Craving for Nostalgia

10:53 David O No comments

Recently I've been very bored because I sold many of my games and I'm left with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and God Of War 3 as well as some PSN games such as Wip3out HD Fury, Marvel vs Capcom 2, flOw and Flower. I've reached my peak for those PSN games trophies, I tried playing GOW 3 in the hardest difficulty I think it's God mode, it took many tries just to get past Poseidon and now stuck in hell level. All I ever play in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is the Team Mission and I just feel that I'm wasting my time playing the game because I don't get anywhere with the game. Sure I have fun replaying the game because of constant dying. But the people who join the game use the same cheap tactics and methods, cheating, constant disconnection and slow downs because of people using wireless internet.

I decided to play my long lost favourite RPG that eventually converted me into playing RPG genre. Golden Sun on gameboy advanced, mind you I played this on emulator. I just find the game very boring now because I've finished it like twice previously and the only reason why I'm playing the game is because I have no other games to play and I'm waiting for game releases to approach.
Now it occured to me that many of us always want our old games compatible so we can once again play them. Especially when new device/system comes out, gamers want to hack it so they can run homebrew applications such as emulators.

I believe that publishers and developers should not bother with people who still play emulators n roms legally or illegally. The feeling of nostalgia approaches however when you finally play that forgotten game, the feeling instantly vanshies. My sister once in a life time will say "I want to play Super Mario world:(" I debunk her and say to her she would play it and later forget about the game in a week. And that usually happens. I downloaded few Arcade games such as Street Fighter Alpha 3, Marvel vs Capcom 1, some gba games such as Metroid Fusion. And I haven't gotten back to them in like over 7 or 9 months!

If a new system gets released, gamers would want their old games compatible to the new system, why is this? If you want your old game to be playable on a new system so that you can then play that old game on the new system without having to switch consoles. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of owning an old console? This happens all the time! Gamers want the PS3 to be backwards compatible to PS2 games, so what would happen if PS4 comes out? They would demand the same thing and more, they would want PS4 to be backwards to ps3 games and more also ps2 games. If PS5 comes out they would want PS4, PS3 and likely PS2 games to be compatible to PS5:/



The most interesting thing about this nostaglia craving is that once their wish gets granted, many would not turn back to the old game! Tell me why you would want to play Ninja Gaiden Sigma again when Ninja Gaiden 3 is out? By the time you finish Ninja Gaiden Sigma and moving on to Ninja Gaiden 3, Ninja Gaiden 4 would be out already! So I really don't see the point.

The need for Nostaglia also generates money! Capcom has proven this! They are going to release their old classic games in packs and bundles and now in HD Remastered. Marvel vs Capcom 2 proved to be a classic re-release hit and now they would do it for Street Fighter 3 third strike and Resident Evil Revival Section. The concept about this is that fans are requesting for re-releases and if you get many fans wanting a classic revival, you can make money towards it! There's no point in just making a HD Remastered when many fans are not demanding for it- Prince of Persia HD Collection, Sly the Raccoon trilogy and Tome Raiden Trilogy Collection.

Also not only when you remake classics in HD, you need to add a new feature fans would apperciate, Duke Nukem 3D for Xbox Live Arcade added the Time Replay feature, Online Multiplayer  and Co-op.  That proved to be something worth having! Same thing with Marvel vs Capcom 2 aside from better sprite, the game offered Online support that was missing in the Dreamcast and PS2 version. Street Fighter 3 Third Strike would feature new features such as Online support. What does Sly the Racoon trilogy, Prince of Persia Trilogy and Tomb Raider Trilogy has to offer in terms of HD Remastered? better graphics, 3D.....how many people owns 3D tv? For an example the new Resident Evil Revival Section that contains Code Veronica and Resident Evil 4. If the game doesn't feature Move support or some other gameplay feature therefore RE Revival Section is nothing more of a port! How many times will you replay RE4?

So is it good for publishers/developers to remake their classic games in HD? the ones you've already paid for first time or twice?

I think HD Remakes are only needed for games that were underrated and not experienced by many, games such as Tales of Symphonia which was really scarce in terms of unit shipped for UK and Shenmue which was $47m developed and did not sold well meaning it did not reach into many gamers hand.

On contrary to get those classic games to a wilder audience, the perfect timing to introduce a remake is if you have a sequel planned. For an example the proven success of Marvel vs Capcom 3. Without Marvel vs Capcom 2's re-release sales, gamers would not have been converted to Marvel vs Capcom 3 regardless of the controls aimed at casual gamers.

Re-releasing HD Remastered just to make quick money is a waste of time and not to mention when many fans are not demanding for it. This is a trend we are noticing from Sony, instead of making the PS3 backwards compatible to PS2 games, they would ask their third parties to make HD collection bundles instead.

I wouldn't mind playing Devil May Cry HD trilogy for 7th gen system, however I would only purchase it if it contains a new game changing features, if not then I'll ignore it or rent it. And the worst thing Sony are asking the third parties to do is to make those HD remastered 3D compatible:/

Upon talking about nostalgia to old games, how about DLC and features we always want back?

I was really disappointed by Capcom's choice of characters for Marvel vs Capcom 3, instead of adding new characters to the game we had recycled characters. And to make up for this mistake they asked their fans what characters do they want in the game. This is where nostalgia clicks and logic fails! The fans inevitably demanded for old characters such as Strider...come on MAN! Where is the Mega Man X they've been asking for? where is Ghost Rider? where is Blade?

Not to blame them, the blog I also made www.blackxino.blogspot.com consisting of Ninja Gaiden 3 wishlist. If you look at most of the demands, I wrote down demands for bringing back classic costumes to the game. How many times would we get the Classic Ryukenden costume in every new Ninja Gaiden games? How many times would we get the Ashtar costume in Ninja Gaiden games? Not to mention that those costumes were in DOA games as well:/ I mean it is time to move on and stop looking back at the past, the Classic Ryukenden is no more and forgotten, let the past die. Personally if I were to design Ninja Gaiden 3 myself I would not bring back any past nostalagia feelings that have been following the same trend since each releases. The only reason why I added those old nostalagia costumes was to demand for everybody, gamers and fans. I wanted to be the voice for them and didn't want to inlcude "I want this and that" for Ninja Gaiden 3.

Next up I'll be talking about new trends towards PR and marketing.

Posted in: Thoughts/Opinions