Like anything, nostalgia can be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. Much like Hollywood, the video game industry has had more than a fair dose of remasters and remakes over the past few years. While some have been exactly what we needed, Shadow of the Colossus and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy come to mind, sometimes nostalgia can get in the way of good decision making.
Think back to the games you played when you were younger. For each of us that will bring back a different time period filled with different games, but the endgame will be the same. I know growing up in the 16-bit era, my childhood was filled with gems like Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog, but for every one of those games there was also a Golden Axe. If you grew up during that time period you’re probably saying, “Hey, Golden Axe was a great game!” This is a classic example of your nostalgia doing the thinking for you. Considered revolutionary at the time, the game was nothing more than an extremely short hack-n-slash whose only redeeming quality was having three characters to play as.
By no means is this an attempt to bash Golden Axe, the game just had the unfortunate luck of being the first of many that came to mind. Most of us that consider ourselves hardcore gamers usually don’t fall into these nostalgia traps, but casual gamers especially have a hard time of separating nostalgia from reality.
I had the opportunity to play through a bit of the new Shaq Fu game coming out later this year while attending this year’s PAX East. You read that correctly- New Shaq Fu– Why does this game even exist? Anyone that has any sense about them knows that the first game was a steamy dung heap, often considered one of the worst games ever developed. Even the developers admit what an atrocity the game was in the opening moments of the reveal trailer for the sequel, yet they felt the need to not only bring the franchise back in 2018, but to try and make right the sins of their fathers. The result thus far appears to be another turd of a game that only casual gamers who haven’t picked up a controller since the Sega Genesis will have any business even playing. Switch owners who purchased NBA Playgrounds during their issues with online connection ability will receive the game for free… and even they will be overpaying.
Hot off the success of the Crash Bandicoot collection last year came another dose of nostalgia that nobody asked for in the form of a new Bubsy game. Yeah you read that right, Bubsy. Most of you probably didn’t know that because you play good video games. Bubsy was a franchise so bad that the only reason I played it so much growing up was the fact that video games were a precious commodity and we could only buy them so often. Since the Bubsy games were so impossibly terrible, I could play them for extended periods of time and not progress. Because of this, the game would last me quite some time. If you Google “worst video game ever” you’ll see Shaq Fu and Bubsy show up right there beside E.T. and Superman 64. Somehow, they are feeding off your nostalgia and continue to release games in these series that just need to die.
However, things were different back then. Without sites (you know…. like us ;-)) to help guide you through the perils of choosing the right games to play, we were at the mercy of what our parents bought us as well as attractive box art. So when we think back to that time period in our lives we think about the games we played and that sense of nostalgia begins to creep up where it does not belong. Gamers get so focused on thinking about the past that they sometimes miss the endless well of incredible experiences that are coming out every day. I envy kids today because their nostalgia can include Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey and the upcoming God of War. I just hope that future developers leave series like Troll and I and Knack where they belong without resurrecting them for no reason in the future other than to feed on our false sense of nostalgia.
Having said that, there are publishers and developers handling nostalgia correctly. Sega has been nailing it over the past couple of years. After years of failing to reach the same heights with Sonic the Hedgehog that they had on the Genesis, they finally went back to the basics with Sonic Mania. This is how nostalgia is done. You take the best parts from the games that were actually good and mix it with new content. What comes out of that labor of love is a game that fans of the originals and new fans can all grow to love together. Sonic Mania should be played by anyone itching for a slice of nostalgia, and it won’t disappoint.
Sega has been equally if not more brilliant in the way they have been revitalizing the Yakuza Series as well. They could have settled for dumping all the PS2 versions of the prior games onto the PlayStation Store, but they went the extra mile. Last years Yakuza Kiwami was a complete remake of the PS2 Japanese classic, redone entirely for the PS4. Once again, new and old fans could enjoy everything that made Yakuza popular in Japan with a fresh coat of paint to make the series relevant in the present gaming landscape. With Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 due this year, the franchise has never been stronger.
Nostalgia can be incredibly powerful in the wrong hands. It’s ok to have fond memories of the games that you played long ago, but have the common sense to leave those memories in the past. Revisiting them can be more detrimental than it’s worth.
