Nintendo is marking 40 years of The Legend of Zelda with a collectible that costs real money. As GameRant reports, a new Decayed Master Sword replica based on Tears of the Kingdom is launching later this year as part of the anniversary celebrations.

Yes, the rusted, rotted-through version of the blade, the gloom-eaten one from Tears of the Kingdom's opening hours. Strange choice for a premium replica on paper. I think it works though. Companies have been polishing pristine Master Swords for collectors for decades now. The decayed version is the one that actually tells a story, and that damaged texture gives sculptors something to chew on instead of rendering another flawless blade for the ten-thousandth time.

The series turns 40 this year and I can barely type that without wincing. I was six when the original showed up in that gold NES cartridge, and I still remember the smell of the instruction booklet, back when a game's manual was half the experience. Between the live-action movie on the way and the string of returning classics Nintendo has been lining up, Zelda is everywhere right now.

Whether a pricey sword is how you want to celebrate is between you and your bank account. Nintendo has never been shy about premium pricing on its collector pieces, and an anniversary-branded statue moves regardless of what any of us think about the number on the tag.

If history is any guide, don't wait around on this one if you want it. Limited Nintendo collectibles disappear fast in my experience, and anniversary stock doesn't come back around.

Me, I'll admire it from a distance. My shelf space went to imported Super Famicom boxes decades ago and never recovered. But if someone at Nintendo wants to greenlight a premium replica of the Famicom Disk System itself, we can talk.