Nostalgia.

Nostalgia is a hard thing to define. It’s an emotion most of us get on a less than regular basis and it’s mostly related to happy childhood memories. As a gamer for the majority of my life it’s safe to say I have many games I get nostalgic about. Most of the games that I do get nostalgic about are on the Nintendo 64, no surprises really given I am a child of the 90’s (born 1989). The ‘N64’ however was not my first console.

I was originally a Sega fan, owning both the master system and the megadrive, thus my first gaming experience was in fact Sonic the Hedgehog. I must have spent so many hours playing through and through that game, and it isn’t an easy game for a young child. The thing that surprises me most about it is that I completed that game without any outside help and with limited lives that are so often overlooked in today’s mainstream games. Maximum of 9 tries and that’s it game over, back to the start. While this process was frustrating I didn’t know any different and continued replaying the game over and over until finally completing it with all of the crystals collected as well. Such an achievement I thought and to this day am still proud of it. Oddly enough however, the thing I remember most about it was the Scatterbrain level’s music!

After a whole load of games I vaguely remember on the Sega consoles came the Nintendo 64. As a Christmas present from my granddad to me and my brother; I adored this console. It was a triumph of technology at is birth and the graphics just blew everyone’s mind. At the same time as owning this console my dad also owned a Playstation original which was handy as I got to experience the best of both worlds however the Nintendo was always the favourite.

Mario 64 has to be said it is one of the greatest games ever conceived. The simplicity of the goals, the simplicity of the controls and the level design and level structure allowing for vast differences in scenery. Of course at the time I was in awe instead of analysing it quite like I am now. Never the less it was beautiful and rewarding (especially when throwing bowser off of the edge of the world). The series still lives on through the ages, only slightly tweaking the initial great formula, why fix what isn’t broken? There’s actually a simple answer why: because we have already played that game! Then who’s to say Mario Galaxy 2 won’t be to some kid what Mario 64 is to me.

Zelda 64: Ocarina of time. Hailed as THE best game of all time on numerous charts. A beautiful game inspiring the want and need to explore open virtual landscapes of pure fantasy. The game was for me epic. I don’t use that term in the over-used internet way, in this context I MEAN IT. The game held fluid fast combat, intriguing puzzles, fun boss encounters and a nice steady difficulty pace that catered to people of all ages. If put into context with its time, I don’t think there was a bad word to say about it (and if there is I don’t want to hear it!).

Strange one that brings nostalgia for me is Blast Corps. More about that game in my next post as I plan to show off my works towards my feelings of nostalgia.

Lylat Wars (Starfox 64) is probably the first jet plane / spaceship game I ever played and I loved it. Recently I haven’t been keeping up with games like HAWX and Ace Combat; I probably should because I loved Lylat Wars and Ace Combat (the original). I don’t remember this quite as well as the others and I plan in the up and coming months to re-buy a copy and fight the mighty monkey andross once more.

I could continue to list all games that make me so nostalgic but that would be boring. The game that by far inspires the strongest feeling of nostalgia is Banjo Kazooie. Just hearing the intro theme gives me chills up my spine and a massive smile on my face. The awful awful puns that come with the evil witch’s speeches, the way mumbo jumbo is slightly racist but funny at the same time, the way jinjos… wait, what on earth are jinjos meant to be?! Every little detail about the game that made me smile the first time still makes me smile in just the same way today. I really regress when playing this game; I even enjoy the farting sound Kazooie makes as she pops out an egg. This game for me will live on forever in my memories. Which when you think about it is rather odd.

In this ever changing world it does make me wonder what future generations will remember about their childhood. You speak to anyone over the age of 60 today and they will tell you their experience with television in their childhood. For my generation it will be the dawn of modern gaming, for future generations who knows? I’m only 21 I still have time to get nostalgic about many more things. Which makes me wonder, in 40 or even 50 years, what games will I remember…