Nostalgia happens because you remember the good and forget the bad. People remember Mario 3 but forget Mario is Missing.
In 20 years, people will say, “Remember when they made good games like Baldur’s Gate 3 rather than the trash that is Baldur’s Cash Grab?” Kids today will wax poetic about how the 2020s was the last good decade for gaming.
The truth is, there will always be good and bad games.
Mario 3 is still a good game today, and I know some kids that weren’t anywhere near born when it came out that still loved it.
Nostalgia isn’t the only reason to enjoy old games and “the bad” shouldn’t be assumed to be there for purposes of false equivalency platitudes. Even just counting predatory monetization, the modern game industry is worse on average than it used to be and its desired profit margins and methods of profit are different and worse than before with a more focused exploitation model.
Wow. I totally missed that one despite being a gamer with a SNES in that era. I guess I never saw it on store shelves or mentioned in the game magazines for good reasons.
Yup, people will be nostalgic for LMFAO’s Party Rock music video, JJ Abrams’ Star Trek, and autotuned music. Just like I’m nostalgic for MTV’s Daria and Star Trek DS9.
We are nostalgic of the best games or the things we played most. Nobody remembers all the shit shovelware that was as ubiquitous as today’s cashgrabs.
In 20 years people will remember BG3, Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, Outer Wilds, Hollow Knight… And even if they remember Overwatch or Destiny 2, they’ll remember the good parts and the aesthetics, not the storefronts and lootboxes.
The 90s and 00s had plenty of terrible cash-grab video games as well. Tons of cheaply made licensed movie games or basic platformers that could be finished in 30 minutes while costing 40 bucks. For every game like Deus Ex, you had 10 games like Antz Racing. For every Mario 64 you had a Bubsy 3d.
People will remember games like Elden Ring, BG3, Zelda TOTK and Mario Wonder from the 2020s, while quickly forgetting the cashgrabs.
My dude, video games started in the 60s. People have been saying the same thing ever since. This phenomena is more about the nature of nostalgia more than it is about any specific subject.
Yes - because the future of gaming is probably VR spaces so games on a 2D screen will become nostalgic to an extent.
The nostalgia may be loading up a space with a virtual pc and playing an old game on a mouse and keyboard or controller.
VR headsets aren't yet there but but when they're light weight and high definition enough, it may make more sense to play a game on a virtual screen which can be 40 inches or room scale, than your desktop. If I could see my hands and the mouse and keyboard I'd probably already be doing it. It already works with virtual desktop and controller based games.
In my experience nostalgia is about the memories around the item as much as the item itself.
When I think about the SNES I think about playing it with my older brother more than specific games.
But also the same with games. I remember mario fondly not because the graphics were great but my brother helping me with tricky levels and showing me tricks to get past bits.
Stardew Valley will probably be the game that looms largest in my kid’s nostalgia. They have both played the life out of that thing. Other things that come to mind: Minecraft, phasmaphobia, fnaf, Skyrim, duck game, BOTW, and Nidhogg 2.
There is no guiding aesthetic driven by the technology, just whatever is available and cool.
Re: loot boxes, there is no denying that fortnight is(was?) a huge deal in this gen of kids. I’m sure at least some kids are going to have fond memories of getting v bucks for their birthday.
We are spoiled with good games if you know where to look. We had less possibilities back then. So yeah, they will be nostalgic of the great games coming out recently !
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