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For decades now, The Legend of Zelda franchise hasn’t been all that popular in Japan. It’s had a major audience in Europe and North America, but our friends in Nintendo’s homeland weren’t too keen on the series. That changed in a big way with Breath of the Wild, which paved the way for a major success with Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launched to 2,240,000 physical sales in Japan in its first week. That’s good enough to land Tears of the Kingdom in the top 10 game launches of all-time in Japan. Overall, Tears of the Kingdom managed to secure the 7th position in Japan’s game history.

It’s absolutely crazy to see that Zelda is now in line with the popularity of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in Japan, and specifically when those franchises were at their peaks. To get a better idea of how well things are going for The Legend of Zelda, you can see a breakdown of Japan’s top 20 best game launches of all-time in the chart below.

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Comments (4)

lionk

11M ago

So there were basically only 6 games that filled up the Japenese launch top 20: Pokemon, Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter. But now there is 7elda!


khufuthemummy

11M ago

Wow! I was curious how it would do there. I wonder how, or if, this success will influence the next mainline Zelda game.


cheesus 2

10M ago

I just wonder where they'll take the series next, guess we'll find out in 8 years


froyuken_files

10M ago

I find it baffling that not a SINGLE Mario game, spin-off or otherwise, is on that top ten! It's like a club bouncer refusing the let in the club owner since their name ain't on the list.