Nostalgia

I guess I already knew it, but recently I really noticed how crazy I am for nostalgia! Recently it was announced that Street Fighter 4 is coming out this year in arcades. Let me tell you why this means a lot to me. When I was a little kid I used to go over to my friend Michael's house. I remember many times he would play the NES or SNES and I would just sit there watching and drawing. One of the games I loved to watch was Street Fighter 2.


I would draw all the characters and when I went home I would imagine stories about them and their super special skills they used to fight. Over the years there have been many remakes, and a few proper SF games, but this is only the 4th numbered sequel. I spent almost a whole day looking at the artwork from the games. I love to see how different artists render the same characters. I have one of the games that feature the characters from SF2 (Capcom VS SNK 2) It came out around 2000 when I was still in high school. I was never a great SF player but I can beat a newbie pretty easily at least. I can't wait for SF4, and I think the new 3D artwork really follows the series roots. I really have to say that Street Fighter 2 was one of the things that got me interested in art in the first place. It drove me to imagine, pay attention to anatomy, action poses, and just to sketch over and over.


Another game I just re-discovered is Twisted Metal 2. It's a really original game I think. Basically you drive a car that comes complete with missiles and guns. It's like a destruction derby, you are going around the world to different locations trashing the competators. The plot tells us that the world is in Chaos. A man with god like abilities is in control of the world. His name is Calypso and he has promised that whoever wins this destruction derby will receive one wish, whatever they desire. There are many characters to chose from with many different goals.


Many of the ending movies show Calypso granting their wishes, and in a Twilight Zone like twist, the wishes aren't granted quite the way they expected. As for the game play, its really accessible for beginners but there is also a lot of room to grow and improve your skill, similar to Street Fighter. If you learn the timing and all the special moves you can really learn to play well and a beginner has no chance to beat you.


My friends who weren't really into the rock and roll, crazy post apocalyptic future thing, or driving games in general, still got into it. Even my dad and I played the co-op mode many times, it was really fun that I could share that game with so many friends. They made a handful of crappy sequels and rip-offs, but Twisted Metal 2 was best. I popped it in yesterday and found that even though the graphics suck now and the speed is a little slower, with some strange glitches, its still really fun and challenging. They just made a sequel for the PSP and are porting it to PS2, for a bargain price of $20 US I think I might have to pick it up. The graphics are not really that great compared to other PS2 games, but compared to the PS1 original is MUCH better, and being able to see further into the distance is pretty important.

Anyway - I really love to remember the times playing these games, and the sense of imagination I put into them. As a kid, these games were really special to me, maybe like books were for past generations. You may think 'oh its sad kids today don't read' but i think these games gave me some other useful skills, drawing, plot analysis, a sense for motion design, interface design, many things are there to study if you are interested in it as I am.

I might as well mention this as well, there is a guy who does video reviews of old and classic video games, but only the bad ones, its really fun to hear him rip into games I've played, but also ones that I didn't because I can relate to spending money on a game and finding out that it sucks. He is the 'angry videogame nerd' and you can see his videos on Screwattack.com and Gametrailers.com.
Really great stuff. So - maybe those of you who read this can let me know what things do you get nostalgic for?