Games and Nostalgia

[Moonface]

As gaming and ourselves become ever older with each passing day, more and more things have the potential to generate nostalgia either for us or other players. I'm sure all of us have spent time with a thought about an older game or gaming experience that we'd like to have again or just enjoy thinking about.

So what about gaming makes you feel nostalgia?

I have a few things I can think about from time to time, but I'll start with what made me think of this thread which is Uncharted 4:



This opening will remain one of my favourite in any game because I love that it relives the entire series and sets up the last hurrah for Nathan Drake and these adventures are referenced multiple times for the purpose of the story. The game also does it with the ending by showing a photograph of the main trio from the end of Uncharted 1. It's just all so well done and I appreciate it was incorporated into the story and tone of the game properly instead of being forced in to just cash in on nostalgia like a lot of things like to do, either in or out of gaming.

Anyone else ever just played a modern game that managed to make them feel nostalgia or just uses it as an effective tool?

[Mr EliteL]

That Uncharted 4 intro I agree with, even if I haven't played the first one still but know roughly where it takes place/what happens, but becomes more nostalgic when the Uncharted 2 and 3 appear. It's good that is appears in the opening credits and in that type of style instead of just being a straight flashback of scenes that appear in their respective game.

Mario Kart can be nostalgic with past race tracks, getting the similar feel of when you first raced on them in previous instalments. Perhaps Mario Kart 8 changed it with the how more different the tracks get altered to use the anti-gravity aspect. I haven't played enough to know if that ruins the experience, but know games before didn't ruin past tracks for me at least.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah that Uncharted 4 opener is really good. I don't quite have nostalgia for it, per se, but it's still endearing to say the least.

My favorite thing in recent memory was being able to visit Peach's Castle in Super Mario Odyssey.



It featured so many little call backs to the Super Mario 64 hub area, it was incredibly endearing:

1) All the Power Moons were now Power Stars, and the collection theme song it plays when attaining one is now the one from SM64
2) All the boss re-fights are now in the castle as Paintings, and when you enter them, it plays the "entering a painting" theme from SM64
3) The courtyard is one-to-one with the original (which is found by entering an area dressed as N64 Mario)
4) While not a callback to SM64, Yoshi's House is found floating outside the edges of the map, and is designed just like the SMW one! (He's also not home here either, but you can find him by the castle like you do post 120-star game)

[Moonface]

As someone who never played SM64 prior to Odyssey, I didn't have any nostalgic attachment myself to the recreation of Peach's Castle in Odyssey but I did appreciate all the details it carried over from SM64. There's a few other games that do moments that I expect would be really nostalgic for players of the series, which are from God of War PS4 and Metal Gear Solid 4:





I really like the MGS4 one for how it features the iconic theme from every game before it as well as changing the HUD to match those games too. To me that last fight should've been the send off for the series and MGS5 should have never happened because the fight feels like it's wrapping up everything from the series into one last hurrah package, similar to Uncharted 4.

[ShiraNoMai]

I love when games do the "last hurrah" nostalgia. Probably the easiest way you can sucker me into liking your game.

The Kratos one is such a good build up, and the reveal. I hadn't even played the originals (or at least seen them) to get the full understanding of the weight of it but you could just feel by the presentation of it how powerful it was.

[Kyng]

RollerCoaster Tycoon (and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2) evoke strong feelings of nostalgia for me. They were two of my main games around 2001-3, in the happiest years of my life - before high school and puberty really hit and messed everything up .

(Also, while the graphics look rather dated, they do have a certain charm to them !)

[Moonface]

@Kyng: I think it's the limits that cause the player to use more of their imagination or creativity to make something look good or better than it is. Sorta like old horror games being better for atmosphere in some ways than newer ones because the limited hardware meant draw distances were reduced and models weren't super detailed, leaving more to player imagination compared to modern horror that leaves no room for interpretation or mystery due to the level of detail achievable now. That limited art style also just ages better because it's an art style, compared to something more modern like Planet Coaster that feels more like it's trying to imitate reality.

For a game that I actually get nostalgic for even if it doesn't feature anything within it to evoke that like the examples I'd been posting, I'd have to say LittleBigPlanet. I would give anything to go back to the days when that game had a bustling community and a sense of wonder that just died off with LBP3. Even the trailer for that game makes me nostalgic for how it recaps the communities work in LBP1 as well as saying the developers can't wait to see what they do with all the new tools.

[WR91]

Playing New Pokémon Snap was a fun trip down memory lane. It was new but old at the same time. Fun fun!