It's a funny coincidence that when Netflix's High Score debuted last week EVORETRO sales have also increased over the weekend. It's also worth noting that a theme of nostalgic documentaries have been taking up our screens recently from documentaries like Michael Jordan's The Last Dance or Tony Hawk's Pretending I am a Superman taking up our streaming screens. Is nostalgia a commodity? Are we living in a nostalgia era? To the right people, it most definitely is or has been for a while now. I for one, love going through Reddit subs like retro gaming and seeing parents sharing their love for their beloved games with their offspring or men (and women) proudly displaying their man cave or retro game rooms adorned with a variety of (S)NES GAMES, Atari, Sega, and Nintendos.

Image via Nintendolife.com

Back to Nintendo and Netflix’s recent gaming documentary, Nintendo has taken up most of the 6 part docuseries making an appearance in all 6 episodes. Despite its counterparts, Nintendo has managed to not only stay relevant but to dominate the entertainment system niche. CNBC reports that Sales of the company's popular Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite consoles grew around 167% in Q1 of 2020. With Animal Crossing reportedly now having sold 22.4 million copies, again confirming the impact video games have in our lives.

 A big reason for this leap in sales is of course the pandemic but imagine a 10-year old stuck at home for months unleashing his need for social interaction online in these virtual worlds and looking back at it 20 years from now- It’s nostalgia in the making. It is escapism in the most positive sense, an outlet for creativity and the need to interact with like-minded people set in an almost infinite world where people now hold parties, game nights, graduations, and even couples getting married in Animal Crossings just so they can celebrate with friends and family sans social distancing and face masks. Sometimes we just need a safe place to forget the trials and tribulations we are experiencing. Societal norms are shaped by these “crises” and it will be no surprise that in a post-Covid 19-era we would still see these fun virtual gatherings as the norm.

Janna and Stefan, from Maryland, US, walked down the aisle and made vows during the ceremony.

It is impossible to measure the impact video games have nowadays; it is also an understatement to say that anxieties and depression may be momentarily alleviated as the young and young at heart succumb to playing video games indoors. Video games continue to impact our lives in not just a recreational sense but as something that shapes our lifestyle and our culture. The best memories are not marked by dates and time but by moments of where you were and what you were doing no one remembers when they started playing Mortal Kombat but almost every millennial knows what “finish him!” means.  As the decades come and go, we’ve taken a gigantic leap from the arcade games to handheld virtual realities. Aren’t you excited and giddy to see what’s to come next?