Over 20 years ago Nintendo introduced two of its most prominent franchises with The Legend Of Zelda and Metroid. Both series rose to fame and haven't looked back since. However, the Zelda series has really stolen the limelight by this point. This post is discuss why this has happened. Both series share a similar depth of gameplay, but Zelda's popularity far outweighs that of our favorite female bounty hunter.
While both series feature adventure-styled gameplay, they still function quite differently. Zelda takes place in the kingdom of Hyrule and paints the picture of a lively world, full of talkative characters and interactive environments. I think this world is one of the numerous reasons that Zelda sits so high upon its deku throne. Hyrule's high-fantasy environment is easily accessible and friendly to fans. Link can traverse on foot or horseback to various locales and encounter a variety of indigenous people to interact with. From humans to zorras to gorons, almost anyone you talk to has something interesting to say and can lead to various sidequests. Walkings into Castle Town in many Zelda titles introduces jovial music and allows the player to witness NPCs interacting with each other, establishing a sense of community and the feeling that you're part of a world bigger than just Link and his quest.
Now, take a leap, or more likely, a ship, to the outer boundaries of the universe to planets such as Zebes, SR388, and Tallon IV and you're in for quite a different experience. As I said before, Metroid and Zelda may both offer an adventure experience, but both are completely unique. While Zelda offers a lively world full of people and their lives, full of both comedy and serious situations, Metroid offers alien planets full of biomechanical, hostile environments. Also, there aren't any friendly locals to talk about the weather with. Samus is generally on her own from start to finish, exploring in silence. The atmosphere varies from cold and uninviting to simply curious, but very rare is an area where you want to kick up your space boots and call it quits(Tallon Overworld[Metroid Prime] does it for me). I think Zelda has a wider appeal in this area, because dungeon crawls are broken up by friendly conversation and lightheartedness, whereas Metroid generally has a lonely, gloomy overtone.
However, I don't feel that the difference in atmosphere is the only reason Zelda is head and shoulders above Metroid in popularity. Take a look at their history and you'll see both shared a great deal of popularity in their early years. I wasn't able to take note of how they faired at the time, but it seems that up until the Nintendo 64 hit they were pretty even. Super Metroid is often regarded as not only the best Metroid title, but its been honored as number one on numerous games-of-all-time lists.
When the N64 ushered in Nintendo's foray into 3D gaming, they pulled out all the stops and released Ocarina Of Time, oftern haralded as the best Zelda title of all time, which brought in a lot of new fans(myself included, as my Zelda experience had been fairly limited up until that point). OoT was an absolutely incredible experience, and the fact that it was in 3D made the Hyrule seem that much bigger. The biggest in-game world I had adventured through up until that point was in Super Metroid, and I remember being blown away by OoT.
As gamers continued to preach the wonders of OoT, Samus was noticeably absent. Her only apperance on the 64 was in Super Smash Bros., and that didn't give new players the Metroid experience. If Nintendo wasn't ready to make another Metroid game that soon because they were holding out for quality reasons, then you can't really complain. Regardless, the series was greatly missed on the 64. By the time Majora's Mask dropped, fans were frothing at the mouth to run around in green tights again, and Samus seemed all but forgotten. Mask brought another experience, while controversial, that is dear to many of today's gamers.
When Nintendo announced that Metroid Prime for the Gamecube would be done from a first-person perspective, it was pretty hard not to think that Nintendo was caring less and less about the franchise. Metroid worked perfect in a 2D environment, and the switch in dimensions and perspective seemed crazy. However, in the end, Retro Studios delivered an experience that surpassed all expectations. Prime was, and still is, almost perfect. Still, it seems as though the switch to first person has taken away its appeal from a certain crowd. Both Prime and Prime 2 performed well here, but did less-than-stellar in Japan. Apparently first-person titles make Japanese gamers sick, or so they say. Regardless, the Prime titles have a dedicated fan base, and Zelda's first appearance on the GC wasn't exactly standard fare, either.
Even with these numerous factors, I believe there's one other large factor that plays a part, atleast recently. Difficulty. For example, take a look at both series last major outtings, Prime 2 and Twilight Princess, both of which I've completed. In my first playthrough of Prime 2 I died countless times....fighting a mid-boss...early in the game. Not to mention the many other deaths I faced as I ventured across Aether, sodomizing the Ing horde along the way. It doesn't classify as a truly hard game on my list, but it surely was challenging. It's not the type of game you'd see many grade-schoolers playing; both the difficulty and oftentimes creepy atmosphere see to that.
Twilight Princess, however, is another story. It's an amazing game. Heck, I think it's the best Zelda title I've ever played, but it wasn't difficult. Sure, it had plenty of clever puzzles and was truly epic in length(I clocked in around 42 hrs. to finish it), but I didn't die once the entire game. I fell off plenty of ledges and lost hearts, but the Prime titles have a very similar feature. What I'm talking about is an actual game over. I didn't really mind, but it would've been nice to have multiple difficulty settings to add to the replay value.
In the end I think multiple factors have contributed to Zelda's popularity over the Metroid series. It's not something that bothers me, as I'm a huge fan of both, but I've always questioned it to a certain extent. Zelda just has a wider appeal in terms of atmosphere, as a traditional fantasy setting it something everyone is familiar with, and character interaction helps out a lot as well. It's not a fault that Metroid lacks it. On the contrary, it's a factor that contributes to the overall atmosphere, but also one that not quite as many people enjoy. I'll be happy as long as both series continue to thrive, and hopefully we won't see anymore generation gaps in either series.
