…and so far I don’t regret it.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is widely considered the best game of all time – Edge, GameRankings, Metacritic – and yet I’ve never played it. It came out over a decade ago, long before I bought my first game consoles. I tried to play it in an emulator once, but it didn’t work too well.

I looked through my to play list the other day, and all of the games on it were still in development. I moved on to recent top-rated Android and iOS games, which I tend to neglect. I almost bought GameLoft‘s Sacred Odyssey, an unabashed Zelda ripoff alongside their unlicensed “remakes” of other classic games like Halo and Starcraft. They’re all well executed, if unoriginal, and I do love me some Zelda.

That got me thinking, though. Why play a ripoff when Ocarina is remastered and playable on 3DS? Well, because I don’t have a 3DS, and I wouldn’t play much else on it. Hmm…but would I spend $300 for Ocarina alone? One of the best games of all time, if not the best? Well, when you put it that way, yes, I would.

A week later, I’m still happy I did it. Ocarina is great. And hey, look, eShop! Ok, it’s weak, but it does have software. I’ll happily buy and play Cave Story, and some BIT.TRIP games, and who knows what else. So yes, it’s still basically $300 for one game, but there’s a little gravy too.

Sometimes quality is worth every penny. Happy gaming!

P.S. I played through half of SuperBrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP too. I like it so far. The pixellated hipster look isn’t my thing, but it’s patterned after old school adventure games, which I love, and damn if it doesn’t have some great ambiance. Also, it’s 1/60th what I paid for Ocarina.