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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword debuted at number one in the UK boxed charts last week, becoming only the fourth Zelda game to ever hit the number one spot.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart returned to the top of the UK boxed chart last week following a surge in PS5 sales. However, its repeated returns to the number one spot might well be in the past for good from here on in. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD took the top spot this past weekend, knocking Rift Apart all the way down to number ten.
Despite celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, Skyward Sword's remaster is only the fourth Zelda game to top the UK's physical chart. Ocarina of Time was the first to do so in 1998, Wind Waker made it two five years later, and Link's Awakening debuted at number one in 2019. That's right, even Breath of the Wild didn't debut at number one.
Despite Skyward Sword HD's early success, the remaster actually sold fewer physical copies in the UK this past weekend than the original did during its own launch. There are a couple of reasons why that might be. The Wii version of the game didn't have a digital download option, whereas the remaster does. When that can be taken into account later this week, odds are its sales will surpass those of the original's first week.
Despite the Switch's ongoing success, the Wii had a much bigger install base at the time of the original Skyward Sword's release. The launch of the Wii U was only a year away and sales of the Wii were dwindling fast, even though it remains the best-selling home console in Nintendo's history. The Switch will likely snatch that record away from the Wii within the next two years.
The only other new entry to crack the UK's top ten this week was F1 2021. The latest offering from Codemasters probably couldn't have hoped for better than second place, but its poor sales compared to F1 2020's launch weekend will be a little concerning. Elsewhere the top ten makes for familiar reading with GTA 5 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe still among the top spots.