Something smells good...

[3rdStrongestMole | 443]

Odd question, but does anyone have any extra nostalgic smells they associate with a certain game or gaming from childhood?

It's the sense that elicites the strongest memories in humans, and I realized,  for all the weird shit I do to recreate experiences from when I was younger,  I don't explore this one much.

I am probably never going to be able to recreate the smell of the basement at the house I grew up in when I first opened and played Donkey Kong Country (bummer), but there are other things...

For instance,  when I used to play Mortal Kombat with my buddy in his room, he always had the window open, and I'll get hints of that memory on random spring days when the breeze is hitting right.

Anyways, I wanna know if anyone has any good ones. I'm thinking even food and drinks count, as that's mostly smell anyways.

Thoughts? Experiences?

[Gloves | 12,284]

Tacos are Beauty and the Beast on SNES, and strawberry marshmallows are Joe & Mac on NES. Those are the most prominent two for me, for whatever reason.

[3rdStrongestMole | 443]

10 hours ago, Gloves said:

Tacos are Beauty and the Beast on SNES, and strawberry marshmallows are Joe & Mac on NES. Those are the most prominent two for me, for whatever reason.

Unfortunately for food and drink, Sonic the Hedgehog was played at my grandma's house, and it was Hi-C and Circus Peanuts.

[portabello | 104]

Simpson arcade - ‘chlorine’ (we used to play it at a Holiday in near the indoor pool)

super mario world - ‘new carpet smell’ (played this one in various hotels with the family and at my childhood friends house)

there are others, but those are the ones that stick out

 

 

Edited August 20 by portabello

[RH | 5,237]

There are smells I can never have recreated, unique to their environments, but I remember them. My Grand Mother's house had a certain smell in her living room, which is where their NES was hooked up. I remember playing mostly SMB and SMB3 on that system a LOT but also games like Wheel of Fortune and Bump n' Jump!  I won't say that I associate those games with the smell of the living room, but if I think back to my time playing those games as a kid, immediately I remember the smell of my grand parents house.

For gaming at home, when I was real young and the 2600 and the NES were hooked up in our living room, but before we did a major remodeling of the house, there was a certain musty (probably toxic?!) smell to our house.  Yeah, I know that sounds gross but whatever the smell was, it wasn't offensive but it wasn't "right".  I think of playing games like Pac-Man and Pole Position on the 2600 and I remember that old smell. I also associate playing Metroid, Millipede, Anticipation and Batman with those smells.

After we renovated the living room, about that time or right before, my brother and I got a TV in our bedroom and the games moved back there. I'm sure my room smelled but since I spent most of my free time that was in the house in my room playing Game Boy or Game Gear games, until I got an N64 and PSX, I don't have an associated smell with that area. My nose just adjusted to it.

I did play my GB in our old Ford LTD a LOT, though. I associate a smell with that vehicle because at some point, someone accidentally left an unscented candle in the back of the wagon and it melted into the carpet of the car from the hot Columbia, SC summer heat! That vehicle had a distinct, but mute, smell from the candle.  Yeah, that smell and traveling with a GB go together for sure.

[fcgamer | 5,019]

Used to have a buddy in uni, and for some reason his dorm room smelled like a nursing home. Sometimes would end up down there as some of the guys were playing Halo on Xbox, though I never partook myself. So a certain kind of nursing home smell reminds me of Halo.

[Hammerfestus | 4,108]

42 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Used to have a buddy in uni, and for some reason his dorm room smelled like a nursing home. Sometimes would end up down there as some of the guys were playing Halo on Xbox, though I never partook myself. So a certain kind of nursing home smell reminds me of Halo.

I always thought that smell was stale diapers/bedpans.  
 

So not a video game, but I‘ve got this bottle of Dawn that smells like my grandfather used to.   Pipe tobacco & cologne.  Weird.

I‘ve got more music-video game associations.  ReLoad is Duke Nukem Total Meltdown.  Final Fantasy VII?  The Wall.  

[Andy_Bogomil | 863]

Gin and stale beer - Used to play Halo with by buddy pretty frequently back in university and his house house smelled like old beer 24/7 and he spilled an entire bottle of GIN on his couch one night and never got the smell out... although kinda smells like pine so not the worst... at least for a bit. 

Popcorn - The old community video store

Not really a smell (maybe chlorine) but above ground residential pools and Mario 64. My cousin had a sweet pool when we were growing up and I remember playing Mario 64 there a lot over the summers and being back and forth from the pool all day. Really solid memories and often comes up when I go to someone's house with a pool like that. Also, something about that early 64 era and clear, blue water... Mario 64, Wave Race, OoT. 

[3rdStrongestMole | 443]

5 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

Gin and stale beer - Used to play Halo with by buddy pretty frequently back in university and his house house smelled like old beer 24/7 and he spilled an entire bottle of GIN on his couch one night and never got the smell out... although kinda smells like pine so not the worst... at least for a bit. 

Popcorn - The old community video store

Not really a smell (maybe chlorine) but above ground residential pools and Mario 64. My cousin had a sweet pool when we were growing up and I remember playing Mario 64 there a lot over the summers and being back and forth from the pool all day. Really solid memories and often comes up when I go to someone's house with a pool like that. Also, something about that early 64 era and clear, blue water... Mario 64, Wave Race, OoT. 

Stale beer and spilt alcohol for me reminds me of God of War and Mega Man 6. Similar situation, but at Ball State in Indiana and a house where 6 guys lived. Also, we had multiple crews playing Wii Sports, so I guess that's in there. But mostly the first two.

 

Also, stale beer and Mario Kart 64 will always live together in my mind, because I spent many years playing "drunk driver," "beerio kart," whatever ya call it.

[Andy_Bogomil | 863]

1 hour ago, 3rdStrongestMole said:

Stale beer and spilt alcohol for me reminds me of God of War and Mega Man 6. Similar situation, but at Ball State in Indiana and a house where 6 guys lived. Also, we had multiple crews playing Wii Sports, so I guess that's in there. But mostly the first two.

 

Also, stale beer and Mario Kart 64 will always live together in my mind, because I spent many years playing "drunk driver," "beerio kart," whatever ya call it.

Nice! This was right around when the Wii came out, maybe a year or two before. We were really in to Super Mario Strikers at the time, still rocking the GC. 

[Trifecta | 244]

Anyone remember the smell of a newly unsealed NES game? That was one of my favorite scents as a child. I haven’t found any product that has a similar smell in this era. 
 

I’ve opened sealed NES games in the past few years and they sometimes still retained that magical aroma I remembered as a child.

[3rdStrongestMole | 443]

4 hours ago, Trifecta said:

Anyone remember the smell of a newly unsealed NES game? That was one of my favorite scents as a child. I haven’t found any product that has a similar smell in this era. 
 

I’ve opened sealed NES games in the past few years and they sometimes still retained that magical aroma I remembered as a child.

Yeah it's like a weird mix of cardboard, fresh plastic, and inked paper. I haven't opened an NES/SNES game in forever.

Maybe I'll buy a super cheap one just to re-experience that, but I'm sure most games have lost some of their "true scent" by now. 

[LostLevel83 | 87]

Zelda 2 and pizza (it was Dominos at the time)

[TDIRunner | 2,922]

I can still remember the smell of a new SNES coming out of the box.  It's similar to the smell of a new game being opened, but it was just a little bit more.