A Little Bit of Yesterday - Why We Love Retro Games So Much - Extra Credits

[Music] [Music] gather around good viewers for I would like to tell you a story the other day James felt the urge to get out his old consoles he dusted off his NES and unpacked his old carts he felt like playing something from his youth something simpler more direct and that led him to ask himself why why this Nostalgia why this desire to go back at first he thought it was just a desire for abnation it had been a long week he was overworked come to think of it he was always overworked but lately even more so and he wanted something simple something familiar something he could pick up and put down with ease he wanted that comfort of an old TV show or a book read a thousand times something he didn't have to pay attention to something he didn't have to learn or struggle with something he didn't have to deeply invest in at least that's what he thought he wanted at first but the more he thought about it he realized that wasn't it well maybe that was part of it but that wasn't all of it he thought about it some more maybe it's just nostalgia he thought pure and

simple it might have just been a desire to relive the days of his youth back when things were simpler when he didn't have to work every waking minute when the most important thing in life was what he would do when he got done with school that day it was true his life had been pretty heavy lately a good Nostalgia trip might be just what he needed yes that was definitely part of it part of the reason why he keeps finding ways to rig a Genesis to a modern HDTV or always gets his dos games to run in the latest version of Windows but he couldn't shake the feeling that that still wasn't all of it it wasn't just Nostalgia to say that would be doing the desire and the games themselves a serious Injustice he kept thinking on it he began to ponder the retro fad that's been going on why he wondered in a world with gigs of Graphics memory do we still yearn for our 8 or 16bit days why do so many designers aim to capture the feel of that bygone era well no doubt part of it is a creation thing a reality of scope it's easier for a couple of people working on a shoest string budget to create a fantastic game with that sort of retro style but again there's more to it than just that there's something that keeps drawing us back that keeps calling on us to relive or perhaps even

reimagine those games of the past it's a powerful thing it's part of what made us love games in the first place part of the charm and the magic of games James sat back piece of gray plastic in hand reliving a cherished old experience but the question still burned in his mind why why would we've come so far in terms of technology in terms of the study of game design do we keep going back why have millions of dollars been made on emulating the past or on recreating it what is it we love there so much I'm going to go out on a limb and just say what it is for me it might be something totally different for you I think for all of us it's a little different but seeing how popular retr become and how much of a burning interest there is in some of these games even 20 years after their creation I think there's something in them we all see in common for me Beyond The Nostalgia beyond the familiarity there's an imagination and an optimism that many of these games bring that sometimes we lose in our more modern games now you all know I am all about games growing and doing more and finding new ways to explore the human experience but sometimes I think in our modern Blockbusters and our Ultra real characters we sometimes lose sight of

something we used to be really great at you see I think we love those old games because they were unabashedly about Joy they were zany and unabashedly about a childlike wonder and over-the-top Delight I mean think about a concept like Mario or Kirby I don't think a Mario or even a Pikman would get greenlit today if it didn't already have an existing franchise compare your modern final fantasies to Final Fantasy 4 or 6 those early games were great because they were epic and grandiose and just way way over the top like but in a good way you would never get away with doing something so patently ridiculous and operatic today literally but there was an honesty there these games were unabashedly the flights of imagination that their creators wanted them to be but somewhere along the line we built shame into the game industry we felt embarrassed that our products were so ridiculous we felt shame that we weren't getting the recognition Hollywood got and so we censored ourselves we gave up that childlike abandon we tried to become more serious so people wouldn't make fun of us but in being ashamed of what we do we ended up creating some products that we actually should be ashamed of look I am all for finding

ways to explore deeper and to make products that appeal universally because they really do tell us something about who we are products that in the end are made to appeal to an audience that is willing to look and listen and play with intent with a maturity and a desire to get more out of our games I crave that but that doesn't mean that we have to give up the Wonder and the imagination we used to know to me a game like ninokuni is far more mature than a game like Army of Two And there's no reason to be embarrassed about loving a game like that in a world that's sometimes too heavy that's sometimes more than we can take without some respit games that embrace the Wonder and Imagination and creativity of childhood without being embarrassed about being childlike are exactly what we need so if you ask me why we turn back to the old games and why we like retro as a style so much it's because it gives us the freedom to explore vast expanses of imagination and to escape the banal in a way we aren't offered quite as frequently in our games today those old games were all about play epic exuberant sometimes infuriating play but play nonetheless they were more akin to the pretend games of our childhood swinging a sword through a haunted would rescuing a

princess saving the world they didn't need justification just as you never needed justification to swing a stick at make believe monsters in your yard behind your house or to beat up those invisible bad guys alone in your room at night and I'm not saying that all modern games lack this quality or that we haven't found other incredible Avenues of creation to explore I'm just saying I think it's what draws us back time and again to those old favorites or games like them at least it is for me thanks for watching we'll see you next week [Music] w [Music]