The Ghosts of Christmases Past

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as a song once said. It’s a time when we partake of more calories in a day than we would normally suffer in a week. It’s a time when we fondly remember the year gone by and, for me, I also like to remember games of a different time. I’m very lucky to be able to play any games that have featured in my past Christmases, either through emulation or still having them in my collection. This year was no different, with the onslaught of Christmas, my memory was turned back fifteen years and twenty years. I had to play two games that reminded me of those rose-tinted days.

I always associate the original Tomb Raider with Christmas 1996. It was the year it came out and I received it for my Christmas the same year. I was awestruck at how good it was, especially the jumping off the waterfall part. I ushered many people into my room, just to show them what you could do and how good it looked. This year, I fired up Tomb Raider anniversary on my 360 and let the waves of nostalgia wash over me. It had been at least two years since I had played it so it was like starting all over again, although I had a mid-level game save to go back to. Wouldn’t you know!  The save game was in the middle of the Peru level, right beside the Waterfall, now in HD glory. Within a very short time I was marvelling at the vistas, I was scampering up the rocks and grabbing ledges with my fingertips. It was glorious. As I was playing through, I had total recall of the original. All the names and levels came rushing back in, the waves of nostalgia were great. It brought back memories of listening to the Spice Girls singing about safe sex and my small grey box of wonder that was my Playstation.

Venturing further back in my Christmas history was fraught with danger and doubt. It was with a little reluctance that I downloaded Sonic the Hedgehog on to my shiny iPhone 4S. Christmas 1991 was a time of change for myself, halfway through my first year of college, discovering the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption and drifting away from gaming a little. I drifted away until I purchased a Sega Megadrive and then got Sonic too. Over the years I have played Sonic to death, so I know all the levels, sounds, enemies, music… everything. I would surely be hyper critical of a poor emulation.  From the second that I turned my iPhone on its side and heard “Segaaaaaaaaa”, I knew that I needn’t worry. Sonic on the iPhone is a wonderful thing. No new-fangled smoothing or remixed soundtracks, it’s pure port heaven.  Everything is exactly as it should be. The levels are as lush looking as ever, the sprites are pixel perfect and every musical note and sound effect is perfection. Even better still, I could whip it out anytime and play it wherever I was, heaven. After a few short minutes of play the small screen is not an issue and due to the fact I was concentrating so hard, it may as well have been a cinema screen I was playing on. The swirling sands of time were swooshing me back to ten fags for 98 pence and dancing to ABBA and the KLF at what became one of Glasgow’s trendiest nightspots.

I’ve always enjoyed the way that games, music, films, smells or tastes can take you back in your mind. Of course, more often than not, the rose tinted specs can alter perceptions of reality but it’s not that bad. It’s great that we can still play games that were hugely influential from so long ago, and I wonder what games I’ll be revisiting in 15 or twenty years. The scary thought being that I will be 55 and 60 at that time.