Well, Zelda's a huge franchise that has historically been the killer app for every new Nintendo platform!

Psychonauts was criticized for its somewhat flat platforming and repetitive gameplay scenarios but praised for its unique design, original story and wild creativity. Also, by the time it was released, Platforming was on its way out. it was the big thing when they were developing it, but the genre sort of ran out of gasoline by the time it was released.

BG&E is all around genius with fun and diverse gameplay and a great story. I think BG&E borrowed heavily from Zelda, even though it didn't have the puzzle depth that Zelda has. I'm surprised with Ubisoft's good name and PR machine that BG&E wasn't better received in the public.

Both were marketed poorly, especially Psychonauts. Definitely get it on steam like Achim says, or gamesload.

But then again, mediocrity can be pretty popular. Brainless Hollywood movies are far more successful than less hyped independent or small studio films, McDonalds and The Olive Garden outsell smaller better quality restaurants, etc etc.

Not that Zelda is the McDonalds of videogames!

Not to ruin the fun, but let's try to keep it on original topic for once

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There's probably a whole bunch of reasons why they didn't succeed, marketing, too high budget etc. But what I'm interested in focusing on is actually the gameplay itself, the immersive experience.

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Psychonauts was criticized a bit when it came out, but it's stature is starting to grow. I see it mentioned in articles from time to time about little games that are great (and now cheap), and the original criticisms seem to be waning. It's become a bit of a cult classic in gaming which isn't surprising since it's from the creator of Grim Fandango. It's $10 for the full game now if you can find it.

One thing that made Zelda(the entire series), such a great game was the replay factor, especially during the actual game. As an example, being able to access previously inaccessable areas when you find a new tool, awesome, being able to see your character use new weapons making battles easier and gaining new abilities. That formula has been successful for action games like tomb raider, legend of gaia as well, though not as popular, still very exciting games. The "Nintendo" formula has a lot of elements, starting with player character likability. they make sure you really like the character, and fall for his story, make it personal so you can relate, then his mission is always a noble one. then the action is usually fast and furious,lol. the entire package seems to come together in a way that appeals to everyone that plays. David, I got that feeling from watching the video of your game with the girl with the staff-like weapon and the spells. That game had the elements i saw in Zelda. I really liked the character, and wanted to see more. I hope my opinions are helpful, and David, if i could suggest, release that game with the girl, she has franchise written all over her!

I think it's because the zelda franchise had already been started and it's gameplay was know for a long time, Psychonauts as an exaple took a whole other way in reinventing gameplay, so noone kwew what to expect. Also, marketing is nowadays one of the most important ways of announcing your game to the public. Psychonauts just didn't have enough PR

That is how it goes for great games that unfortunately, dont do well in sales, the marketing dooms them. thats what happened to Ape Escape, an awesome game with original gameplay features, the first game for the psone to use both analog sticks for a game. and that is the same thing that doomed the sega saturn and dreamcast in the u.s. the saturn was selling strong in japan for 2 years after the u.s one failed.

as christian said zelda is really straight forward so everybody can immerse in it. The thing before zelda £ on super nintendo, zelda wasn't so famous in europe or us . Well know by gamer but like any other good game. When you have one success for advert and great and simple gameplay it always work look at metal gear the msx version were unknown. But marketing is necessary. I did not like metroid prime ( too linear, too boring ) but when a game start being pretty famous most of people buy it for curioity or advert or whatever reason. Most of people don't know if the game is good or not. It seems nice because I heard of it from somwhere but I don't really know what I'm buying ( I made that mistake for the wii). That the problem, today gamers don't lead the market so a game industry is leading by non gamer and the gameplay and innovation become less important than advert and license.

I don't think the last few Zelda games are as good as the older games of that series, just like the last few Mario games. They've really dumbed down some of the greatest game series just to make them more appealing to the mainstream.

The quality and greatness of Cave Story is nostalgia for the most part, but it also simply has great oldschool graphics and simple but at the same time deep and sometimes quite challenging gameplay. A lot of people may say that it looks terribly outdated, but they don't quite understand that the funny thing is that that really doesn't matter at all. At the same time it's quite a niche game though because of all that.

Same story, different game; Why is the game Soldat as popular as it is? Isn't it just 2d graphics and not so great looking effects? Wrong, it's perfect for what it gives experience-wise. Off course the gameplay itself is excellent too, a game that doesn't have good gameplay won't become popular very quickly.

Most of the games mentioned in this thread do a lot of things the 'good way'. I'm not talking about a 'x-factor' kind of thing here, a lot of these titles simply are very good games. I wouldn't ever have thought The Sims would become as popular as it is, but it's like someone said here before; the greatest games aren't always the most popular.

Lol, games like World of Warcraft are actually a disgrace to the gaming world.