why they would produce a game that was quite similar to OoT but had none of the soul. It just felt wrong. Even most of the gameplay mechanics felt old. Lighting torches, burning cobwebs.etc. Also, why the hell was their no fairy fountain avaiable from the offset. And furthermore why no magic powers like OoT. I felt their was too much missing. I liked all the extras in OoT like the bigoron sword, the different arrows and the mirror shield. Their wasnt nearly as much creativity in  TP and while many may argue that some of the items gave a new "spin" on the series their wasnt enough of them and they just weren't interesting enough. In my eyes TP did a lot of damage to my opinion of the zelda franchise.
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wolf360rev

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#8 wolf360rev
Member since 2005 • 514 Posts

windwaker was a good game. Even the person that makes the game bashes it.

this is sad.

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LordelX

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#9 LordelX
Member since 2004 • 1376 Posts

I don't recall reading Aonuma saying that WindWaker almost killed Zelda.

All he said in the interview was that the game wasn't as well recieved in Japan as it was here in NA.

With regards to Twilight Princess, he states that it was refreshing and a reborn effort to implement something like the Wiimote control scheme to the game. Also, he states that TP had to be realistic because he wanted to keep zelda fans and at the same time, he was trying to sell the concept of the Wii as well.

ExactlyEv

Man, what is it with people who can't read? No offense, but the headline of the interview says: Nintendo manager of software development says Wind Waker nearly killed the franchise; devs tried first-person combat for Twilight Princess. If it was any clearer, it'd be transparent. Here is a link to the article, in case you are all having trouble navigating THIS site: http://www.gamespot.com/events/gdc07/story.html?sid=6167134&tag=latestnews;title;1

I am merely asking you if the main stream public likes Twilight Princess, or whether it has recieved the same backlash with the main stream public it did on damn near every forum post about Twilight Princess that I read on this site. Sales figures have NOTHING to do with this. In 1999, Star Wars Episode 1: made more money than almost any other movie in history, does that mean it's widely regarded as a masterpiece?

In my personal opinion, Wind Waker was one of the best games of last generation. Twilight Princess was one of the best games I'd played in a long time, and I love it alot more than most of you do, I suspect. I did not write the article, nor do I share the opinions written in it.

I'm not here to talk about whether or not Wind Waker is a good game or not, or whether Twilight Princess is a good game or not!

 

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SoulSlayer_

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#10 SoulSlayer_
Member since 2005 • 3426 Posts
Well, I don't belong to the mainstream, so I wouldn't know. Was Zelda ever a mainstream game, though? Was Nintendo ever mainstream? Well yeah, but not so much during the the GameCube ages. A lot of people that bought the GameCube knew exactly what they wanted, or got them from their parents that thought Nintendo is for kids. When I think mainstream I think gory M-rated games like RE4 and GTA. I do know that yet again, Zelda did better in the west than it did in Japan.
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CFH90

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#11 CFH90
Member since 2006 • 143 Posts

dude zelda is one of the best series around, nothing even comes close to in in terms of gameplay so if you think a series like that will ever die out think agian.Also i can bet you 7 out of every 10 true zelda fans loved wind waker. and last but not least The Wind Waker has presold 560,000, that means just in preorders it beat gta vice citybxgt

I am SO sick and tired of this 'only TRUE Zelda fans liked Wind Waker'. It's absolutely absurd. Not liking a single game in ANY series doesn't make you any less of a fan. This is like hating the newer Star Wars trilogy and losing your 'status' as a 'true' Star Wars fan.

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punkindoubt86

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#12 punkindoubt86
Member since 2006 • 608 Posts
I'll just say one thing, and one thing only... I've finished Windwaker, Twilight Princess is still there collecting dust (it got tedious at the "temple in the sky").
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Sprigain

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#13 Sprigain
Member since 2006 • 3575 Posts
i dont think wind waker killed zelda at all it was a good game
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GamerGirlPwnz

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#14 GamerGirlPwnz
Member since 2006 • 4501 Posts
Why would you think Wind Waker killed Zelda? It was a really good game, and so was Twilight Princess... Gamecube was nearing it end anyways. Once the Wii was released it was already known as the death of Gamecubes...
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#15 vashkey
Member since 2005 • 33781 Posts
What the hell? Since when was Wind Waker bad? It freakin broke sales records at launch.
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supersonic49

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#16 supersonic49
Member since 2007 • 3129 Posts

dude zelda is one of the best series around, nothing even comes close to in in terms of gameplay so if you think a series like that will ever die out think agian.Also i can bet you 7 out of every 10 true zelda fans loved wind waker. and last but not least The Wind Waker has presold 560,000, that means just in preorders it beat gta vice citybxgt

If WW apparently was doing so good than explain why Aousaksa of whatever his name is said that WW almost killed it.

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supersonic49

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#17 supersonic49
Member since 2007 • 3129 Posts

[QUOTE="bxgt"]dude zelda is one of the best series around, nothing even comes close to in in terms of gameplay so if you think a series like that will ever die out think agian.Also i can bet you 7 out of every 10 true zelda fans loved wind waker. and last but not least The Wind Waker has presold 560,000, that means just in preorders it beat gta vice cityCFH90

I am SO sick and tired of this 'only TRUE Zelda fans liked Wind Waker'. It's absolutely absurd. Not liking a single game in ANY series doesn't make you any less of a fan. This is like hating the newer Star Wars trilogy and losing your 'status' as a 'true' Star Wars fan.

Good man.

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jrthokie14

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#18 jrthokie14
Member since 2006 • 84 Posts

In a recent interview with Aonuma on this very site, he mentioned how Wind Waker had almost killed the franchise, and how if Twilight Princess hadn't of worked it would have basically been the last Zelda. Now, I know most of you want to put up arms and defend Wind Waker to the bitter end, but please remember, you are a minority. The issue is not whether Wind Waker was a good game or not, because it most definately was....it's how the game was recieved by the mainstream gaming public.

Has Twilight Princess really made the Zelda franchise top tier again in the eyes of the average gamer? I don't live in North America so I wouldn't know.....but judging from the reactions I see on this site, I would say Twilight Princess has suffered somewhat of a backlash. I imagine a majority of people who play games are not nerds like us that bother to notice what other people think on some gaming site.

So how was Twilight Princess recieved according to the masses? Is Zelda back in a big way, or is it just another entry in a franchise that is slowly slipping of the mainstream gamer's radar and into a niche category with the likes of Castlevania and Mega Man?

Any opinions?

LordelX


I read the interview, and LordelX is right in saying that wind waker almost killed the franchise. My opinion on the twilight princess helping is this:

I think it did help the franchise, it gave Zelda a lot of advertisement and brought back a lot of costumers who may have faded. Also, it brought some newbies because of its newer graphics, this was a draw. The reputation was fixed. However, with the times changing, the reputation it was fixed to was what was good back in the Zelda's Series day, or some would call, prime. Compaired to all platforms and games, it is a tad behind, so, in that since it is lacking, but it is going out (of game cube) a winner.
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NWA_31

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#19 NWA_31
Member since 2006 • 11922 Posts
I do think TP is better than WW, but theyre both really good games. There's no way WW couldve killed the franchise, even if it sucked real bad.
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tarzanell

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#20 tarzanell
Member since 2006 • 1503 Posts
TP was not received well by the masses. Sure, it was critically acclaimed and deemed a "true Zelda," but I don't know a single casual that played through it and said "Wow, that was as good as any other Zelda I've played." Seeing as how you've mentioned it, I'll use WW as an example: 1) The cel shading was thought of as good graphics by the casuals, even though it sported a child-friendly appearance. Smooth framerates and a creative art style always wins out, bearing in mind that most don't know what the hell mapping, shaders, etc. are. 2) The game was relatively easy. My girlfriend beat WW, with only a little help from her video game geek boyfriend. To us hardcorers, it was easy, yet entertaining and well worth the ride. To casuals, the puzzles were undoubtedly remarkably less passe', but easy enough to figure out with a little persistance. 3) WW had soul that casuals couldn't see in TP. Who is Link in TP? No relatives, only a few estranged friends and a forced relationship with Zelda. Many non-gamers loved the silly sounds, bright colours, wierd characters, and bubbling personality that the interactions conveyed in WW. Now I'm not saying TP is a bad game. Hell, I haven't even finished it yet: I'm 65 hours in and loving it. But to tell the truth, other than "pick up and play" games, casuals prefer milestone games; this one has created no waves for being different, it merely repeated a successful formula. It has been received well, but a year down the line, few members of the public will remember it for being exceptional in the same genre-altering manner brought about by Ocarina of Time.
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Hoogomoogo

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#21 Hoogomoogo
Member since 2007 • 1790 Posts
WW did not kill zelda. actually, it probably made it even more popular than before.
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cloud31blunt

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#22 cloud31blunt
Member since 2007 • 624 Posts
i think zelda was dead when it started. ive played oot ww and tp and all of the have bored me to near death i mean a game without a good storyline is a game thats no fun especially in the adventure genre this series is just boring and was dead for me when it started
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#23 renagadez187
Member since 2005 • 2088 Posts

i think zelda was dead when it started. ive played oot ww and tp and all of the have bored me to near death i mean a game without a good storyline is a game thats no fun especially in the adventure genre this series is just boring and was dead for me when it started
cloud31blunt

That's a bit harsh! I think it's one of the best series of games ever. But if you think it's not good at all, then that's your opinion.

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renagadez187

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#24 renagadez187
Member since 2005 • 2088 Posts
I don't think it killed Zelda at all.
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pierst179

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#25 pierst179
Member since 2006 • 10805 Posts
Wind Waker was an awesome game, it didn't almost kill Zelda.
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#26 sunnystarz
Member since 2007 • 1536 Posts
this article is pointless; zelda is #2 franchise right behind mario, ppl would never count zelda out. if you think of nintendo; mario and zelda will come to mind
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#27 sunnystarz
Member since 2007 • 1536 Posts
i think zelda was dead when it started. ive played oot ww and tp and all of the have bored me to near death i mean a game without a good storyline is a game thats no fun especially in the adventure genre this series is just boring and was dead for me when it started
cloud31blunt
i think zelda's game have never focused on storlyline, it's always the gameplay. what else can they come up with when the game is named after the princess, and not the main hero? save the princess, save the princess ( nothing wrong with that)
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#28 jorgeluisbl
Member since 2005 • 1479 Posts
Wind Waker was a good game, I wouldn´t say it almost killed Zelda.