Why Do Video Game Sounds Make Us Wax Nostalgia?
Talking about some of my favorite video game sounds, some iconic, some more less discussed, and reflecting on why they make us feel nostalgic.
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@LilyWillis
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I've never noticed this before, but the king's quest six "You Did the Thing" sound sounds exactly the same as the 2015 king's quest reboot's.
@MystearicaClaws
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
yes. The age arrival sounds, and sonic noises are my two most nostalgic sounds for me <3
@ideitbawxproductions1880
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
our old DOS computer only used the built-in speaker, so I never got to hear any of the Commander Keen music (sad, I know). but watching that clip of the composer talking about the story behind the music is just amazing.
also, the sound of collecting water droplets, using the PC speaker… I can't put it into words, man, but it will be stuck in my brain forever
@marianocorera
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
you so cute
@cassidyhallows8359
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I’m obviously many years late, but the Crash Bandicoot 3 opening credits/theme. I used to play it all the time as a kid and I can pretty much quote the opening verbatim, but whenever I hear it, I’m reminded of a much simpler time in my life, and it’s kind of sad to think that I can’t go back to that.
Edited for spelling errors
@clubsnatcher
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
EA Games…. whispers challenge everything…..
@nadiarogo4511
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
So strange. Whenever I play games, first thing I do is turn off sound. I hate all music and sounds in videogames haha
@Jackie-Gremlin-Ghost
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
0:49 “How does this one make you feel?”
That’s a little something I call:
I N S T A N T A N X I E T Y
@mark4851
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The opening music from monkey island 3
@SanjayMerchant
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I have an odd affection for the series of clicks that play when you're swordfighting in the original Monkey Island.
@AceAttorny
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Ugh, the sneaking sound effect from Sly Cooper! It lives in my unconsciousness.
@starshiny3399
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
For me it would have to be the little whirring sound from Treasure Cove. I liked to play that game a lot and it gives me a feeling of triumph.
@CartoonCatGirl
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
One of my favorites is the sound when you select something in Kingdom Hearts.
@andysmith5806
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
For me it's the sounds of Spyro picking up gems in the original trilogy, Crash breaking the crates and the sound that Aku Aku makes when you get him. Oh and the battle sound effects in Pokemon on the Game Boy.
@ombroh
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Imagine if after you die you would go into a life review room where Sonic 1's special stage or Giana Sister's (C64 version) enter your name screen music would play on a loop.
@zipzeolocke2
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
So edgey!
@PS1Fan1991
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Too many for me. The Windows 95 is one of them. It reminded me of how the 90's felt through my eyes as a child. It also reminded me of the Pitfall game that I think came out for PC when Windows 95 was the version being used.
I don't know if we had it, but I remember seeing it at my cousins house. When I think about it, I feel like it was a time long ago and it like I was in a futuristic world by the standards of that time, even though by today's standards, it is old.
@sleephollow66
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
There was this one instance where I was sitting with my brother and sister, watching a video about the SNES adaptation of Space Ace. Hearing the music, I started to feel uncomfortable, like rage was building inside me. I was enjoying the video so I had no idea why I suddenly felt so angry. It was only when my older brother said me and my sister "I don't know if you remember but we used to have this game." Then it all came flooding back. All my memories of playing that poorly-made, fuckin' impossible to play, insult to good name of Space Quest…
But it really blew me away that hearing the music/sound effects from the game was enough to trigger this intense emotional response before I even remembered playing the game itself.
@TheTheninjagummybear
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The fanfares and music from pokémon mystery dungeon: blue rescue team make my heart go "Akgeisgeisgwishejsu".
@SeraphinaPyle
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
This is a really cool topic for a video! I grew up with point and click adventures too, although I had games from a later era than the Sierra ones. Nancy Drew was the best, lol. The older ones specifically. The door sound was always the same in that game series 😹
@TimthePhilosiraptorExhale
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
wow, I grew up on commander keen, and when I was learning music I learned all about story telling through the sound… I felt that story in commander keen, and you got goosebumps running up and down my back when you revealed that… thank you so much, I can die now.
@Persepholeigh
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The PSX startup sound fills me with an immediate sense of calm that can even occasionally affect my anxiety.
@moonyasnow36
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The first Fairy Tail opening.
Just, any OP or ED from Fairy Tail, really. Boys, be ambitious has to be the most nostalgic ED for me.
@Appleboy78165
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Every sound effect in RollerCoaster Tycoon. That is all.
Edit: Also every sound from 3D Pinball: Space Cadet
@paradoxelle481
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I feel the same way about the doors from the Her Interactive Nancy Drew games.
@jakedandy8323
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The kazoo from Zack McCracken
@Sweetumskitty1789
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The sound of the gun going off in the loading of Red Dead Redemption 1 is so strangely comforting to me and the sound of putting up walls in the Sims 3. Actually all the sound effects from the Sims 3 are so comforting to me!
@chrisclark784
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Technically not a sound, but one of my favorite things has to be the Sound Blaster test for Warcraft 2 "Your sound card works perfectly!"
@RedVelvetUnderground333
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
We all just want to be young
@dantesner2051
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I’ll always have a sweet spot in my heart for the PS1 Resident Evil menu opening & closing sounds
@doncarlin9081
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
They say smells can trigger even more nostalgia.
@CanKoepruelue
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The sound when your sword in The Legend of Zelda hits the enemy sooo gooood
@1Soniccool
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I like the sounds in any Crash and Spyro games for the PS1, and also the Sierra fanfare when you play a Sierra game from the time of Sierra’s great classics. And the startup sounds for any console like the PS1 is memorable to anyone who played the PlayStation.
@andrewsmith211
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I love the sound of Spyro collecting gems from Spyro 2. It was the first game I completed and it was the first game that I didn't have to share with my brothers. It was my game.
@PantsMan13
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
A bit late to this video, but Wild Eep from old Mac's is my jam, and I hate Mac's. Also, the theme to Spaceship Warlock.
@coyoteartist
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
That sonic sounds actually just kinda puts my hackles up. I realized at some point, aside from it being a massively annoying sound that seems to turn up a lot in video game list videos, it's a sound of the "enemy". I always felt myself a Nintendo kid so no Sonic sound is going to get the nod.
@Cairnth
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The "mysterious thing" jingle from Chrono Trigger, and basically every PSI sound effect from Earthbound. They just get me
@shanedeleon5376
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Your pitched-down voice sounds exactly like Caitlin Doughty
@Levyathyn
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
When you move Kerrigan in the original StarCraft, one of her lines is, "Thinkin' the same thing." See, it's a half-joke because she's a psychic agent, as well as a sniper. And to this day, that voice line resonates with me, rises up out of memory, and brings back the good old days.
Also there's that time I played an obscure Genesis game on the SEGA Channel and forgot what it was, while spending the next seventeen years of my life haunted by its opening music until I finally managed to track it down after nearly two decades of searching.
@scarfboy
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Chrono Trigger music has a special place in my heart always. But also, I heard someone play Dire, Dire Docks a train-station piano station a few months ago and it was mostly incommunicable to the friends I was with why that made me so weirdly happy.
@ASolidOpinion
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
That Final Fantasy 8 music, hhhnnnngggg, right in the nostalgia.
@solhsa
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
Want some serious nostalgia? Check out sound ideas general 6000 sample collection. You've heard all of those sound effects a million times in games and movies.
@ObiWanBillKenobi
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
0:19 “For example, how does this make you feel?” It makes me feel like I’m about to play KQ5, not KQ6. 😆
@xSwordLilyx
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I have a lot of nostalgia for the sounds of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I spent a lot of time during a lazy summer when I was maybe 11 playing those games, sound design is really solid, and I've always really liked the certain sort of sounds that DS speakers make.
Unlike Pokemon, which I am generally nostalgic for, I wouldn't play those games until I neglected to care for myself in some way, but would often have to put them down because I got stuck, and go be a person, or ask my dad how he was able to stop the train or whether he could crack this slide puzzle.
@FearlessSon
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
The wet sound the disturbingly realistically-rendered spider makes as it taps its salivating mandibles together during the close-up shot of it's face when it pounces on you in SimAnt. Shudder Gave me nightmares.
@Veezyjung
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
As a new fan of your videos, I really enjoyed this video. My most nostalgic and emotional sounds and music are contained within everything id Software made until DOOM 2, the intro to 4drive Stunts in PC speaker mode even though it makes my ears bleed, the level 1 music to a game called Titus The Fox, the intro to a DOS game called Skyroads with midi enabled, anything by Akira Yamaoka, Final Fantasy 8 (which your inclusion of it in this video made me squeal), a lesser known horror JRPG called Koudelka, everything in Pokemon Yellow, and the entirety of Gradius III and Area 88/U.N. Squadron on the SNES/SFC and much much more. Save for Yamaoka's work as I only got into the Silent Hill games later in life, I grew up with all of these games, and the sounds and music in all of them are etched into my mind forever.
@AstralPixelKat
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
So many feels! Ive started getting ringtone versions of as many as I can find
@kamikazeeOG
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
OMG MYST!!! yesssssss. Holy eff when you had the Win 95 sound up I was thinking "or the dial up sound" and then bam. Your vids are tops.
@Blutzen
December 16, 2025 at 4:34 am
I'm super basic for it, but the original PS1 boot-up and disc-read jingles are deeply ingrained in my memory, and give me a super wistful and nostalgic feeling.
The 16-bit Konami trill is also way up there for me, to the point where I can even recognize the slight variations used between games.
I'll also probably never forget the sound of my original Nintendo saying "Blades of Steel" every time I loaded that game; I think it's the first time I heard a video game actually speak and that was pretty great. Hell, just stopping to think about that has brought that entire game's sound effect library right up to the forefront of my mind, from the little "blip blip blip blip, blip blip, FIGHT" when two players would get into a fist-fight on the ice and then it would cut to the fist-fight minigame to see which of you would get sent to the penalty box, to the awful "ksh, ksh, ksh" of the sound of your skates on the ice, and the constant "hit the pass! hit the pass!" the announcer would yell every single time you successfully passed the puck between players.
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