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Nostalgia and Game Association

Posted by Nadia Oxford

I've been wondering recently if there's some substance behind game nostalgia besides fodder for Internet fights about how nothing will ever beat the original Legend of Zelda, evar. What I mean is, do you ever think about where you were when you played a certain game? Does visiting certain locations or experiencing the change of seasons remind you of the same?

Do you count game nostalgia amongst valued memories like favourite vacation spots or the glorious spill that came with learning how to ride a two-wheeled bike for the first time? Pour example: Final Fantasy VI remains one of my favourite games. I first experienced it in the cold, rainy month of November, going into the crisp days of December and Christmas vacation (I was a little slower at RPGs back then). Even today, a rush of cold air can bring me back to my fifteen-year-old self, excited to get home and resume my long quest to reunite Celes with her friends and nurse the vague hope that I might knock Kefka from Chez Crazy.

Yes, I'm basically associating the outdoors with a hobby that's notorious for keeping children indoors. But it's not all about snow, wind and rain. Oasis' “Morning Glory” album takes me back to Super Mario 64, both of which happened to collide in pop culture while I worked at my first job to pay for an N64.

I thought this audio-visual-emotional association would weaken as I got older and more boring. I've since been happy to discover that games I enjoy still take up residence in my heart and mind. The New Year is coming; it's time to reflect how I first felt when I played Bioshock (Hint: “Whoa!”).

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Posted Dec 19 2008, 11:51 PM

Filed under: bioshock, final fantasy vi, retro, nostalgia, nadia oxford

Comments

Roto13 said:

Everything I do reminds me of some game I played at some point in my life. :P

December 20, 2008 1:09 AM

Demaar said:

For some reason Smashing Pumpkins songs reminds me of FF7 and makes me wanna play it. Ditto on any of Silverchair's (Aussie band) earlier stuff.

Also this one time when I was replaying Suikoden (the original) I was listening to a lot of Ultra Sonic (British hardcore techno) so whenever I hear any hardcore techno I wanna play Suikoden.

There are others, but nothing else off the top of my head.

December 20, 2008 10:57 AM

C said:

Totally. When I was playing Secret of Mana, our living room was being replastered, so for a brief privileged time the TV and video games were in my room. To this day, the smell of wet plaster takes me straight to the Upper Lands forests.

Startropics is tied directly to sitting on my grandparents' worn-out rug with my brother and eating ring jellies. And somehow Final Fantasy Legend and Final Fantasy Adventure became more engrossing by virtue of the fact that I was playing them on vacation at my grandparents' house, already a kind of fantastical setting when you're a kid.

December 21, 2008 2:08 PM

Odin said:

Unheated garages in winter take me back to the years when we were only allowed to have our game systems out on the old TV in the garage (my parents mistakenly believed the cold would discourage me from playing video games all the time). Tetris 2 and Pilotwings 64 stand out in my mind more than the rest - Tetris 2 was actually our babysitter's game, and when we had a snow day from school I spent the entire day freezing in the garage earning gold medals in Pilotwings.

My wife associates The Goo Goo Doll's album "Dizzy Up the Girl" with Final Fantasy VIII because she received both for Christmas. We once sat down and tried to link the album and the game, and succeeded in linking game events and characters to almost every track on the album.

December 21, 2008 2:39 PM

GeekIndustries said:

Here in Brazil, videogame stores were always hard to come by...the industry never really flourished until piracy was made easier (moving away from carts...going to cds). Back in 1998 i made friends with this courageous dude who had the balls to go against the flow, opening up a video and computer games store in my town...unfortunately he went out of business a little over one year and a half later...it was july 1999 when he gave me the partially bad news...i say partially only because he needed quick money so he offered me a crapload of games REALLY cheap and i remember being terrified...1999 being my last year at school before going to college and studying should be a priority...

...but among the games i got was HOMEWORLD.

I still got accepted to college that year, even with all the pressure against a sci-fi lover in 1999 (system shock2, outcast, X-Wing Alliance...) but ever since when i talk to anyone that mentions "going to college" i still hear the mothership voice saying Hiigara...

December 21, 2008 9:28 PM

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