Nostalgia

Opinion

Video games have stronger nostalgic driven experiences

By Josiah Sapp

    Nostalgia is a tricky thing to pin down. You don’t really know what it is about a specific memory that brings about a fond feeling. It could be a certain smell of perfume that brings you back to your grandma’s house or how a song has more weight depending on who you were with the first time you listened to it. Nostalgia is incredibly powerful and highly marketable. Just the other day, I was watching a football game with my family and a life insurance commercial came on playing some old school rock & roll. Once the commercial ended, my dad says that the product was directed straight at him because it was a song and style of music he used to listen to growing up. The commercial succeeded in grabbing his attention by playing nostalgic music. In video games, the main demographic are just now getting old enough to experience nostalgia. Game developers are exploiting that and they’ve got us hook, line and sinker.

    Super Mario is Nintendo’s longest running franchise and most popular mascot. Even if you don’t play games, you know who Mario is and have some sort of experience with him. His wide range of games and titles stretch from hardcore platforming to intense go kart races. The newest 3D Mario game was just released and people are going crazy for it. Fans and critics alike are applauding Odyssey for being innovative while also being reminiscent of their older titles. It’s been a trending story on Twitter for the past couple days! No other video game can do that in such a mainstream fashion. Nostalgia drives the sales and the experience for most Mario games. Your past experiences influence the new game in front of you.

    Gamers tend to be of the most enthusiastic and vocal group when it comes to nostalgia. Video games give an experience like no other kind of entertainment because it is so interactive. You feel like what you are seeing on screen is something that you’re taking part in. I can remember back to the first time I beat the notorious water temple in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The puzzles were really confusing, the enemies numerous, and any mistakes were punished with almost a complete do over. Finishing it gave me such a euphoric sense of completion that it’s something I’ll always remember. Gamers thrive when they’re tasked with a challenge to complete. Over taking challenges as a kid produce some of the fondest moments that we feel nostalgic for. The first home run. A giant sledding hill. Riding a bike. All things we can look back on and remember the feelings when we accomplished what we set out to do.

    Video games put you in the center of a conflict or situation that needs overcome. Even in multiplayer games, you’re put in front of other players and it’s your job to stop them. Making big plays and overcoming the odds are what make multiplayer games so addicting. People tend complain that games are too nostalgic. That there’s nothing original out there. Now I do agree that there needs to be originality and creativity in our games but a little nostalgia goes a long way. Mario Odyssey draws the line perfectly and makes the distinction between old and new. It gives the nostalgic beats that you’d find in games like Mario 64 while also finding ways to innovate in it’s storytelling and level design. The thing that’s fascinating about nostalgia is that it gives us a “sanitized” feeling of the past. We wash the memories clean of any imperfections or small details that might ruin the memory. Nintendo seems to be catching on to this tendency. It’s seemingly taken the best parts of old favorite Mario titles and added minor changes to them. With nostalgia at your back and innovations in front, game design like this can’t go wrong.