The Legend of Zelda game series is one of Nintendo's bread and butter video games. They have a devoted and sometimes delirious fan base that will buy anything with a Hylian crest on it, simply on principle. The series started in 1986 and has 16 official console games, along with spin-offs.
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| The Hylian Crest |
It is very obvious that Nintendo is aware of this staunch allegiance because whenever a new console is released a new Zelda game is sure to follow shortly afterwards. Handheld devices, however, do not have an immediate game. An example of this is the fact the Game Boy Advance debuted in 2001 and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap was released 2004.
In 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System, better known as NES, was introduced and in 1986 The Legend of Zelda was born. Over 60 million units were sold during this time.
In 1991, the 16-bit processing Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released and soon after in 1992, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past became available.
Nintendo 64 set the new standard for 3-D gaming graphics in 1996 and in 1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time set the new standard for all the Zelda games to come. Ocarina of Time is still so beloved that it was recently remade for the Nintendo 3DS handheld in 3-D.
The Nintendo Gamecube debuted in 2001 along with the new Game Boy Advance. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was released in Japan in 2002 and in North America in 2003. The Wind Waker is still one of the most controversial of the Zelda games to date due to the new art style used, which was cell-shading.
Nintendo introduced the ground-breaking motion sensing Wii in 2006 and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess also came out in 2006. Twilight Princess was originally supposed to be exclusively for the Gamecube, but as the unveiling of the Wii was approaching, Nintendo went ahead and made two versions of the game with the Wii version being a mirror of the Gamecube's edition.
One excellent example of Nintendo's savvy marketing skills is the Wii Zapper, an accessory that turns the Wii remote and Nunchuck into a sharpshooter format. The Wii Zapper is bundled with Link's Crossbow Training, a non-canon Zelda shooter game set in Twilight Princess graphics.
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| The Wii Zapper |
There has yet to be any other must-have games that require the Zapper and it's unlikely there will be. It simply used the title of Zelda and it sold to those hard-core fans who can't get enough of Link, Twilight Princess graphics, or just some good ole fashioned shoot 'em up games.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword launched in 2011, also marking the 25th anniversary of the legendary game series, but more importantly Skyward Sword required the Wii MotionPlus, which is an accessory that improved the accuracy and recognition of users' movements of the remote. Coincidence? I think not.
The newest Nintendo console is the Wii U, which came out in 2012, and for the first time there will not be a new Legend of Zelda game ,but instead The Wind Waker will be rebooted in HD. There are rumors that later a new Zelda game will be made for Wii U, but there is insufficient information at this time for any facts.
Facts from http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp and http://zelda.com/universe/games/index.jsp
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