Nostalgia of Video Games

For this post to make sense, we first need to establish that I have been in love with video games since I was three years old. We got a PlayStation 2 and I remember not having a clue how to play Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec but I remember that it was mental. Video games taught me how to read - I used to get annoyed that I couldn't read the subtitles on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on PS2 and began to listen whilst following them to see what was really being said.

So yeah, I play a lot. It's probably a massive waste of time but there's no going back now.

Recently, I've been putting a fair few hours into Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy which is a remastered version of the first three games in the Crash Bandicoot series (which were released in 1996, 1997, and 1998 respectively). While it's fun, it's a quite one dimensional game and I often change what I play depending on my mood. Last week, when searching for a different game, I narrowed my choices down to Spyro Reignited Trilogy and the remaster of Shenmue. 

I was literally choosing between games that were first released 20 years ago. 

This was about ten hours after we suggested doing the Politics of Nostalgia here, and I realised it was this massive aspect of my life was perfect to talk about.

Nostalgia as an aspect of video games is a highly intriguing concept to me because these games aren't necessarily created with the future in mind. Video games are designed for instant consumption and immediate gratification, immersing the consumer within a world typically so outside of their own that it keeps them interested. What makes games so loved is because they are products of their time, either using the newest advancements in technology to provide a new experience or purposefully designed to be less 'realistic' for the arcade factor of enjoyment. Nostalgia with them comes typically from childhood, when one remembers how much fun they had playing a certain game and then sits down to replay it all these years later. Whilst replayablility is taken into consideration during game development, the main focus is on the immediate impact of the game and how it feels on the initial playthrough. For a person who truly loved games such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, they probably wouldn't sell the games and replay them on the PS1 when they wanted.

So is the fact that remasters are becoming such a prominent thing within the video game industry a result of nostalgia? Or is the industry weaponising nostalgia and playing on such a visceral emotion to make money? They know that people will buy it if it's created - N. Sane Trilogy shipped 2.5 million copies within 3 months, whilst the original Crash Bandicoot game on PS1 only shipped 7 million in 20 years. 

Maybe it's the ease of access - people who don't have their PS1's set up or to hand anymore, or who have sold theirs, meaning the ability to play such a game on their new console is an opportunity they can't pass up. 

Or maybe people love what they know; at my house here in London I have 22 games, 13 of which are sequels and 5 of which are remasters, leaving only 4 as original games.

I never even played the original Crash Bandicoot on PS1, or any of the Spyro trilogy, and I never even owned a SEGA Dreamcast that Shenmue was released on. Yet there I was, last Friday night, choosing between which of these games to buy.

Nostalgia is a very powerful thing, and the video game industry is definitely aware of that.