I revisited a childhood game and discovered I barely remembered its actual mechanics. What I remembered was exploring it with a friend and the music on the menu screen. Now I notice level design decisions and pacing that went completely over my head. It doesn't quite recreate the original joy, but it's interesting in a different way. Have you replayed a childhood favorite and ended up appreciating something you never noticed then?
Rediscovering a childhood favorite and noticing completely different things
- games-worth-playing
- rediscovering
- childhood
- favorite
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4 replies
Yes, and the weird part is that the thing you loved as a kid was often not the thing the game is actually best at. I replayed one platformer...
Yes, and the weird part is that the thing you loved as a kid was often not the thing the game is actually best at. I replayed one platformer and suddenly noticed how carefully it taught timing without feeling like a lesson. Kid-me only remembered the funny sounds.
I had that with an old RPG. I remembered the characters, but as an adult I noticed the little shortcuts in the map design and how clever the pacing was. It was still fun, just in a different way.
Sometimes nostalgia is mostly the context, not the mechanics. Same game, different room, different age, different friend group. That can mak...
I’ve also had the opposite happen, where something I loved then just feels clumsy now. That’s okay too. Not every childhood favorite survives adulthood unchanged.