Produced and published by Nintendo, The Legend Of Zelda is one of the most popular and successful videogame franchises in history. Originally created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, The Legend Of Zelda games are action-adventure games with RPG elements and plot that revolves around a young man named Link and Princess Zelda, with Gannon serving as the main antagonist in the many of the game’s sequels.
The game is set mainly in a fantasy world called Hyrule which features, aside from battle and action, exploration and puzzle-solving. The first game was published back in 1986 and till today there have been 19 entries in the series, below are the ten most successful, by the number of the sold units.
10 Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link
The first on the list is Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link published back in 1987 and acting as a sequel to the original The Legend Of Zelda game. The game is fundamentally different from the first game and is with The Legend Of The Zelda: Breath Of The Wild only sequel, with all other titles serving either as prequels or occurring in the alternative timelines.
The game sold 4.52 million copies worldwide, which is less than the original game, but still quite good considering the game was originally published for the Famicom Disk System. It was later re-released on GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
9 The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
In this game, the Link once again has to save princess Zelda, this time from the Bellum, but with the assistance of Captain Linebeck and his ship. Released in 2007, The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was the bestselling game in Japan in the first month of its release with 262 800 copies. It later sold 4.76 million copies worldwide while also receiving a strong critical response and receiving numerous game of the year awards, including that from the GameSpot, GameSpy, and IGN.
It was published on Nintendo DS so the gameplay is adapted for the platform, for example, the bottom screen shows the Links adventure in Hyrule, while the upper is reserved for the map area.
8 The Legend Of Zelda: Majoras Mask
The Legend Of Zelda: Majoras Mask is a sixth installment in the series and takes place in Termin, an alternative version of Hyrule which will be destroyed in three days unless the player who controls Link saves it from that destiny. This time, the main antagonist is the imp called the Skull Kid who has stolen the ancient, powerful item that is in the title – Majoras Mask.
It sold 6.36 million copies and introduced several new concepts like a three-day repeating cycle, use of masks that can transform Link in different beings, and the ability to play various melodies on his ocarina which can be used to teleport, manipulate weather and open passages.
7 The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Unlike the previous installments, the tenth entry in the series, The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an open-world game set in a group of islands in the vast sea. Upon its lunch, the sales were lower than expected, but the game, in the end, managed to sell 6.71 million copies.
The same case was with the reception, which upon release was relatively good but the critics found graphics to be too childish, especially looking in comparison with modern titles from other studios. Nonetheless, the game’s reputation improved over time and now is considered to be one of the best games ever made.
6 The Legend Of Zelda
The game that started the franchise, The Legend Of Zelda, was published in 1986 on the Famicom Disk System and became highly influential for the other RPGs developed later. Although the game did not have an experience point element, its fantasy setting, musical style, and gameplay were later adopted by many other role-playing games.
The game sold 6.73 million copies, then becoming a bestseller for Nintendo, while also launching a franchise. It was later re-released on other systems, and in 2018 on Nintendo Switch as a part of Nintendo Switch Online.
5 The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
With 7.43 million copies sold The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past is one of the best selling games originally published for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third entry into series, published in 1991, it serves as a prequel to the two previous games. In the game, Link has to save Hyrule by rescuing the descendants of seven sages from the dungeons scattered across Dark World.
The game for the first time introduced the concept that will be used extensively in future installations and that is the existence of two parallel worlds – the Light World which is Hyrule and the Dark World that is its decaying version.
4 The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Serving as a thirteenth installment, The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess was published for GameCube and Nintendo Wii in 2006. It managed to sell 9.96 million copies and received perfect scores from several publications. It is the highest-rated 2006 game on Metacritic. The plot follows Link who tries to save the Hyrule from becoming the parallel dimension called The Twilight.
The game contains nine dungeons where Link battles enemies, solve puzzles and collect items. Apart from that, the interesting side of the gameplay is that when Link enters The Twilight he automatically transforms into a wolf.
3 The Legend Of Zelda: Links Awakening
The Legend Of Zelda: Links Awakening is a remake of a game with the same name originally published for Game Boy, and later remastered for Game Boy Color. It features a combination of both modern and retro design with toy-like characters.
The game is played from a top-down perspective and follows the Link on a quest to collect the eight instruments of the sirens and awaken the Koholints legendary Wind Wish in order to escape from the island where he is stranded on. Including all versions of the game, it sold 10.24 million copies making it the third bestselling The Legend of Zelda game.
2 The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time was originally published in 1998 for Nintendo 64 and later received several re-releases on GameCube and Nintendo Wii as well as an enhanced version for Nintendo 3DS. The title of the game referees to the ocarina, an instrument on which Link plays certain melodies in order to complete tasks.
Upon release, it received a perfect score from the majority of publications and it is widely considered to be one of the best games ever made. It enjoyed critical, as well as commercial success, with so many ports and Nintendo 3DS enhanced version it is no wonder the game managed to sell 13.22 million copies.
1 The Legend Of Zelda: The Breath Of The Wild
It took Nintendo five years of development to create The Legend Of Zelda: The Breath Of The Wild. The game which, once published, received critical acclaim becoming the best game of 2017 by IGN, Polygon, GameSpot, EuroGamer GamesRadar+, and Game Informer.
It features an open-world game with nonlinear gameplay where a player can explore the environment and complete various quests and also obtain weapons, food, and other resources. It managed to sell 20.77 million copies becoming one of the bestselling games of all time and the bestselling game on this list.
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