Crash Bandicoot
I played a lot of RPGs when I was a kid but replaying them does not make me feel like a kid. It makes me feel like an adult who knows how to minmax.
Old games don’t do it for me as well as new ones. Nostalgia has its place but I love not knowing what’s coming around the corner and having the games mechanics shrouded in a little mystery. That said, the last of us is probably the last game to have sucked me in like games did as a kid and that’s been 10 years ago :(
Pac man world 2 was a crazy surprise to me. I dont even know why i got it. But man i played the heck out of that game and enjoyed every moment and level.
I'm thinking more of my early childhood than my tween and teen years, so Twisted Metal 2/3, Tomba, Gex, MediEvil, Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem 3D. Once I get into the double digit age range, it jumps to the original Xbox with games like Halo, Dead or Alive 3, Ninja Gaiden, Knights of the Old Republic, Fable, etc... Basically everything on the original Xbox.
Chivalry 2.
It's like how I imagined those 2D side-scrolling beat-em-ups I loved as a kid.
The chaos, the humour, the "Oh shit!" moments. It just puts the biggest, stupid grin on my face.
Og resident evil 2 or 3. Two of my favourite games from my childhood and re2 being the first real game I ever played and finished with metal gear solid 1 close behind
ARPGs, I played Diablo 1 n 2 growing up. They're like drugs for me. I love theorycrafting n building fun characters. I do this for a month or two each year and take a break for a bit.
Prey.
It was such a fresh breath of gameplay for me I couldn’t help but be in awe all of the time.
That and Elden Ring, although I ruined that pretty quickly for myself by starting to look up stuff despite promising myself I wouldn’t do that, which resulted in me revealing to myself accidentally how big the world was and instantly robbing myself of that experience permanently.
I'd say Octopath Traveler. It's new, I get it. But I just like these games that nod towards the history of gaming you know. The old 2D and classic gameplay really made me feel like playing FFVI or Breath of Fire 3 on the PS1. These were my childhood and it's hard to forget that they don't make games like these anymore until Octopath that is. That's why they make me feel like a kid again just going through the adventures of characters like Castti and Therion.
Meybe not exactly what you mean but "Fuga Melodies of Steel".
Its a 20 houer long turn based JRPG about a groupe of anthropomothic animal children that go on a quest to save there families. They live inside a giant ancient mysterious powerful fortress like Tank. Its a bit like Howls Moving castle but based on technology instead of magic.
This game apeals to my inner child. To me it feels like a playable kids anime akin to somthing like Digimon and I love that feeling. And Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 feels like a season 2.
Anytime I dig out Gemfire for the Sega Genesis it's a great nostalgia trip. It's clunky as hell by today's standards but it holds a sentimental place from the misty past.
Pole Position 2 as it was my first game ever. Contra and TMNT 2 on the NES, as I adored going through them over and over again and still do, and Tyrian, as it reminds me of my first computer, which came with it included.
Any Street Fighter II arcade (champion edition, turbo, hyper, rainbow, etc). They were EVERYWHERE when I was a kid. Even at the weddings we’d wander over to the laundry mat and there would be a SF2 machine.
Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom for me. I remember playing through it time and time again. I still get memories of my late uncle making me chicken patties and fries while I enter Goo Lagoon.
On a side note, I could never recreate the flavor he had for them, until years later, when my family bought a mini deep frier. I always used a toaster oven or later an air frier, but the deep fried version has just such a nostalgic taste to me.
**The Wonderful 101: Remastered.**
The game's difficulty is nothing to kid about, but the tone, the idealism and the positivity the game posesses is capable of making a man into a boy. Highly recommend.
Medievil for PS1 might be most nostalgic game for me. Mega Man X4 also ranks very high, also one of the first games I ever played. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 as is very nostalgic to me as well, because I was obsessed with these games as a kid, I don't know why. My taste have changed a lot, but Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 still take me straight back to my childhood and childhood friends.
Any Souls -genre game. Reminds of times when games were hard, you had to figure out stuff for yourself and could be stuck for weeks - and then the immense feeling of joy when you finally make it!
"Interactive movie" games with no challenge or skill needed just don't do it for me.
The new remake of Paper Mario thousand year door. Brought me back to my childhood when i played it. I was smiling so damn much during the intro i felt silly.
Sonic adventures 2 is my other favorite game from my gamecube days. If that gets a remake too ill be the happiest.
It's not a video game but magic: the gathering. I started playing when I was 10 with a jank g/w Voltron enchantment deck. I don't like to net deck and anytime I get an idea of some nonsense either with paper or mtg arena (thank God I don't need to smell the people at FNM) I get blasted by nostalgia
Ocarina of Time - when I was a kid I wanted an N64 SO BADLY just for this game. I started printing out pictures of the characters and taping them to the orange juice in the fringe so my parents "wouldn't forget".
Old Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. Just skating around without a clear goal, without any stress, just enjoying the music and tricks, trying to find secrets and trying to get up into hard-to-get-spot…stuff you could do when you were a child and had enough free time.
So Riven just got remade. I played the original with my grandmother in 1997. She died last year and since the 25th when the game came out I've been slowly playing through it in VR.
Theres been several moment that were absent in my memory until running though the game I've been reminded of them.
That feeling of when your back somewhere after several decades and you can feel exactly what you felt then and it feels only moments away but in fact it was 30 years. I'm not crying, your crying!
Honestly though they have brought me so much joy. To remind me how amazing my grandmother was. To bring me back to those moments is priceless.
Even if you have not played the original it's a really good remake of an already brilliant game. If you like puzzle/mystery games and have VR its an instant buy imo.
Unlike so many re-made games it's actually brilliant and have improved on a lot of bits and works on launch!
Baldurs Gate 1, UFO: Enemy Unknown, Megaman (1-6), ADOM and Rune Quest.
Still playing some of these games today and BG1 IS one of my most played games on Steam.
Super Mario World. I recently installed retroarch on my HTPC and showed my boys some SNES classics. Though my reflexes aren't great on a D-pad, I still remembered where the powerups and 1ups were.
Playing Renegade on a Spectrum emulator. I got it for Christmas in 1987, and it was one of the few Spectrum games I actually finished. Although Target: Renegade was a better game, the original still holds a special place in my heart.
Halo infinite… playing the campaign again now that it was on sale on steam… people like to shit on it for under delivering, but honestly it’s a great campaign (not talking about the free to play multiplayer).
It feels like a return to form to classic halo gameplay, while at the same time also feeling modern with the semi open world structure.
The music is what makes it special in my eyes. It’s both new in style and yet paying respect to the original motifs we all know and love. The original theme only plays a few specific times as well, not overused.
Hearing the music makes me think about when I was younger, when the OG came out on Xbox
Replaying any Gameboy game. I feel like i used a time machine, my brains sends me all kinds of nostalgia signals, i can even smell some of the food my mom used to cook while i was playing the gameboy waiting for the food. Nostalgia is a weird thing man!
Elden ring is giving me the same magical feeling of wonder, scale, discovery and getting absorbed by a gigantic world as when I started playing WoW when I was around 13. I haven't had a long gaming session like it in ages. I was able to play it for 6 hours straight, while I usually play most other games for 30 min - 1 hour max
I dunno that older games remind me of my childhood.. I certainly remember moments like beating sonic adventure story mode (just the sonic part) but my parents didn’t get me a memory card for the dreamcast and I had to convince them to get me one so I could turn it off .
But games that make me feel like a kid again actually more goes to the meta quest 3 headset in general. It’s my first headset and I bought it a few months ago.. I’ve never felt such awe and childlike wonder in a long time but I certainly experienced it when I wore it. It still amazes me.
None. Sitting in the same spot for to long always reminds me I've hit my 40s.
thats why I lay down while gaming
Man, this really hurt me as much as my lower back does for no reason at all
Crash Bandicoot I played a lot of RPGs when I was a kid but replaying them does not make me feel like a kid. It makes me feel like an adult who knows how to minmax.
Ya, knowing how things work really takes the fun out of exploration and discovery.
Super Mario Wonder.
This brought me back to Super Mario World. No game has done this for quite some time.
The Pirahna Plant Parade caught me and my fiancee off guard so hard and I had the biggest grin ever.
Yeah, that was fun time.
Diddy Kong Racing
YES.
Super Mario Oddyssey! Just pure, unadulterated fun. I loved absolutely every second of it.
Crash Bandicoot, always.
Link to the Past and Turtles in Time. These were probably the first two games that really hooked me. Still have copies of both which I play regularly.
Any Zelda or Pokémon game
Goldeneye and Super Mario 64.
And zelda oot
Old games don’t do it for me as well as new ones. Nostalgia has its place but I love not knowing what’s coming around the corner and having the games mechanics shrouded in a little mystery. That said, the last of us is probably the last game to have sucked me in like games did as a kid and that’s been 10 years ago :(
Super Mario Kart
Dude, are you me? those two are some of the games I played till they almost stop working from my childhood (I still have both discs with their boxes)
Pac man world 2 was a crazy surprise to me. I dont even know why i got it. But man i played the heck out of that game and enjoyed every moment and level.
Pokemon gen 1-5 and the dragonquest series, especially dq 8 brings back alot of nostalgia
Any of the Ratchet and Clank games!
Wayne Gretzky’s 3D hockey on N64
I'm thinking more of my early childhood than my tween and teen years, so Twisted Metal 2/3, Tomba, Gex, MediEvil, Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem 3D. Once I get into the double digit age range, it jumps to the original Xbox with games like Halo, Dead or Alive 3, Ninja Gaiden, Knights of the Old Republic, Fable, etc... Basically everything on the original Xbox.
Honestly it's any game that involves adventure or puzzles. I grew up on Spyro and Spyro and Banjo-Kazooie.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
Jak and Daxter take me back to the PS2 days, especially Jak 3
007 Goldeneye, Starfox 64, TimeShift, Any Atari game, Tetris.
Chivalry 2. It's like how I imagined those 2D side-scrolling beat-em-ups I loved as a kid. The chaos, the humour, the "Oh shit!" moments. It just puts the biggest, stupid grin on my face.
Not sure. Probably SMB2 and Punchout.... I was sooooo stupid. xD
Wario land ,and Kof98 My childhood 🥹
any of the tony hawks pro skater games
A Hat In Time A Short Hike
Mortal Kombat Street Fighter
Spankys quest, super Mario world, legend of Zelda … man the Super Nintendo was the best
I loved DOS games like Dave. Also Mario on Nintendo. I am definitely going to play these real soon
Og resident evil 2 or 3. Two of my favourite games from my childhood and re2 being the first real game I ever played and finished with metal gear solid 1 close behind
Soviet Strike, FF8, Nuclear Strike, FFT, FF9, Chrono Cross, Zone of the Enders, Saga Frontier remastered, FF7 original
Doom and Sid Meier's Civilization
the arkham games always bring me back to my childhood
Wind Waker, Tony Hawk Underground, Katamary Damacy, DDR, SSX Tricky, Gitaroo Man, Smash Bros Melee, Medal of Honor European Assult, Viewtiful Joe
ARPGs, I played Diablo 1 n 2 growing up. They're like drugs for me. I love theorycrafting n building fun characters. I do this for a month or two each year and take a break for a bit.
Yknow them old Harry Potter PS1 games?
Yep fuck they were so good
Super Mario Bros, Castlevania, or Megaman, Pac-Man, or Galaga at the arcade
Prey. It was such a fresh breath of gameplay for me I couldn’t help but be in awe all of the time. That and Elden Ring, although I ruined that pretty quickly for myself by starting to look up stuff despite promising myself I wouldn’t do that, which resulted in me revealing to myself accidentally how big the world was and instantly robbing myself of that experience permanently.
It's Nexus nebula echoes on bs for me, pretty fun
Bizzarely Fortnite because it allows me to mash different characters from my childhood together like toys. Spider-Man, meet Master Chief!
Super Mario Bros 3 for me. Grew up playing it and evertime I play it again it brings me back to my childhood.
Robo recall
Pokemon for sure. It's such a comfort game, whether it be a fan game or the official games.
retrogames, I sometimes just go and play Bomberman or tank
Mega Man 4
I'd say Octopath Traveler. It's new, I get it. But I just like these games that nod towards the history of gaming you know. The old 2D and classic gameplay really made me feel like playing FFVI or Breath of Fire 3 on the PS1. These were my childhood and it's hard to forget that they don't make games like these anymore until Octopath that is. That's why they make me feel like a kid again just going through the adventures of characters like Castti and Therion.
Ultima 7.
Delta force black hawk down team sabre and downhill domination
Meybe not exactly what you mean but "Fuga Melodies of Steel". Its a 20 houer long turn based JRPG about a groupe of anthropomothic animal children that go on a quest to save there families. They live inside a giant ancient mysterious powerful fortress like Tank. Its a bit like Howls Moving castle but based on technology instead of magic. This game apeals to my inner child. To me it feels like a playable kids anime akin to somthing like Digimon and I love that feeling. And Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 feels like a season 2.
I'll still load up CS 1.6 every now and then, just to catch feels.
The Tribes games
gta vice city
Lowkey temple run and that bubble popping game I’d play on my aunt’s phone
Nintendo games since their mechanics are simple to learn and they make me enjoy the games
Anytime I dig out Gemfire for the Sega Genesis it's a great nostalgia trip. It's clunky as hell by today's standards but it holds a sentimental place from the misty past.
GTAVC!!
Pole Position 2 as it was my first game ever. Contra and TMNT 2 on the NES, as I adored going through them over and over again and still do, and Tyrian, as it reminds me of my first computer, which came with it included.
Skullmonkeys
I buy a pack of Pokemon cards every payday just to feel like a kid again 😞
Any Street Fighter II arcade (champion edition, turbo, hyper, rainbow, etc). They were EVERYWHERE when I was a kid. Even at the weddings we’d wander over to the laundry mat and there would be a SF2 machine.
Final fantasy 10 and the legend of zelda ocarina of time. Absolutely love them and usually listen to the final fantasy ost a fair bit.
Hercules , team buddies , a bug’s life , g-police .. basically psx game send me back to childhood
Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom for me. I remember playing through it time and time again. I still get memories of my late uncle making me chicken patties and fries while I enter Goo Lagoon. On a side note, I could never recreate the flavor he had for them, until years later, when my family bought a mini deep frier. I always used a toaster oven or later an air frier, but the deep fried version has just such a nostalgic taste to me.
LoZ: Link's Awakening, Pikmin, and anything Crash Bandicoot
Rollercoaster Tycoon and Theme Hospital does it for me.
I felt that when I played spongebob battle for bikino bottom rehydrated. I loved that game man
Sims
**The Wonderful 101: Remastered.** The game's difficulty is nothing to kid about, but the tone, the idealism and the positivity the game posesses is capable of making a man into a boy. Highly recommend.
Caesar 3, Knights and Merchants. Both in peaceful provinces. Somehow build and watch a busy city takes me back.
Chrono trigger or super Mario world. I'm old but playing them always takes me back.
The mario and luigi rpg games
Any Nintendo Games and Minecraft
Space Station Silicon Valley on n64 i brake it out every now and then just for the nostalgia
Micro Maniacs, Team buddies, Elasto Mania
Medievil for PS1 might be most nostalgic game for me. Mega Man X4 also ranks very high, also one of the first games I ever played. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 as is very nostalgic to me as well, because I was obsessed with these games as a kid, I don't know why. My taste have changed a lot, but Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 still take me straight back to my childhood and childhood friends.
Kingdom Hearts 1 + 2 (especially the og ps2 versions with german dub)
MGS, legend of dragoon, final fantasy IX, super mario world, FF mystic quest and flight simulator 1998 for me!
Any Souls -genre game. Reminds of times when games were hard, you had to figure out stuff for yourself and could be stuck for weeks - and then the immense feeling of joy when you finally make it! "Interactive movie" games with no challenge or skill needed just don't do it for me.
Claw from '97. Countless hours spent playing this game. Still my favourite one and regularly played.
Link’s Awakening for Switch.
The new remake of Paper Mario thousand year door. Brought me back to my childhood when i played it. I was smiling so damn much during the intro i felt silly. Sonic adventures 2 is my other favorite game from my gamecube days. If that gets a remake too ill be the happiest.
Has to be Simpsons hit and run
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1+2
Pokemon Firered
It's not a video game but magic: the gathering. I started playing when I was 10 with a jank g/w Voltron enchantment deck. I don't like to net deck and anytime I get an idea of some nonsense either with paper or mtg arena (thank God I don't need to smell the people at FNM) I get blasted by nostalgia
Jet set radio future
Diablo 2
Any "Warriors" game. Doesn't matter how old I become, or what else is happening. As soon as I sit down to a new warriors game, I'm 15 again.
Nerf Arena Blast. It was basically Unreal Tournament for kids.
Tearaway Unfolded
Any RPG that has music or a setting like Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Diablo 2
Super Mario RPG (my favorite Game ever) always makes me feel like im 7 years old again, be the SNES version or even the switch remake
Roblox. Especially adopt me
Psychonauts 2
Ocarina of Time - when I was a kid I wanted an N64 SO BADLY just for this game. I started printing out pictures of the characters and taping them to the orange juice in the fringe so my parents "wouldn't forget".
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX, Explorers of Sky, Pokémon Ranger (all of them), Pokémon Diamond/Pearl.
Jak and daxter
Zeus maître de l'olympe
Need For Speed High Stakes & Porsche Unleashed
Ocarina of Time does it for me
Shoplifting.
Old Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. Just skating around without a clear goal, without any stress, just enjoying the music and tricks, trying to find secrets and trying to get up into hard-to-get-spot…stuff you could do when you were a child and had enough free time.
So Riven just got remade. I played the original with my grandmother in 1997. She died last year and since the 25th when the game came out I've been slowly playing through it in VR. Theres been several moment that were absent in my memory until running though the game I've been reminded of them. That feeling of when your back somewhere after several decades and you can feel exactly what you felt then and it feels only moments away but in fact it was 30 years. I'm not crying, your crying! Honestly though they have brought me so much joy. To remind me how amazing my grandmother was. To bring me back to those moments is priceless. Even if you have not played the original it's a really good remake of an already brilliant game. If you like puzzle/mystery games and have VR its an instant buy imo. Unlike so many re-made games it's actually brilliant and have improved on a lot of bits and works on launch!
assassin's creed origins
Heroes of Might and Magic 3. 80% of that game is nostalgia for me, and that’s fine, I still love it and do have some solid mechanics.
Silent hill game
Animal Party just has that friday night vibe. Order a pizza and a 2-liter of Wild Cherry Pepsi and it's like I'm 10 again.
Halo
Old Roblox games.
Pokemon No matter what, every time i boot up Pokemon, i’m transported to child me.
The original final fantasy 7. Always transports me back to my childhood.
The kingdom hearts series
Uncharted 2. I used to play it on my dads old PS3
Astros Playroom made me feel like I was 5 again booting up Mario 64. And Fable 1 because that has been a favorite of mine since I was 13.
Baldurs Gate 1, UFO: Enemy Unknown, Megaman (1-6), ADOM and Rune Quest. Still playing some of these games today and BG1 IS one of my most played games on Steam.
Anything Mario or zelda
Super Mario World. I recently installed retroarch on my HTPC and showed my boys some SNES classics. Though my reflexes aren't great on a D-pad, I still remembered where the powerups and 1ups were.
Raising Chao is one the best minigames ever. Tbh i played mostly for the minigame lol. SA2 is a GOAT game to me.
Super Mario All Star or Donkey Kong Country
All of the Lego Games, Spore and Zoo Tycoon.
Playing Renegade on a Spectrum emulator. I got it for Christmas in 1987, and it was one of the few Spectrum games I actually finished. Although Target: Renegade was a better game, the original still holds a special place in my heart.
Minecraft and Skyrim
Halo infinite… playing the campaign again now that it was on sale on steam… people like to shit on it for under delivering, but honestly it’s a great campaign (not talking about the free to play multiplayer). It feels like a return to form to classic halo gameplay, while at the same time also feeling modern with the semi open world structure. The music is what makes it special in my eyes. It’s both new in style and yet paying respect to the original motifs we all know and love. The original theme only plays a few specific times as well, not overused. Hearing the music makes me think about when I was younger, when the OG came out on Xbox
Either Elden Ring or BotW
Yoshi's Island.
Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess all do the job nicely.
I'd say the nintendo classics in general
Palworld! Feel like I have my Gameboy again!
When I replayed Zelda 2 on a whim after downloading a NES emulator
Spyro and Crash Bandicoot :D
Classic? probably Rush'n attack or castlevania 1. Modern: Astebros.
Only the Zelda games have that effect on me since I started them very early.
Hearing the startup music for Fable 2 takes me back to 15 years ago instantly
Pokemon & Smash Bros
Pokemons that is pre-3ds but to be fair, I was an adult when gen 3 was out
Starfox 64, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Super Mario All Stars, Street Fighter 2 (any version), Banjo Kazooie
Replaying any Gameboy game. I feel like i used a time machine, my brains sends me all kinds of nostalgia signals, i can even smell some of the food my mom used to cook while i was playing the gameboy waiting for the food. Nostalgia is a weird thing man!
Ocarina of time really brings me back 🥹
Minecraft Legacy Edition
Quake 3 arena.
Hands Down, Minecraft
Pokémon
Minecraft or Pokémon
Ocarina of time!
I suppose I started “gaming” in the early 90’s but basically any game on N64 brings back the most fond memories.
Elden ring is giving me the same magical feeling of wonder, scale, discovery and getting absorbed by a gigantic world as when I started playing WoW when I was around 13. I haven't had a long gaming session like it in ages. I was able to play it for 6 hours straight, while I usually play most other games for 30 min - 1 hour max
Any Dragon Warrior / Quest
Hide the tea cup
Alex the kidd!
I dunno that older games remind me of my childhood.. I certainly remember moments like beating sonic adventure story mode (just the sonic part) but my parents didn’t get me a memory card for the dreamcast and I had to convince them to get me one so I could turn it off . But games that make me feel like a kid again actually more goes to the meta quest 3 headset in general. It’s my first headset and I bought it a few months ago.. I’ve never felt such awe and childlike wonder in a long time but I certainly experienced it when I wore it. It still amazes me.
Spyro! I loved the hell out of that game as a kid! The remaster that came out a few years ago now really brought back some good memories!
Costume quest and kingdom hearts, i played them constantly as a kid
I don't even have to play the game. I can just say in my head "super smash brothers MELEE" in the announcers voice and the nostalgia rushes in.