Let’s take a look back. About 12 years back; when the N64 was king and all was awesome in the world. That was fun, wasn’t it? Well, I’ve been able to relive this since being disconnected; I don’t have to worry about hooking up my N64 to play online or show off my in-game awards, I can simply plug it in to the wall, mess about with some TV settings and there I have it: some of the greatest games I’ve ever played, all available on my hard drive… no, wait, it’s cartridges, isn’t it?
Why would anyone want to voluntarily go back to this horrible form of media to play games that aren’t as nice graphically and don’t have tons of added features, DLC support, online play or anything else that all the new games have? How about that thing we call nostalgia? If you’re not entirely sure what that is, then let me explain: it’s when something (a game) triggers a memory of the past, often ending in the feeling of happiness and longing to be at that moment again; wishing to be home.
For me, home is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on my N64, with the (pretty much horrible) N64 controller, my console, a TV and the N64 tuned in to channel 6. It may look blurry on my TV, I might have to blow into the cartridge to get it working after a few resets and it won’t be the greatest experience ever, but I don’t care; this is how I played it on the morning of my sixth birthday and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Unless it’s the 3DS version; you can give me that now.
The game itself is brilliant, although it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. It might be my favourite game ever because of the fact that it is literally perfect in every way, from plot to level design, but it might just be that no other game throws this much nostalgia at me. When I visit places in Hyrule, it’s like I’m walking around the place that I grew up and reliving those moments. With games, you can literally replay the moments rather than just remembering them. And, for this, gaming is the most nostalgic experience you can have.
My N64 is back in its rightful place under the TV and the aerial plug is in the back constantly. I can just switch it on, open my drawer and pick a cartridge and then play away whenever I want; just like old times. I’d be too busy with playing the latest Generic Shoot Kill Explosion IIV online if PSN or XBL worked and wouldn’t have thought too much about plugging in my N64 and reliving my greatest moments in gaming. So, in a way, not having online has put me back in the past, due to not having online gaming and playing N64 more.
Banjo-Kazooie was a hard game; I never got much further than Mad Monster Mansion back when I was young and just gave up on the game for quite a few years. Going back to it now has been fantastic, I’ve got past that level, collected most of the Jiggy’s and notes and played new, unseen parts of a game that I had played a lot of before. I mean, seriously a lot; I have a save with 30 hours of gameplay and another with 25, but it only took me about seven hours to get past Mad Monster Mansion. Oh, and I have two cartridges, so that’ a lot of time spent doing basically… nothing.
I try to think back to what it was like when I was young, what drove me to play a ten hour game for 30 hours? Did I make my own games up in the game? Did I just fly around aimlessly? Did I constantly fail to beat my note score so I wasted a lot of time? I don’t think I’ll find out, but I’ll never be able to play Banjo-Kazooie in the same way again. Now, I’ve been spoiled; I can’t just run around and do nothing for 30 hours, I have to get to the next objective and complete it. Although I’m able to go back and experience these games again, Banjo just won’t be the same.
After finally thinking that I had completed it, I got to a note door that needed over 800 notes (there’s 900 in the game and you need to collect them in one life on the level, or it gets reset to 0. So, what would I do now? Run around for 20 hours aimlessly, whilst seemingly enjoying myself and having fun? Definitely not; I moved on to the next game. It’s sad that although I still feel the same way about Zelda, Banjo-Kazooie just hasn’t worked out the same way; the nostalgia is mostly lost and that doesn’t make me happy.
Nostalgia can either be a good thing or a bad thing; one event can be full of fun and make you extremely happy, while another can actually make you sad realising that it won’t be the same again. It just depends how you played games back then and how you look at them now; in Zelda I can run around doing sidequests and just having fun now, but in Banjo-Kazooie, I just want to complete it and I get bored if I’m doing the same things over and over for 30 hours. Nostalgia is strange; at least that’s how I remember it.
RocketSOL
I recently bought an N64 in a small indie games shop. Saw it and thought “why not”. All I can say is…nostalgia’s a bitch.
nofi
Nostalgia is Rollercoaster, Manic Miner, Horace goes Skiing. For me, Ocarina of Time just feels like yesterday. :p
TwoJay
Respect.
Severn2j
I loved Manic Miner, and the Horace games.. But as much as the C64 ruled, I would never try to fire them up again. Nostaligia is best left in the mind, imo, trying to relive those days, just ruins the memory.
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H.E.R.O, there was a great game.. Wouldnt play it now tho, it just wont live up to my memories of it.
minerwilly
Completely agree Severn , i have tried playing things like Ant Attack , Stop the Express , Monty Mole, Booty , Jack the Nipper , Deathwish III , 720 , The Great Escape , Head over Heels but it was a mistake .
Those game where gems of a long gone era and it does as you say ruin the memory . Im with you there about Ocarina of Time Nofi , N64 games just dont feel old enough yet to be considered Nostalgic like Battlezone on Atari 2600 or something from early 1980’s.
mynameisblair
I’m only 17, didn’t have a chance for nostalgia with those games. Ocarina is it for me.
minerwilly
Yikes , im old enough to be yer Dad . Yet im still out in town partying every weekend at 34 !
Armonster9000
Minerwilly, if you had a son that was 17, then that would mean you had him at age 17. That’s a little young to be a parent lol
minerwilly
Not really , its legal at 16 (in UK & Ireland) to be married and do the doings (cover your ears younger readers!) . My Parents where married at 17 and had my eldest brother . Wasn’t uncommon in the 70’s.
Armonster9000
I brought my N64 to my last day of school last year and had a ton of fun with it. Me and all my childhood friends all took turns playing Super Smash Bros. together. We even had a tournament. Then me and 3 friends all took turns trying to see who could beat Bowser the fastest at then end of Mario 64. We also did that for Ganondorf. It was so much fun, just like old times.
Samiro05
Nostalgia for me: playing magic boy and some fish puzzle game on pc. I didn’t own any consoles other than each generation of playstation n they don’t seem so old to me that the games are nostalgic.
FriendlyFiend
@nofi – ah, I know exactly what you mean about Ocarina of Time feeling like yesterday. I unearthed my aged BBC B from the attic and ended up playing Elite. Amazingly, it still holds up remarkably well (especially played using joysticks). Can’t believe 32K of memory could still hold so much entertainment.
gordon_strange
Spyhunter- BBC micro school lunchtimes -’nuff said
Playing the original sonic when I got home, and completing it before tea every night
Double dragon at the youth club
A. P. B. In the bus station cafe on a Saturday afternoon and when they removed that it was replaced with bubble bobble!!!!!!!
Nostalgia. It’s great. Anyone want to sell me a SNES?
duncanuaz
Jet Set Willy on the Spectrum, Stunt Car Racer & Hunter on the Atari ST are the games I’d love to try again for nostalgic times. But for real nostalgia, hook up the Amiga to the telly and get SWOS in it. Hours and hours played on that game.
minerwilly
N64 was king ?
beeje13
hmm funny how at the moment im trying to somehow play zombies with my friends in black ops, to no avail.
Port forwarded
disabled firewall
Static ip
what else can I do
mynameisblair
At least you know it works usually – I’m stuck without it constantly!