The Surreal Nostalgia of Arcade Longplays
Steve Rousseau, in Digg, writes about a unique thing to a certain age group: the nostalgia of playing arcade games. It’s amazing how the internet has not killed nostalgia but amped it up. I think I’m more than a touch older than the author, but I’m with him every step of the way.
What’s it like to watch someone play a video game of your childhood better than you could possibly imagine in 1080p at 60 frames per second? It’s absolutely enthralling. It’s the past, but perfected. It’s better than you remember because it’s not you playing, and it’s not being played on a big fuzzy CRT screen in a big loud arcade that’s desperately trying to suck quarters from you. It is the idealized childhood no one could ever possibly have. That’s the most intoxicating nostalgia when the past is better than you remember because it’s been upgraded and played by an infallible machine with infinite money.