Breath Of The Wild Finally Edges Past Ocarina Of Time S Sales In Japan

By now, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild needs no formal introduction. Link’s open-world adventure has been critically acclaimed for its epic design and innovation for the Zelda series. It has won numerous game of the year awards, two examples being from the Golden Joysticks Awards and The Game Awards 2017. Simply put, Breath of the Wild is considered by many to be a modern masterpiece. According to Nintendo, as of June 30th, 2018, the game has sold over 9 million copies globally. Combining that with Wii U sales (VGChartz lists the Wii U version as selling 1.31 globally), that’s over 10 million copies sold, a hefty number. Breath of the Wild continues to break records - according to Media Create (detailed in the ResetEra forums), the game surpassed Ocarina of Time’s sales in Japan.

According to the details provided in ResetEra, Ocarina of Time’s Japanese sales is 1,257,205. Breath of the Wild surpassed that with 1,258,611. It is important to remember that this is only referring to Japan. This means that Ocarina of Time has remained the best-selling Zelda title in that country, until now. Also, this is combining sales of the Wii U and Switch versions of Breath of the Wild. Without the addition of the Wii U’s sales, Breath of the Wild would still be under Ocarina of Time.

It may seem surprising that all this time Ocarina of Time had reigned at the top in Japan. Interestingly, after Breath of the Wild and Ocarina, the best-selling Zelda title isn’t a home console game like Wind Waker or Skyward Sword - it’s Phantom Hourglass for DS. That may sound even more surprising, but the DS was a huge hit in Japan. According to The Inquirer back in 2005, the late Satoru Iwata stated that the DS had sold five million copies in under 14 months in Japan.

The staying power of Ocarina of Time speaks of its iconic status in the gaming industry. It is the only game on Metacritic to achieve a score of 99, making it the highest-rated game of all time on the aggregator site. Breath of the Wild isn’t far behind, sitting at the 12th spot with a score of 97. Nintendo truly outdid itself with Breath of the Wild, making the future of Zelda an exciting thing to consider.