The Power of Nostalgia

Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts

There are three series from my childhood that I still an active fan of: Ratchet & Clank, Pokemon, and Kingdom Hearts. These are not the only series I played as a kid and continue to play now, just the three the I most actively kept up on since first playing them many years ago. I have more than a little nostalgia for the games that got me started on the mentioned series', but none stand out quite as much as Kingdom Hearts. I have an emotional attachment to that series, it's one of the strongest I can recall from my childhood, not just from video games. It's quite easy to see why; I never stopped loving it. I can go back and play the earliest entries and feel the nostalgia, but I also get a rush of it if I play new entries in the series that I have no experience with. I think that appealing to nostalgia is less about serving up the same exact thing over and over, and more so about appealing to the emotions that one had when they first played the game. Nostalgia is an appeal to one's association with a past memory.

I'm not really here to discuss the impact of nostalgia on game publishers and how they sell games, as I feel my piece on hype in the industry sufficiently covered that. Today is more about nostalgia in my own life and how it changes my perspective on games, as well as the challenge of bringing myself to move past it in some places.

Insomniac Games' Ratchet & Clank for the PS2

Nostalgia is truly fun. It is a calling back to a good time, a call back to the games that were my favorite activity as a reserved child. Replaying a great moment in those games now fills me with that amazing feeling that I can't explain, but that you almost certainly have experienced at one point or another yourself. There's also the alternative nostalgia where it is a whole new experience, being a game in a series you have a connection to or something of the sort, yet it calls back to your past, and the mix of old and new is something simply wonderful.

With the case of Ratchet & Clank and Kingdom Hearts, anytime I return to the originals (especially the same games with upgraded HD Visuals) or play any entry in the franchise that is new to me, I get this sense of excitement, one like when I was a child, and it feels simply wonderful. Its near impossible to capture this sensation any other way for me. Gaming is the greatest medium for carrying my past with me today. I still remain in an objective position though; when new games in the series or of a similar genre release, I still make sure to hold it to the highest of standards and expect progression instead of just a recycling of the same sort of content. 

Sega's Massively Loved Sonic Adventure

Nostalgia is something that many claim is a blinding force, but it does not have to be that way. If you genuinely enjoy anything, that is what truly matters. The key is that you enjoy objectively. When discussing things, you need to make sure you are not speaking solely on the behalf of your nostalgic feelings. And, as sad as it may be, there are times where it is important to judge a game critically if it truly does deserve it.

I played Sonic Adventure DX on the Gamecube when I was younger, and I adored that game. Recently, upon spotting the game at a convention, I decided it was a good time to go back and experience some good nostalgia. I was let down quickly. The game was not the great time I remembered so fondly from my childhood. The game is a technical mess in a great number of places, and some of the mechanical and game design choices were confusing and, objectively, bad. I was sad to see it, but I went in looking at the game only half through nostalgia goggles and the result was truly disappointing. I didn't want to dislike the game, but I couldn't lie to myself. The game didn't just have a couple flaws (all older games do, including the others mentioned above), it had more negative qualities than redeeming ones. It is (in my opinion, as well as through some objective viewpoints) bad.

I'm sure that there are other games from my childhood that would suffer the same, and I do feel bad trashing on a game so many people hold close to their hearts with fond remembrance, but I still do insist upon viewing games objectively, regardless of the association you have of them. I don't say this in order to reduce the amount of fun you have with a game, I say so in hopes that you can look into the future without expecting developers to fill that nostalgia hole. If you ask for a new game to fill the nostalgia you have for an older, objectively-flawed game, developers can't do much: They'll either produce another flawed game that is clearly not enjoyable, or they'll try something new and fail to fill the expectation. Burdening them with this expectation can completely hinder all games in that series or genre, and none of us should want to impose any sort of stagnation in the progression of games.

Atlus' Persona 4

Now that I shared my thoughts on nostalgia for the games of our past, I would like to share with you a phenomenon I have experienced more as of late. Typically, when people think of nostalgia, they think of it as an association from a long while ago, usually your childhood or your younger years. However, in a few cases, I have experienced a step out of that rhythm. I begin to experience that nostalgia almost as an immediate turn-around after finishing a game. One recent example for me is Atlus' Persona 4, which I played on the PS Vita. I played it about a year ago, and I began feeling nostalgia for it only one month after completing it, and the feeling has not wavered in the slightest over the course of a year.

This is something that is not that uncommon for me, having felt it for other games I've played recently such as Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, and most recently, Metal Gear Solid V. I believe that my form of nostalgia, and perhaps yours as well, is not related to when I played a game, but rather what else was happening in my life at the time: What I am looking for a sense of escape from. Games that give me an especially great sense of comfort are ultra effective in making me feel instant nostalgia. When I played Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Persona 4, I was in a place where I was trying to decide where I was going to take my life, a particularly daunting and stressful undertaking, one I was definitely looking to escape the thought of here and there, and all these games did a far finer job than whatever games they were competing with at making me feel better about everything. Metal Gear Solid V was the game I was playing during the transition into the new part of my life I mentioned above, and while everything was going smoothly, it was still a great amount to take in all at once, and it was a relief to be able to escape into another world when I felt the need.

This is week two of going into more personal accounts in order to accurately share my opinion on a matter, and I find that it has been greatly successful. What games do you have the most nostalgia for? Are there any games you like where nostalgia gets the better of you and your opinion? Let me know in the comments or wherever you see fit.

As a reminder, I will be attending MAGfest (Music and Gaming Festival) in Marylnad this coming weekend (February 18th-21st) and writing a follow up piece about gaming and community. I hope you get a chance to read it.

Have a tremendous day.