Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "The Legend of Zelda (video game)" in English language version.
The Nintendo II is several years off, and even Nintendo themselves — in the shape of their UK agent Mike Wensman — recognise that software is the problem there. (...) Still, according to Wensman, that pays off. In Japan, he claims, Legend Of Zelda sold a mind-boggling million copies on its first day of release, and it does provide 260 hours of play.
Industry-wide, 4.1 million home video game units sold in 1987, including 3 million Nintendo units alone. The Legend of Zelda became the first million seller of this "new generation" of home video game software.
In Japan, it has become a great honor for a video game designer to design a game that sells a million cartridges or more in the United States. Several Japanese have done just that: The Legend of Zelda has sold 3 million copies; The Super Mario Bros., created by thirty-five-year-old Shigeru Miyamoto, 9 million copies.
１９８６年２月に、ファミコンのディスクシステムと同時発売された、アクションアドベンチャーゲーム。/ An action-adventure game simultaneously released with the Famicom Disk System in February 1986.
Miyamoto: Yes. So with a world of swords and sorcery as my theme, I decided to make an adventure game based on treasure-hunting, and that was the beginning of The Legend of Zelda.
And I was really happy that we here in Japan could make a medieval tale of sword and sorcery liked by the people of the world.
All ideas for The Legend of Zelda were mine and Takashi Tezukas... ...Books, movies and our own lives.
