Shovel Knight and the Exploitation of Nostalgia

Shovel Knight has been said to be one of the best videogames to come out of last year and I recently played it, excited but also cautious, because what I hear above everything else when people say how good of a game it is, is how nostalgic it is. The game looks and plays like a traditional 2D platformer from the 80s and early 90s, which is not a genre that I grew up with. In my life I have only ever played no more than 5 games in this genre from that time period. So looking past that nostalgic aspect, I still enjoy the game a fair amount, but I do not consider it to be one of the best games of last year, it was a fun 2D platformer, but it does nothing to reinvent the genre, nor does it have an engaging story. So this does make me think that a lot of the praise of this game does come from the nostalgia factor of it, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. You have no idea how many times i've criticised something of nostalgia and people's defence is "you just didn't grow up with it, that's why you don't like it." surely that should be a good thing, i didn't grow up with it so i can go in with a more objective view point and then make a fair assessment. Saying you like it because you grew up with it is basically saying "i'm going to ignore everything wrong with this because it's something from my childhood". I am the type of person who thrives on my nostalgia, but i don't let it cloud my judgement; I absolutely love things like Pokemon and I always will, but i acknowledge it is a crap show, again, i love it with all my heart, but i acknowledge that it's not good, and i won't argue against someone who says that it's a bad show.

What this has to do with Shovel Knight is that even though I think it's a good game, when I say people are looking at it with nostalgia and letting that improve their viewpoint on it, what I hear back is "you didn't love it because you didn't grow up with it!". Again, it's the same point, if you were to take away the nostalgia, is this still one of the best games of the year? It's not the gameplay aspect that bugs me, but it's the style. The game was made in modern times yet tries as hard as it can to look like something from the 80s, the art design, the music, everything, it's not something from your childhood, it's something exploiting your childhood. If the game looked like it was made today but still had the same gameplay style, it wouldn't have had as many lauded reviews as it did, still positive reviews, but not as positive.

What i'm trying to say is, nostalgia is a good thing, but always acknowledge that there is a difference between something being nostalgic and something being good. They don't have to be separate, but it's important to know when they are.

-Danny