Editor’s note: I’m honestly torn when it comes to this question. I enjoy old games, and I probably spend more time playing older games than newer titles. And I would enjoy remakes of certain games, such as the X-wing series or Wizardry. But I also want new games with interesting ideas. How do you feel about this? -Jason
I’m now 26 years old. I’ve been gaming seriously for around 15 years. I wasn’t really the NES kid, but I was definitely a Genesis/Super NES kid, and I was blown away by many games in my younger years.
When I look back, some of my fondest memories are of me chomping on snacks and playing either a great single-player game or hanging out with friends and working together to finish a game.
However, I’m not a kid anymore.
In recent years, especially with the rise of network services like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network (not to mention Steam on the PC side), we’ve received a lot of remakes and rehashes of older, beloved titles. Some of these remakes are great, but many of them are ruining not only my appreciation for the game but souring my memories of the original.
Videogamers are getting older as a demographic. As people age, they become more resistant to change. This isn’t true for everybody, but a lot of people become set in their ways and are less interested in trying something new. They’d rather have a new experience set in a familiar world or relive a cherished memory (with some minor updates, of course).
The remake of the arcade classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time is testament to this. The game’s been updated graphically, but it does the exact same thing that the arcade cabinet did all those years ago. Now I find that the game I used to love wasn’t really that good, and it somewhat sours me that I not only spent all that money on it as a kid but that it wasn’t a very good game.
As a gamer, I know that I have a gaming past. I appreciate that games are largely a product of their time as well as the limitations of the game’s hardware. Final Fantasy 7 is a divisive game because it’s both flawed and groundbreaking for its time. Many games like FF7 are essentially history lessons at this point, and it’s a great chance for gamers to experience something that gets referenced constantly by modern games.
Nostalgia is something that I, as a historian, am completely aware of. It’s why the country looks back at the 1950s as the most peaceful and amazing time in our history, praising the Leave It To Beaver lifestyle while ignoring things like the era’s racism and poverty. Gamers also suffer from extreme nostalgia, because gamers have long memories.
Retro gaming is popular today, and gamers are trying to not only replay the games they love but also recapture the feeling they had when they played the game the first time.
In Japan, Dragon Quest is the ultimate nostalgic game, and any attempts to modernize it meets with outrage and resistance. American gamers are nostalgic for many NES era games, and these games are looked back on with fondness.
The attempts of developers to capitalize on nostalgia, however, are ruining my memories. People clamor for a new Kid Icarus, but I would rather keep my happy memories of playing it than see it dredged up again and possibly ruined for me. It’s often the case that attempts to re-create history can be a good thing, but it just as often fails, and I don’t want to lose the fond memories that I already have.
Sorry Pit, but I don’t want to see you do this….
Do you think nostalgia hurts the gaming world? Do you want more old games, or would you have new games and new ideas? Discuss.