From the visual outset, the concept of nostalgia seems obvious. You see a game you played as a kid—or a game that looks like one you played as a kid—so it triggers happy memories. But let’s pull back the curtain: Why does your brain want to play this game, exactly?
SohoMD cofounder Jacques Jospitre Jr. says retro games have a dual appeal: Intrinsic and extrinsic properties that explain their popularity. “The intrinsic aspects have to do with classic gameplay that makes it a timeless experience, like chess,” he says. “Along with the extrinsic aspects of the game, where it’s associated with positive past experiences, in terms of people and places, making it a trigger for positive emotions. Some combination of both factors is what is driving the renewed interest in the genre.”
“Retro gaming may trigger nostalgic feelings, emotions, and thoughts,” explained Michael Feldmeier, a psychiatrist at Level Up Mental Health. “This is a great example of what happens when the memory system and the rewards system of the brain work together. A positive memory can be triggered by a sound, a smell, a certain image, or a thought. This in turn triggers a person's reward center in their brain to release dopamine, the neurotransmitter involved in pleasure and salience. People can gravitate towards retro gaming as they are seeking a known trigger for a positive emotional response.”
“Nostalgia is also thought to be important in emotional resilience,” says Feldmeier. “By looking at the past, one can sometimes look to the future even when getting bogged down by the pain of the present. If someone can be reminded of a better time, they may hold out hope for the future.”
Gaming is strongly linked to the brain’s reward pathways. Kenneth Woog of the Computer Addiction Treatment Program in Lake Forest, California, says, “Brain imaging over the past decade has confirmed that video game play activates the reward pathways—pleasure centers—of the brain. These primitive mid-brain structures record this through neural connections, associating the behavior (or substance) with the relative pleasure response.”
wired.com
https://www.wired.com/story/why-retro-looking-games-get-so-much-love/