Where did all the Vaporwave games go?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- Time to dive into the a e s t h e t i c s .
Special thanks to JPEG for use of some of his art. Check out his visuals and music here: / @jpegps1
And a special thanks to the gameplay sources, all of which can be found here: shorturl.at/hnN15
And a special thanks to LootinLiz.
Music used:
Ridge Racer - Lucid Rhythms
Tomb Raider Legend - Croft Manor 1a
Interlude - Mist
Naniwa Wangan Battle - BGM #07
Twitter: / nexusnaomi
#retrogaming #vaporwave
![TIMETHAI - ไม่อยากให้เป็นเขา (Why tho?) [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/o2qYlGVVtOw/mqdefault.jpg)
Going back to the vaporwave aesthetic would be super cool but getting that authentic look and feel is a whole other challenge entirely. The aesthetic truly was a sign of the times, from popular trends to hardware limitations. Recreating that today although possible just wouldn't feel the same. You'd truly have had to live in it to faithfully recreate it
Man, maybe it's just nostalgia, or I simply don't mesh well with the styles of today; but I really can't help but to miss how colorful and imaginative this era was. It's hard to appreciate how good things are when you have a constant drive to figure out what's next, and what brand new thing would be coming around the corner that would be even better than the experiences you have in the present. Instead of that drive if find myself constantly returning to our simple and naive past, hoping for a day when things could be so simple again.
Read about Hauntology, for example the writings of Mark Fisher
Nostalgic for nostalgia
@@larrysportello383 Super interesting read. Didn't know there was a whole term for this. Thank you!
So do yall like Yameii?
Have you played bomb rush cyberfunk?
I just wanna get lost forever in the digital playgrounds promised by vaporwave
i just watched your infinite mario like 2 days ago, your cool man
Thanks!
I guess the algorithm is working if you bump into me here then, this is the kind of content I like 🤣🤣@@hergzcool
same. I get lost a lot in vaporwave/dreamcore/Webcore and so on aesthetics. The dreamy feeling they give off give me relief from reality…
ah man are people nostalgic for Vaporwave now, as opposed to just... the actual 80's90's? The passage of time is overwhelming
Vaporwave has a far purer feeling of optimism to it when compared to just remembering an entire decade
She seem to confuse 90 stuff and vaporware...
The Internet is a collective fever dream.
As someone who is pretty young and part of Gen Z, I didn't grow up in the 80's or 90's, those who did are getting older, they are slowly getting into there 40's or 50's and my generation is slowly becoming the NORM.
Stuff like Vaporwave is a window into the culture of that era, its kind of a broad outlook on themes that were popular and that period of time, I didn't grow up then so I Would have no idea what the 80's or 90's actually was like, VAPORWAVE is an asthetic, its not meant to be the 80's or 90's but rather a representation of certain aspects of 80's culture.
10:11 *"Lunistice", "Anodyne 2: Return to Dust", and "Sephonie"* are the games you're looking for. They're on sale now, go get them and live your best life!
Also, here are some others with similar aesthetics:
Kitten Burst
Ecosystem
Hypnagogia 無限の夢 Boundless Dreams
Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool
Hypnospace Outlaw
SUMMERHOUSE
Wonderful!! I need you on my personal indie game’s recommendations committee
Paradise Killer
my first thought. too sad not many people know about the game, going on proclaiming crises in video gaming and other art instead. i've been through it twice solely for the feeling and just running around the paradise, the whole thing is beautiful
Great video all around! Super comfy
The vaporwave aesthetics has influences in the 90s but it really began in the 80s.
I wouldn't use the term "vaporware" but aquatic themed games are nice.
Give it some time. It took a couple of decades for Vaporwave to go from sample music to original tracks. People have to have a love of developing games while have a deep understanding of Vaporwave aesthetic. Hell, Frutiger Aero is starting to make a comeback. We'll get there. I promise.
Interesting point of view... I made the game Broken Reality and I guess I got some thoughts about this... 😜
I would argue that what you're looking for isn't really vapor wave at all, it's more like retro Y2K looking games (which I also love btw). I know now a days people love making anything an aesthetic based entirely on vibes and then just put the word "core" on it and call it a day, but IMO vapor wave was much more than that. Vapor wave was arguably the first entirely internet based subculture / music genre with it's own aesthetic and philosophy that was as profound or "just a meme" as you wanted to be, a truly tumblr rabbit hole to experience and get lost in circa 2014.
When we started developing the game almost 10 years ago the whole thing was still very niche and fresh. Eventually the whole thing kinda became a meme of itself and that's arguably what killed it, but at the same time the "deep or dumb" and "vapor wave is dead"philosophy sort of prevent it to die entirely.
This might sound a bit petty but I do think Broken Reality stands on it's own, specially compared with the hundreds of vapor wave based games that only hoped on the meme side and superficial aesthetics of it. I would really encourage you to try it for yourself or at least check out a let's play or review to see what is all about. You can DM me if you want a free copy 😉
Anyway, it's nice to see people is still interested in this topics. Great work!
I appreciate your thoughts! I definitely think you embraced the vibe you chose well, it’s just not the aesthetic I was looking for - and maybe you’re right, about what I’m referring to not being classified as Vaporwave. To each their own! But either way, I respect the experience you’ve made; game development is super awesome and I admire those who set out to make their own stuff.
P.S. I browsed through your portfolio and you have some incredible art, I love it!
@@NexusNaomi thank you 😅
You're the creator of Broken Reality? I love that game! My brother got it for me on Steam years ago when I was in my vaporwave phase and I played it from start to finish.
As someone who was born in 96 and had to used ancient computers with MS-DOS games and Win 95 in school for computer classes for years, and was too ingrained in internet culture, it was fun to play a game with so much nods and references to those aspects. My favorite spot being Geo City, because I'm a sucker for rainy moody aesthetics, and the videogame store.
I have Broken Reality 2000 in my wish list, can't wait to play it.
@@bluestar5812 thank you ! ☺
if you want sea themes and beaches, I would suggest looking for seapunk instead
idk why you didnt mention seapunk or y2k kaybug in this video as they are more obvious examples, it would more benefit the viewer's who are new to all this
I hope the afterlife is like vaporwavish, would be to great relax for once.
All that blather and you still don't understand the genre at all. Amazing.
holy shit never been this early to a NexusNaomi upload
Unfortunately times change, for games, movies, music.. everything. Things are so sterile in their approach now, and it's all a purposeful shift, creating a bleaker day to day life for the majority.
Looking at gaming specifically, I think the last great generation was PS2/GC/XBOX. After that was a definite shift, moving to the cold, frankly depressing state of gaming we have today. Artistically, and also from a business sense. Gaming is all about greed now.
Instead of longing for these older times in gaming, I just try and experience those times where I can, through videos, emulators, articles, etc. For me, that is enough, and really, anything made in an older style never really has that authentic look or feel.
Fascinating.
I read the title as "where did all the vaporware games go" so I was confused for a while, and I caught the idea after a while.
Although breakcore, DnB and jungle sound super retro and nostalgic, it is definitely not vaporwave.
Yeah vaporwave is more synth based, breakbeat style
Misread the title and misunderstood the premise before watching, but I have to say, I love your take on this! I really feel like you were able to put into words a lot of the emotions I had tied to these games and other visuals from my childhood...this makes me really grateful that I was born in the 90s.
Tomb Raider Legend Music in the background so nostalgic!
From the thumbnail to the content, you knocked it out of the park! I do want more games with those aesthetics as well, but not as a gimmick, more of just a genuine approach
DoA 3 detected, good taste confirmed.
Before I watch this, I hope you included tekken 4
I dont think i ever figured out the term "Vaporwave Games" but i wish i had. Exactly what kind of a vibe ive always meant
killer video, love the intro and vibes! insta sub :)
well damn this is just a really well made video. really excellent stuff
I swear there are some recent-ish indie games.
My brain goes to Cruelty Squad, but I don't think that's quite it.
There was something actually like-... Based on old internet stuff, and you had a grappling hook - Now that I say that, there's Verlet Swing, but that's not what I was originally thinking of.
Oh - Whatever it is at 5:58 might be what I had in mind, Broken Reality.
What a well put together video, bravo 👏🏾👏🏾
“Paradise Killer” awesome game… awesome music
every time this pops up in my recommended i keep reading it as "vaporware"
Bomberman Hero on N64
ultrakill is a great example
The examples of people taking the vaporwave aesthetic "too far" is the point of vaporwave in my opinion. Vaporwave isnt just 90s and 2000s aesthetic, its a blown-out hyperreal version of that aesthetic. The genre itself is both a satire of culture and a twisted, wistful look back into a time that never truly existed. The liminality of those areas in the games you mentioned are the heart of vaporwave and the dystopic plasticity of it all is its voice. To tone down that aesthetic would be to gut what the entire movement is about. I totally understand where you're coming from, but if the genre of art is watered down from its nature than it is just wistful nostalgia.
Of course this is one man's opinion so take however you will
i find it super strange and fascinating that just 5 years ago Vaporwave was a celebration of the 80's and now it's apparently an aesthetic based on the 90s?
It's a beautiful aesthetic but a confusingly vague one
I watched the whole video thinking that the creator misunderstood the whole concept. It seems like in the 10+ years since the inception, 10 or more years were also added to the style that vaporwave supposedly mimics. What a load of crap.
Uhhhhh my heart 😢😭 Every single time I see or hear this aesthetic it makes my heart flutter with sadness and joy.. I miss being a 90's baby.
Just wanted to say I thought this video was fantastic & based on it's quality, I expected the channel to have aleast 100k subs. Subbed immediately & looking forward to seeing your work evolve & channel grow 🎉
Great video🎉
Awesome video, thanks for making it. More low poly models with relaxing drum n bass or chip electronic music would be nice.
Not only has Naomi dropped another banger video essay but they've also encouraged me to smoke (legal substances) and listen to vaporwave, thanks again favorite youtuber!
l e g a l s u b s t a n c e s (responsibly)
I don't know how you do it. But for the past couple videos you have made were things I was thinking about around the time of you publishing your videos lol.
You kinda touched on this in the video but one thing that I guess could be confusing is that the term vaporwave wasn't really a thing being used until around 2013 or 2014. I think in regards to the developers that are making vaporwave games, it should be considered that they're creating games that are specifically going for that specific aesthetic, whereas a lot of the games shown in your video were specifically made with strong art direction and were just trying to push the boundaries of 3D graphics.
It's interesting how different aesthetics all kind of have outliers and subgenres and bleed into different forms of media. They all have very specific feelings associated with them as well. One subgenre that comes to mind would be the liminal space aesthetic.
I've always thought of a lot of those games that you covered as having a strong Y2K look to them. I find it humorous that we try to place labels on these various subgenres, but at the end of the day as long as we can convey our messaging then it all works out.
I've been glad to see game devs have been trying to recreate the aesthetic of PS1, dreamcast and the n64 for a while now. Every once in a while you come across an indie game that scratches that itch and it feels so nostalgic.
Anyways great video as usual!
Pseudoregalia mentioned 👍
Ayooo, the content creator is using one of the Ridge Racer Type 4 soundtracks!!!!❤
Ayyyyyyyyy❤
Love and blessings!
Amazing video! 💎
I don’t care if it’s “gatekeeping”. It’s really fun that late 90’s kids were the last to have vhs. It’s fun that we had something to ourselves. Sonic adventure seems like the last vapor wave game.
it's not gatekeeping, it's being factually incorrect- unless late 90's actually means mid-00's kids because WHAT LMFAO
Sonic adventure? Ehhh Ridge Racer V?
Nostalgia without substance always just feels cheap
Consequentially, most vaporwave games turned out to be vaporware. 😁
I am surprised that Paradise Killer wasn't mentioned. It's a visual novel / detective style game with awesome a-e-s-t-h-e-t-i-c-s that mix what I'd call Dreamcast Style with modern vaporwave cliches. It also has one of the greatest game soundtracks I've ever heard, with a lot of influences from Japanese city pop. Oh and the world building and writing of the characters is grandiose.
Quantum Redshift is amazing btw, I was playing it yesterday.
yess thank you for talking about vaporwave i needed something new to watch
#vaporwaveforever
Just wait for The Big Catch by Fillet group. That game has exactly what you need.
The problem is that vaporware never existed during the 90s. The vaporware aesthetic just developed on some visual elements of this time , adding some music and sonorities that did not fit the era.
This is not nostalgia because this era never occurred but it is hyperreality as defined by Beaudrillard as the idea erase the event (or having nostalgia for something that never existed).
You will only find vaporware games as exploiting the corr aesthetic ,other games will only have partial elements (PSX graphics, d&b soundtrack).
Nostalgia is never worth it. Create, alter improve and enjoy.
Wicked wee vid! I struggle to express to people just what this is all about and I’d say after watching your video here you’ve helped me put some of my feelings into words, like that part about what was cutting edge now being impressionist🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 I also hear what you’re getting at in regards to sometimes people are creating more of a generic look that falls into vape 101 lol as a pose just feeling it out, when it’s based on feeling is when I think this sub culture is at its best but even the fact that it’s so much things at once and so many people are contributing in their own way based on what they feel is so uniquely cool to me. I’m a sucker for them old water graphics and the fact you added in old PS1 magazines made me smile😊 definitely way and check out your other videos😜✌🏻
It's interesting how Sega had their finger on the pulse of aesthetics for three decades in a row.
The time where the "limitations" of the hardware made creativity shine. Since the 7th generations of consoles the main focus is how realistic it looks and not how unique it can be. Most "triple A" games look similar this days.
Such a perfect video for one the first nice days in the spring. This to me brings me back to my Japanese language classes in college, imagining prospects of traveling there and living a life more connected with nature.
Lol I love Pseudoregalia >u
Awesome video! ❤❤
I totally agree with you on this. Modern games that intentionally go for the vaporwave aesthetic usually COMPLETELY miss the mark. That's why I usually stick with mid-90s to mid-00s retro games for my dreamy liminal spaces fix. There are a few great modern examples I'd recommend besides Pseudoregalia - Neon White and Slipstream.
Honestly, at the rate retro vibes are being adopted it's likely to happen in the nearish future.
I pray 😩
Idk why, but my vid was automatically set to 480p and it just got me all giddy
I feel like Dave the Diver is pretty Vaporwave.
i want a game that invokes the same feelings ape escape on the ps1 did when i first entered the time station
chill video
This is fire
I’ve been very much enjoying this new wave of what I will call Ps1 vaporwave. And would like the genre to become big, Give me more soundtracks like level select by Pizza Hotline and bump n breaks by bakground.
What you're describing isn't vaporwave at all???
Sorry, but first of all vaporwave isn't an aesthetic from the 90s, its a 2010 subculture that is both celebratory and critical of hyperconsumeristic stuff from that period. Honestly calling broken reality over the top on that, this isn't it chief. The game encapsulates almost to a T what vaporwave was about when it was fresh.
The complexity of the whole musical genre turned into subculture is all about knowing the delusions of consumerism and wanting to embrace them, a past that never existed and a broken promise.
Sorry for the rambling, but i feel you are looking at it in a skewed lense that doesn't reflect what vaporwave is in full, and that you're taking a much broader topic.
Vaporwave is rose tinted lenses over the 90s mundane marketing stuff, malls, promises of a cyber consumerist future that never came before just neon aesthetics 😅
Keep it up tho, because your vids are comfy
I think it is great we can give names to "vibes" for lack of a better word from a time that a lot of people hold dearly (mid/late 90s).
There is a lot to talk about when it comes to shifting from the vapor wave style to a more dark and dreary one. I am sure we can't pin it on one event, but I would argue that the advent of corporate controled mass media and the increasingly popular use of the internet made a tone shift not only in society but also the gaming sphere.
Is that a good thing for games? Maybe. I sure do miss ape escape though....
Weird how i found this video on the same day i got the idea to make a 90s style racing game, like the first 3 Need For Spped games, with some good dnb and trance music. Too bad i have nearly 0 experience with game development
Check out Ex-Zodiac
these clean futuristic styles died in around 2001
For gaming I would say it was 2005. After that every game suddenly wanted to copy that dark, dirty brown look that Gears of War & Call of Duty had.
That Pseudoregalia plea...
Felt
Have a look at The Big Catch. May satisfy thine desire.
@@jurtheorc8117Holy crap, thanks for the rec!!! 0-0
@@LeumeisterVeritas You're most welcome! Be sure to spread the word, smaller-time and indie games can use it as much as possible.
I'd want to mention other indie games too, but first: are there any indie games out there that you think are hidden gems and deserving of more attention?
try neon white, top tier gameplay set in water heaven with tall columns
Have you tried Lunistice? While it isn't overtly vaperwave-y (most of the time) in its aesthetics it's definitely pretty close to what you seem to be looking for, a dream-like approach to environments with an art-style purposefully made to look like something from the Saturn/PS1 era. But it being a Sonic-like game I guess those things come with the territory, there's a reason why the phrase "SEGA-blue skies" is often thrown around online to describe that optimistic futurism that was so prevalent in games from the 90's and Y2K periods. And if you want to see one of the last bastions of that style you can always check out Outrun 2006 C2C, the game that pretty much encapsulated the idea probably by accident... or Sonic & All-stars Racing Transformed that was somehow still rocking that same approach to environment design years later.
Awesome, I appreciate the suggestions!!
What was with the beach setting in the 2000's??? everything had a beach theme like the PS2. the opening level to kingdom hearts. or all the beach stages in fighting games.
Vaporwave nostalgia is not static.
Aesthetics has changed every year since its inception in the early 2010s.
cool
I think the graphics largely were an attempt at realism-- I think realism was even more common than today- but yeah to our eyes now it looks impressionistic.
Daytona USA 2001 on the Dreamcast. The perfect primer.
I love that Nintendo focuses primarily on style rather than realism. This is why Switch is sufficient in my book….I can wait for Switch 2 for quite awhile.
I don’t understand how the hell it all connects exactly lol. I just make music and create what I want to hear…
Nothing wrong with chasing a collective passion, but just my opinion; you can be part of the scene or you can grab a cloud and fly in your own space.
You should give Lunacid a look. Its pretty close to the kind of game you want
Wow that is a super intriguing game! thanks for the recommendation!
You're looking for HD-2D games.
example: octopath traveler, triangle strategy.
You're also looking for 90s style shooters. ex: ultrakill, cyberhunk, etc.
Hold on, there are seriously tons of games that fit what you're looking for. Are you actually looking for these or you just made this vid for content? SUS!
Does anyone know the song at the beginning that continues to play in the background?
“lucid rhythms” from Ridge Racer (:
@@NexusNaomi yooo thank u
Sooo... you want Umurangi Generation.
Oh i read vaporware..
Yeah, vaporwave videos turned me off for some time compared to other genres like future funk.Maybe because I thought that the people who made the aesthetic were looking at the past through rose tinted glasses. You made the point that they missed some authenticity in their pursuit for the past which, maybe it was their intention. Now, I don't harbor any disdain towards the creators of the aesthetic.
It seems one of your channel's focus is on covering 1990's and 2000's ideas and events that gave a unique and unreplicable feeling of that era.
Are you considering to cover other genres of music?
To me the next interesting thing to cover is breakcore. I don't even know how to even describe what it's trying to replicate from 2000's. 2000's anime mixed with some edginess and angst that was prevalent during that time on the internet. Feel's like internet culture is looping in time or it's just echo's from the past that grown up gen Z is trying to bring back.
there were vaporwave games?
A game like Pseudoregalia set on a beachscape... Well, what a pity there is nothing like The Big Catch in production.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we did it, we found the game
@@NexusNaomi Ooh, you did? What's it called?
You must 💨🌲
i wonder if people will be nostalgic for the current gen consoles.
How is nights into dreams not on here
Click recommended video
Hear Ridge Racer 4 soundtrack
Click Like button
Argh, I want to make a game so badly.
pls more aesthetics analyses
Pseudoregalia!
I love all synthwave related things
Japan and everyone else became obsessed with clichéd anime at the expense of dreamy creativity, is part of what happened.
Too much anime out of Japan, and too much 'realism' from the West. The limitations were a huge part in why things were so distinct and bold too though obviously, as you mentioned.
You give me quantum redshift screen and i wonder for fatal inertia ex remake thanks😂😂
they died along with 2010s, blender 3d retrofuturistic visuals with jungle and breakcore are the thing.
Ooga booga mentioned in 2024????? Am I dreaming????
Ya know I feel like people don’t understand what living in the moment is anymore. The amount of information about how folks are being told that TH-cam is “the easy way to get famous”. Being an online reseller is a side hustle that make you rich fast. Folks were a lot more accepting of their failures. Being unemployed for 2 years because of a difficult job market is a common story by now folks won’t accept that.