Have you ever dreamed of getting a plush Falkor the Luck Dragon, based on The NeverEnding Story? Well, it can be yours! Along with any other nostalgia-fueled ‘90s item.
On Tuesday Jan. 19, 2016 a handmade Falkor the Luck Dragon model from The NeverEnding Story made it to the top Facebook trends list. Also at the top of the Facebook trend chart was the Zelda series, as originally reported by Gamnesia, thanks to the creative works of a diligent fan. YouTube user CryZENx has recreated the Temple of Time in Unreal Engine 4. First featured in the game Zelda: Ocarina of Time, this revamp puts a modern sheen on a classic, in-game monument. These fan creations are just one part of an entire industry bound on getting people to buy into old nostalgia.
Sites like Buzzfeed, College Humor and Dorkly are all trying to warm the cockles of your heart with ‘90s nostalgia. The Dorkly landing page, at the time of writing, has two articles based on the classic Mortal Kombat series, and two about the original Mario game. One series, above all other treasured 90’s series out battles the rest; Pokémon. YouTube producers like Egoraptor and UnlistedLeaf gain hundreds of thousands of views by creating Pokémon based content.
Nintendo itself continues to capitalize on the nostalgia factor by selling the world new Pokémon based offerings. In the near future Nintendo will be launching Pokémon GO, also known as the game that might break reality. Pokémon GO is a mobile, free to play game that allows players to battle and trade virtual Pokémon they find in real world locations. For example, water based Pokémon will be located near water, and rare Pokémon will be even harder to find. 2016 also marks the 20 year anniversary of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue.
The resurgence of nostalgia is not constrained to any particular medium. In 2015 Nickelodeon released The Splat, a retro station that plays Nickelodeon cartoons from the ‘90s. This station plays Rugrats and Hey Arnold! on repeat to create the ‘90s kid dream network.
Nostalgia for profit is nothing new. The entire cruise ship industry is built on the dreams of the groovy ‘60s gone by. Champagne waterfalls, trips to the crooners bar, and old-timey cover bands are essential to any cruise ship. The key difference is that children of the ‘90s get to appreciate all kinds of nostalgia for free. In the ‘90s a trip down memory lane to any other generation would cost you the price of a book, album, or movie rental (from Blockbuster). Now folks can download or a stream a show for very little cost, or read countless articles for free.