What specific gaming period do you have most nostalgia for?

So I cracked open crackdown (hehh) for the first time today in a while and a shitload of memories came rushing back from when this game came out, I would've been about 11 or 12 and at this age this game was the shit, I have such immense nostalgia for it.

Then I got thinking about how the year surrounding this game's release -sort of late 2006 to late 2007- were probably the best times I've ever had with videogames and I don't think they'll ever be beaten. Lost Planet was the first time I ever played a game online and that was fuckin mindblowing at the time, I made a few great friends playing Rainbow Six Vegas, Mass Effect was unbelievable to my young mind and playing Halo 3 custom games were straight up the most fun I've ever had/will have with a videogame. So enjoyable.

I have really vivid memories of what my life was like at this point, even down to the smell of the summer air coming in through the open window's in my house. I have similar feelings for the time I first started playing in WoW in early 2009 but its not quite as strong.

So I guess im curious what period of gaming/your life did you have a similar experience, if any?????? Mostly as it relates to gaming but also any other details you remember from that time particularly vividly.

90s PC gaming is an endless well of nostalgia for me. Especially mid-90s, but the whole decade counts. The massive game boxes, the bizarre and plentiful adventure games, the shareware compilation discs (which were always terribly formatted, so there were always a bunch of games that you had to go digging through the disc to discover), the computer shows and their booths filled with homebrew stuff, half of it blatantly illegal (hacking/phreaking software, pirated software, etc.)...

I went to a computer show for old times' sake last year, and it was downright depressing. Half of the booths had nothing to do with computers, there were maybe 30 people in attendance, the only hilariously illegal booth was a guy selling a disc full of SNES ROMs, most of the show floor was empty... it was really, really sad. The shows of the 90s were an absolute spectacle. Cutting edge hardware demos, games upon games upon games, hundreds of people, no floorspace wasted... it was amazing, even without the nostalgia filter.

I'm rambling though, haha. Suffice to say, I could go on for quite a while about all this. :P

Well, there's two that sort of run into each other. Colecovision-era and 16-bit era. I never really had a lot of experience with 8-bit games until much later and my time with the Colecovision bleed into my time with my Genesis, Sega-CD, and 32X which all occurred when I was a kid.

EDIT:

These two games in particular come to mind.

The late 90's and early 2000's for me. Ocarina of Time, Neverwinter Nights, Starcraft, Final Fantasy IX and X, and Chrono Trigger (technically mid-90's, but whatever. It's so important to mention either way) will get me overflowing with nostalgia easily. Especially if I hear any music from them. I'll also always have fond memories of what cartridges were like.

I think probably the late 90s to early 2000s. Of course I've played my fair share of SNES games and GameBoy games prior to that, but early 2000s was probably when I started getting more exposure to games. Back then I was just playing whatever games that my brothers had at the time ranging from Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (which was why I had a gush of nostalgia when they played it at TNT I STILL REMEMBER THE GOD DAMN FIRST LEVEL) to FA Premier League Football Manager 2002. I've forgotten a lot of the games I've played during those years but if I ever find old game discs again all those memories will coming rushing back.

I had an NES and a Genesis (Mega Drive!) around 1996 and onwards. Technically that was already in the PS1 era, (was too young to know or care though) so I can't really say that there was a specific period in gaming that I have the most nostalgia for. In particular the three third games Mario 3, Sonic 3 and Mega Man 3 and their music are very nostalgic for me.

Late NES, entire SNES and PSOne era.

from about 95-2003 is my nostalgia period.

1993-2000 so late NES to SNES/GEN and the N64/PS1. If you can think of a big named tittle from this era I almost always really liked it.

Tie between the SNES era (which for me lasted from 95 to 2001 when I got a Gamecube) and the early 360-PS3 era because I played a lot of shit during that time and I also made my first gaming PC.

People are nostalgic for Crackdown and Mass Effect? I'm only 26, but I feel so goddamn old when read stuff like that.

I have different periods of really strong nostalgic feelings towards gaming. Periods I went through.

I have strong feelings for the PS1 era where I played games like:

• The Crash Bandicoot Series
• Twisted Metal series
• Spyro Series

Then moving on up I have nostalgic feelings for the PS2 When thinking about:

• SOCOM 2 and 3
• GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas

And most recently I'm starting to have strong nostalgic feelings for the early Xbox360 days thinking about:

• Mass effect 1 and 2
• Call of Duty 4

I played a lot of other games its just that these are the ones I get nostalgic thinking about.

Early 90's is the period I have the most nostalgic affection for. I still have a really vivid memory of coming home from school on my 8th birthday, going up to my bedroom and seeing my Mega Drive for the first time. Plugged into a really old CRT that would eventually kick the bucket when we tried to plug a N64 into it. For whatever reason I just clearly remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog and the late evening summer sun just beaming through the window.

all of them?

i was kind of young but had siblings to set me up right so probably late 90's/early 2000's pc games like Freespace 2, Stronghold, Tribes, commandos, baldurs gate 2 etc.

same time period was a like a little golden age for fighters too with Vampire savior, 3rd strike, Mvc1/2, Guilty Gear x and alpha 3 all coming out within 3/4 years of each other

Gaming in the mid to late 90s is my main nostalgic era, no question. :D

• Homeworld
• Age of Empires 1 and 2
• Lords of the Realm 2
• Populous
• Worms Armageddon
• Caesar 3
• Zeus (And the Poseidon expansion)
• Crash Bandicoot
• Spyro

The early 2000s have some nostalgia for me as well: (Primairly no further than 2004)

• Age of Mythology
• Wrath Unleashed
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Stronghold (Crusader ESPECIALLY)
• Medieval and Rome Total War
• Kingdom Hearts 1

I have really vivid memories of playing BioShock Infinite for the first time; I wish I could go back to March 26th and play it all again just like I did back then.

your nose is bleeding

There are a couple periods that I have nostalgia for. The first is the N64 era, as that was my first console. I used to play it with my friends and family constantly. Another is my memories of playing Diablo 2 a lot in the early 2000's. And finally, the first few years of the 360 were great. So many people I knew had 360s, and there was always someone to play with. Great times.

N64 era, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, but also Starcraft and Civ III. Friends coming over to my house and playing games on an almost daily basis, and my first venture into online gaming with Starcraft. Those were good times.

I also have some serious nostalgia for playing Secret of Mana and Link to the Past with my brothers.

The first few years of the N64 is definitely my sweet spot. 96-99?

From around the time of Super Mario Bros. 3 through Madden 2005/San Andreas on PS2. I can get all goofy about plenty of games from that era, mainly for the SNES. It still amazes me how much I remember about small details of games from the SNES.

As far as the experience of being a video game player, 1996 - 2005. After God of War and San Andreas, there weren't many insane highs left in gaming for me after all the advances games made during that period. I can't imagine seeing such dramatic changes to games like that again.

The Sega Saturn era really gets me. I must of spent hours in the 3D level of Sonic Jam just running around trying to find secrets that weren't there. Fighters Megamix is still the only fighting game I truly loved, and co-op Die Hard Arcade was a amazing fun. I still regret selling it to fund a purchase of an N64. But at least I got Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok 2 and most importantly Ocarina of Time out of it. I think those two consoles really stand out as the golden age.

The 90s, because I can't choose between the SNES and the PlayStation. Can I compromise with the Saturn?

I have a lot of nostalgia for the gamecube, probably cause that was when I was old enough to make my own decisions about what games I like I think.

You can have multiple ya goof

Ps2 era for me, I had a genesis and an n64 but the ps2 is where I became aware of a variety of genres and played my all time fav MGS3 and experienced the epicness of kingdom hearts. I was just at the right age where I understood what it meant for all that stuff to be in one game and still had a very big love for mickey mouse and disney movies.

The Playstation 2/ Xbox generation. GTA III's soundtrack is one of the most nostalgic things in the world to me.

Mid 90s-Mid 2000s PC gaming.

My first console was an N64, so I have a lot of awesome memories from that era, but some of my most vivid memories are from Guildwars, which was the first game I ever really played online; it really drew me into gaming in a way playing casually with friends never had, and it was the last time I went into a game totally blind. It was a constant adventure not only in following the story or seeing new environments, it was the first time I played a game that forced me to learn the systems that make up an MMO (or any RPG, for that matter). Now I feel like I know too much of the 'magic' behind the game, it's less about my badass ranger somehow surviving a huge fight, and more about my DPS and survivability.

Early-Mid 2000s.

I started with the NES and owned every major thing since then. I have a ton of nostalgia for SNES and PS1 and late 90s PC games, but the whole PS2/Gamecube era is unbeatable quality.

The mid to late 90s for me.

Also, I wouldn't say I have nostalgia yet, but 2011 was a clusterfuck of Awesomeness.

Word. This. Metal Gear. Parasite EVE, Final Fantasy games , Resident Evil. Especially 1998 nothing can beat 98'.

None. Games just keep getting better.

The closest thing would be 1994-2000 when I would go to my friend's house after school and most weekends to play games. But that has nothing to do with games/consoles/cycles/periods and everything to do with the free time and lack of responsibilities. At this point I can barely remember what games we played and know I have zero interest in playing them again.

2012

SNES and PSX era. I still had a lot of time to play games and in turn really enjoyed JRPGs.

From around 1998 to 2003.

its when I first really got into PC's, I was playing alot of FPS and WRPG's and MMO's but I was still playing huge amounts of ps1 JRPGS (silver star story, suikoden) and 2d fighters (alpha series)...oh and the Dreamcast (soul cal and skies of arcadia, Jet set) slotted in nice, right in the middle.

Either that or the commodore 64 period in the mid to late 80s....but those games dont hold up nearly as well apart from the music.

Mainly just the SNES, JRPGs of the PS1 and the 3d platformers of the PS2.

Probably 96-2001. Various N64 titles, as I was never super into SNES/genesis (going back to those was a bad idea though >.>). And Half-Life 1, Deus Ex 1, Team Fortress Classic, Fallout 1/2, and Bauldur's Gate.

I'm not even sure why the new Tomb Raider broke through and surpassed a lot of those to me, or what particular part of it elevated it to my taste. That is more the thing I am trying to figure out, since it makes me wonder if I skipped a ton of stuff this gen that would put it in competition to that pre-2000 period.

Probably the early PS1/Saturn years. I didn't have either system; I was an N64 guy. But that era makes me nostalgic because I didn't play a lot of those games, and because every developer was trying to figure out how to deal with this newfangled 3D stuff. A lot of it was crap. There's no getting around that. A lot of games released around that time were terrible. But at the same time, it's super-compelling to me because it was a brand new world of sorts.

Mid 90's PC gaming and the Dreamcast era. I also have a lot of love for my C64 days, but I was only 5 or so.

Late 90's, early 2000's. But nostalgia is bullshit that marketing execs use to make you feel sentimental over material possessions.

I'm pretty nostalgic for mid to late 90's gaming on PC, N64 and GBC. Most of the games I'm nostalgic for are:

• Super Mario 64
• Mario Kart 64
• Super Smash Bros
• Age of Empires II
• Star Wars Episode 1 Racer
• Wario Land 3 (came out in 2000, but still a GNC game)
• Super Mario Bros Deluxe
• Pokemon Yellow and Silver
• Backyard Baseball, Soccer and Football (What? I liked those games as a kid.)

Mid nineties to early oughts, across both consoles and PC games. I can remember almost wanting to cry when I replayed Broken Sword a couple of years ago the nostalgia was so strong >_>'

i hate to say it (millenials seem to dislike retro for some odd reason) but my fav times were with SNES/Genesis era. The Nintendo vs SEGA by itself was fun.

The quality of Rpgs and sports games on both platforms was amazing, as were fighting games.

PC gaming circa 1998-1999. Those were the glory days.

The mid 90s.

On consoles, the best JRPGs came out during that period. On PC huge advances were being made with 3D and it was a period where games were truly starting to feel huge like they can be today and at the same time still felt very experimental. There was so much to discover. There hasn't really been anything like it since then, not even when transitioning from one console generation to the next.

n64

Smash bros

OOT

Mario 64

etc

16 bit. I hum a lot of music from that era.