The game features a simple piano controller placed just below the screen. As notes descend on the screen, the player must hit the corresponding portion of the controller in time with the notes. The player does not need to hit the exact key; as long as the key pressed is within the width of the note, it will count as a note hit.
Games in the seriesnote :
Arcade releases
- Nostalgia (2017)
- Nostalgia FORTE (2017)
- Nostalgia Op. 2 (2018)
- Nostalgia Op. 3 (2019) — current version
Consumer releases
- Konasute Nostalgia (2021, Windows PC)
Compare CHUNITHM, which also has variable-width notes that require hitting a wide rectangular controller, and Deemo which is also a piano-based game with a similar concept.
Nostalgia provides examples of the following:
- The Bus Came Back: Due to the game's relation to Keyboardmania, several KBM songs that had not appeared in over a decade make a crossover appearance in this game.
- Button Mashing: Trill notes require you to repeatedly hit keys within the width of the note until the note ends.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Expert charts can either be unlocked by getting A ranks on Hard charts, or paying some extra PASELI (which itself is bought with real cash) to play Forte mode, which has them available immediately.
- Call a Hit Point a "Smeerp": Hold notes are called tenuto notes, similar to how tenuto notes in real-world music parlance are meant to be held down.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Notes are colored blue or red to indicate which hand is meant to hit the note (blue for left hand, red for right hand). That said, the game does not care nor can it tell which hand you hit notes with; the colors are simply a guideline.
- Fake Longevity: Want to play Expert charts? Get an A rank on the Hard chart first. Or, pay extra cash to play Forte mode, which has them available with no further requirement.
- Gameplay Automation: One of the modifiers will automate notes designated for either the left hand or right hand. However, full combos won't be counted if these mods are on.
- Harder Than Hard: The chart difficulties are Normal, Hard, Expert, and Real. Real notably has its own difficulty scale, which eschews the conventional 1-12 scale in favor of 1-3 diamonds.
- Have a Nice Death: Failing a song results in a "Finish..." screen (as opposed to "It's fantastic!" for a clear), in a tone that sounds like "well, uh, you made it to the end of the track I guess."
- Pressure-Sensitive Interface: The Recital mode features sections that mandate that you hit the keys lighter or harder than usual.
- Required Spinoff Crossover: To absolutely nobody's surprise, "FLOWER" is part of the tracklist, this time as a piano arrangement.
