[RESEARCH] What Sounds Mean to Us in Games – Nostalgia?

In any game, you can be surprised by the many sounds that you are greeted with. When you go back and replay that game, you are then greeted with a slight Nostalgia, as you catch yourself humming to the tune of the track which is playing. Or, you can even find yourself imitating certain feedback sounds as you progress further into the game.
Take Super Mario World for example; it’s an iconic game, and everyone knows it, even if they have not played it. This could go for any game, especially like Space Invaders, Pokemon or any game which has been hyped over years by many fans. It makes the game’s music and noises noticeable, even through sheer lack of understanding, it’s only unique to that game, making you realize straight away what game it has come from. Music is an emotional trigger which could put us in a different mood just by playing a certain clip, not just that but if it all goes with the visuals, it makes you feel drawn in, like you’re in the game itself. However, if the music was gory, horrible, and really for a horror game, and it plays whilst cute little bunnies are on the screen, the player is then brought out of that scene and they begin to question why this music was chosen for this scene (almost like breaking the 4th wall).
But it doesn’t have to be about the feeling it gives us, it could also play on our understanding of the world around. If you hear a horn in the game, you could think of a car horn, or a boat horn. Depending on the pitch, or the way it is presented, there are many ways which a horn could represent something else we know in real life. Which is why sounds in games are fascinating, because they relate to the player and grants feedback, showing them that this is what it is, and this is what you think it is, just by listening to it.
Sounds are important, I feel, and they give so much to us, even if we don’t see it. That emotional response from the player to the character that is on the screen couldn’t have been created if it wasn’t for the music which plays along with it, or the sounds in which trigger sequences or events.

Tagged: Iconic, Invaders, Mario, Pokemon, Sound, Space, Space Invaders, Super, Super Mario World, World