Zelda: three things to know about Nintendo’s new video game opus

Princess Zelda hasn’t aged a bit. In almost forty years of existence, this series of action-adventure video games from Nintendo has remained faithful to its origins, while managing to adapt to new technologies. This new opus, baptized, “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” is released worldwide this Friday, May 12.

An elf in a green tunic armed with a sword, a princess to save: Zelda is already unleashing pions with millions of views for each video extract published on the internet. Here are four things to know about the other cash cow of the Japanese group.

1. Zelda has retained its magic, while evolving

“The almost forty sagas, and still as popular today, are not that common,” said Florent Gorges, one of the best connoisseurs of Nintendo history. “Zelda, like mario, are among these exceptions. »

Link, Ganon, Ganondorf and of course Zelda: players will soon find their favorite avatars in the kingdom of Hyrule. “It’s the quality of the games that makes the difference, and Nintendo has pulled off a feat by creating a cross-generational license. Beyond nostalgia, Zelda already unites two generations around three strong points: a rich and magical game universe, a game design that makes the game intriguing and manageable, and a feeling of freedom felt by the players”, analyzes the video game historian.

2. 125 million copies already sold

Fans of Nintendo, which has built its growth on the development of playable franchises exclusively on its platforms, are particularly waiting on the Switch console, which follows “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”. The latter has sold nearly 30 million copies worldwide since its release in early 2017.

Orders for the new Zelda are “progressing well”, said Tuesday, Shuntaro Furukawa, President of Nintendo. According to initial information, the success of this new Zelda would rise to the level of FIFA by Electronic Arts, another blockbuster in the video game industry.

The series – whose name of the princess is borrowed from the American novelist Zelda Fitzgerald – lists around twenty main episodes distributed on all successive Nintendo consoles, and has so far sold 125 million copies worldwide. world.

3. A strong bias with a mute hero

“Link is probably one of the last modern video game heroes who still doesn’t speak, which clashes with other games of the same standing,” notes Florent Gorges.

“All the other characters in the series speak, except him! According to Nintendo, this is because Link means link in English, and this avatar, which represents the player, must therefore not speak on their behalf, nor have an embodied voice – it is a philosophical conception of the character. Failing to hear Link chatter, market observers will immediately look at the first sales figures, eagerly awaited while Nintendo is going through a bad financial patch.