History Main / NostalgiaLevel

* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' has "[=PARANOiA=] Revolution" from ''X3 vs. [=2ndMIX=]'' on Expert (both Single and Double), which borrows note patterns from various boss songs.
** Since ''A'', selected songs from previous versions are available in a "DDR Selection" folder, which loads them up in a recreation of the gameplay UI from an older version (either ''[=2ndMIX=]'', ''Extreme'', ''[=SuperNOVA 2=]'', or ''X2'').

* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' has [=PARANOiA=] Revolution from ''X3 vs. [=2ndMIX=]'' on Expert (both Single and Double), which borrows note patterns from various boss songs.

** ''VideoGame/Doom64'': One of the later levels is an updated version of the level Dead Simple from ''VideoGame/DoomII''. The objective is also the same: Defeat all the Mancubi and then the Arachnotrons to unlock the exit.

** ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'': All the retro tracks take the trope to the next level by remaking the old tracks with updated HD visuals, new set pieces and remastered music, compared to the previous games which just ported the old track and incorporated the new game physics into them. Not only do the retro tracks look and feel new with the upgrades, they also still play in a way most old fans would remember them for. On top of all this, some retro tracks use the anti-gravity and glider mechanics to give the old tracks a fresher feel to them without deviating ''too'' much from the original design of the tracks. The game's DLC (which was later integrated into the base content of ''8 Deluxe'') combines this trope with EmbeddedPrecursor, as it not only adds more retro tracks alongside new ones, but also imports two tracks from the ''VideoGame/FZero'' series (Mute City and Big Blue) and a track based on ''[[VideoGame/{{Excite}} Excitebike]]''. The Booster Course Pass DLC adds even more, as the whole package (divided in six waves) consists of 48 remastered courses from past games as well as ''VideoGame/MarioKartTour'' (which was released after ''8 Deluxe'').

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' DLC ''Dragonborn'' is set on Solstheim, an island that was the setting for the ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' expansion pack ''Bloodmoon''. By extension it harkens back to ''Morrowind'' itself, as the southern half of the island is covered in ash from the (nowadays constantly erupting) Red Mountain, which, combined with typical Vvardenfell architecture and flora, paints a very nostalgic picture. You can even see the northern Ashlands across the strait from Tel Mithryn, for maximum nostalgia trip.

*** Additionally, playing "Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!" as any of the downloadable Dream Friends will replace certain areas with recreations of levels from ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2'', ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'', ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'', ''VideoGame/KirbySqueakSquad'', ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' or ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', depending on which Dream Friend was chosen. [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Morpho Knight's]] boss theme will also be replaced with a remix of a final boss theme from those games.]] [[spoiler: However, [[TheDividual the Three Mage-Sisters]] instead go through sections designed with their gameplay style or from other Dream Friends' routes, face the Parallel versions of the bosses instead of the regular ones, and face Morpho Knight EX at the end instead of Morpho Knight.]]

* The final area in ''VideoGame/Mother3'' is largely intended to be a nostalgia trip to ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' and ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', with one of the very last areas the player goes through containing a museum filled with items and characters (or replicas of them) from ''Earthbound'', with the sprites being directly ripped from the previous game. Between the proportions and the palette differences between the SNES and GBA sprites, a lot of the sprites were particularly [[{{Retraux}} jarring]] (most notably a certain someone's spider mech being sized to match [=EarthBound=]'s battle sprites rather than the overworld's). The music in the looooong alley preceding that particular room is the same as the title screen of [[VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings the first game]], [[BookEnds the very first tune you'll hear in the entire series]]. There are also a theatre screening a movie made of the major events of the second game. A snack bar has robot female servants modeled after a certain Dung Beetle-hating rich cold-hearted woman, complete with the same quotes! The villain room in the Thunder Tower has the Teddy Bear, and various other easter eggs. You can even engage in an optional BonusBoss battle for an equippable "Friend's Yo-Yo"!

** After becoming the Johto Champion in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold, Silver, and Crystal]]'', you are given a boat ticket to Kanto, the ''entire setting'' of [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the first generation]]. You can then collect the original games' badges there, battling the Gym Leaders[[note]]six of which are the same: Koga was promoted to the Elite Four and left his daughter Janine to take over the Fuschia City gym, and Blue, TheRival from ''Red/Blue/Yellow'', took over the Viridian City gym after Giovanni's disappearance[[/note]] and traveling a Kanto whose geography has changed quite a bit in the past three years. After getting all the Kanto badges and beating the Elite Four again, you can then go on to fight against the protagonist of the first game as a BonusBoss. ''[[VideoGameRemake HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' take this even further, not only containing all of the Johto and Kanto areas from ''Gold and Silver'' but also restoring locations that were pared down or completely removed in the Game Boy originals (Viridian Forest, the Seafoam Islands, and Cerulean Cave to be precise, complete with Articuno and Mewtwo still in the latter two). Furthermore, you can now battle the BigBad of ''Red and Blue''. The remakes also [[LampshadeHanging hang one]] on this when you talk to your Pokémon while in [[FirstTown Pallet Town]].

** ''Undefined Fantastic Object'' has a Nostalgia ''Attack'', the aptly named "Great Magic: Devil's Recitation" [[BrotherChuck If only Shinki was the one using it...]]

** In a flashback in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', you get to play as Altair, the main character from the first game. ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' continues with these flashbacks, where you play as Altair and revisit familiar locations from the original ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'', such as Masyaf and Acre. Masyaf, you even get to revisit them as Ezio.

** The main story of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' features a point where an entire city is a Restricted Zone - basically, if a guard sees you, you have about ten seconds before he'll start trying to kill you. This causes the kind of caution, rooftop-running, and paranoia that players haven't seen since ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'', where basically every city had hyper-touchy guards that would kill you as soon as look at you.

*** The ExpansionPack ''Resurrection of Evil'' was a remake of the second area of ''Doom 3'', except that the whole area was ruined and constantly shaken by dimensional shockwaves.

** Every level in ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' has a secret lever that opens an area using textures, sprites, maps, and music from the first two ''Doom'' games. Finding one allows you to access the full map it's based on from the main menu.

** In general, each entry enjoys mixing in revamped versions of older stages with the newest ones, with the alterations made to the layout ranging from minor (e.g. Mako Mart) to nigh-unrecognizable (e.g. Hammerhead Bridge).

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' brings back the Moray Towers and Port Mackerel maps from the original game, though modified slightly to make use of some new mechanics.
** ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'': Wave 1 of the expansion pass DLC brings back Inkopolis Plaza, the hub from the [[VideoGame/Splatoon1 first game]].

** ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'': Wave 1 of the expansion pass DLC brings back Inkopolis Plaza, the hub from the [[VideoGame/Splatoon first game]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'':
** The music in [=E2M2=] is a remix of ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'''s [=E2M10=] music. Additionally, one of the Episode 1 maps was supposed to have some machinery in the shape of a swastika (only obvious when looking at it in the automap), though they were forced to change it before release. ''VideoGame/DoomII'' continues this: its two secret levels are set in Castle Wolfenstein. The first one is [=E1M1=], complete with the same secret exit as in that game, which here takes you to [=E1M9=], the Boss Level - with a Cyberdemon replacing Hans Grosse. That level auto-ended when you ran across a certain spot in the last room in the original; that room is now where you must kill four VideoGame/{{Commander Keen}}s to finish the game.
** Rather than a reference to a different game, the secret level of ''Doom 1'''s Episode 3 is a carbon-copy of the episode's first level, though [[RemixedLevel with a few nasty surprises once the player reaches the original exit]].
** The ''Final Doom'' level "Go 2 It" from The Plutonia Experiment collection is an expanded retake of the first level of ''Doom II'' but... [[NintendoHard considerably harder.]]
** The ''Doom 3'' ExpansionPack ''Resurrection of Evil'' was a remake of the second area of ''Doom 3'', except that the whole area was ruined and constantly shaken by dimensional shockwaves.
** The Classic mod for Doom 3 reproduces all of the levels from the first episode of ''Doom 1'' using the ''Doom 3'' engine, weapons, and monsters.

*** ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'' features "Empyrean", another remake of "The Pit" from ''3''.

** The game's demo serves as one for the demo for [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc the first game]]'', both being centered around Yasuhiro being stabbed in the protagonist's bathroom.
** The fourth case serves as an extended reference to the second game, involving the characters going into [[spoiler:a virtual world called the New World Program]].

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest 4'' has a section where Roger Wilco travels back in time to Space Quest 1. The backgrounds are low-res, 16-colour graphics as in the original, while Roger and his time machine are in high-res 256-colour graphics. When Roger enters the bar, he is beaten up by some monochrome [=NPCs=] who are jealous of his VGA graphics.

*** Piranha Plant Slide, later a retro course in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', is one giant homage to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the original game]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'': As a whole, the game bases its overworld layout almost exactly on that of ''A Link to the Past''. Also, among the many returning dungeons, the Tower of Hera stands out the most for having a very similar map design to its SNES counterpart, even retaining the gameplay gimmick (blocks that can be toggled with switches) and the boss (Moldorm).

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Nexus'', being a MegamixGame, has several dungeons from previous games in the series, with their map designs overhauled to keep them fresh: Primitive Jungle and Sandy Barrens from the first, Ancient Forest and Petal Bridge from the second, Waterfall Wood and Undersea Grotto from the third, and Lush Woodlands and Golden Lair from the fourth (there are no dungeons from the fifth game, nor a dungeon that was originally the fifth in any of the other games, due to lore reasons). One of the fourth game's mini-dungeons, Small Orchard, returns in this one as well. The other dungeons (namely the Shrines and Yggdrasil Labyrinth) and mini-dungeons are new.

** ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'' features "Empyrean", another remake of "The Pit" from ''3''.

** On the multiplayer side, the games have often remade prior maps in new instalments:

*** The gane has, in the middle of Malie Garden, an old man and a bunch of children reenacting the Nugget Bridge from ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', down to their dialogue and their teams (especially blatant because while Nidoran and Ekans are ''everywhere'' in Kanto, they stick out like a sore thumb in Alola; plus they even have mainland Rattata rather than the Alolan subspecies). The old man eventually admits to being a former Team Rocket member, who felt nostalgic about the old days and decided to play around with the kids.