The Legend of Zelda is a video game series created by game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is developed and published by Nintendo. The series debuted in Japan with The Legend of Zelda (known in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu) on February 21, 1986, and was later released in North America (August 22, 1987) and Europe (November 27, 1987). The Legend of Zelda video games have been developed exclusively for Nintendo video game consoles and handhelds, dating from the Family Computer Disk System to the current generation of video game consoles. Spin-off titles, however, have been released on non-Nintendo systems. The franchise consists of 27 video games, including original titles, ports, and remakes. Over 52 million copies have been sold since the release of the