What is your most nostalgic GTA game?

[Blue carpet]

I'm sure most of us all have nostalgia for the GTA games obviously but what game out of the series would you say you have the strongest nostalgia for and why?

 

For me it's between Vice and SA but if I have to choose SA would just barely win. What makes it so nostalgic for me was my first playthrough and just remembering how blown away I was at the map size even to this day it still feels impressive at least the OG version. Also the countryside in SA in general just makes me feel super nostalgic it was one of my fav areas in the game I always found it peaceful and even with the outdated graphics of today's standards I find a certain charm to it. And the last thing would be the radio station and songs I mean what a amazing soundtrack I love the early 90's music.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Blue carpet

[Krymefull]

I'm between San Andreas & III, to this day I am still having very fond memories of playing these games as a kid, good times

[.Ryan.]

GTA IV and Vice City.

 

Vice City because it’s set during the year I was born so I have a connection to it on that level. Plus when I first played it was my last year of high school. I don’t know, but it just makes feel like a teen again every time I play and takes me back to when I didn’t feel the rigours of adulthood.

 

GTA IV makes me feel nostalgic for similar  reasons. I love gaming from the late 2000s and GTA IV fell right into that sweet spot. Hard to think it’s been 15 years already.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Algonquin Assassin

[Blue carpet]

1 hour ago, Algonquin Assassin said:

GTA IV and Vice City.

 

Vice City because it’s set during the year I was born so I have a connection to it on that level. Plus when I first played it was my last year of high school. I don’t know, but it just makes feel like a teen again every time I play and takes me back to when I didn’t feel the rigours of adulthood.

 

GTA IV makes me feel nostalgic for similar  reasons. I love gaming from the late 2000s and GTA IV fell right into that sweet spot. Hard to think it’s been 15 years already.

Me too and TBH it was a better time for gaming IMO.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Blue carpet

[Donald Lov]

f*cking Vice City is nostalgia epitomised, it might as well be called Nostalgia, The Game. It takes nostalgia beyond the level of your own personal relationship with the game. No GTA is that in love with itself, that romantic and tender towards the world it portrays. It's romanticization par excellence.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Donald Lov

[GhettoJesus]

San Andreas. It was my first GTA game so it's an obvious answer but I also spent a lot of time on SAMP servers, so I have a lot of memories connected to those. Good times.

Edited February 9, 2023 by GhettoJesus

[Cluckin Bell CEO]

Vice City and San Andreas. Hard to pick one because while I started the series with VC, I spent way more time on San Andreas and have more memories with that. Doing all the myth hunting stuff, playing SAMP with friends...ahh man those days were too good.

[AC Schnitzer]

Definitely VC. My first GTA game ever. Every time I hear one of the old tracks in radio I instantly think of time spent in sunny Vice. 

[44Orca]

Vice City and San Andreas, it's like I am back in 2004 again every time I play them, was a bit different when playing the definitive editions but still the nostalgia was there as it has been a long time since I last completed them.

[BloxedRetro]

Three Way tie.

 

GTA Vice City's soundtrack influenced much of my music taste, they all did in a way but Vice City had a major influence on me as a whole as well. I remember having the entire soundtrack on my iPod touch back in 2010. Too bad I had to delete all of them since I downloaded the Burton + Schumacher Batman Movies onto that device and needed space.

 

San Andreas is what I used to play with my brother. I remember Hillbilly Ben, Chris, and Bill in Dillimore and their Angel Pine cousins. Used to get my brother to drive because I thought the distance was several hours away. I saw my brother pause the game and imagined what the top left corner of the map looked like. I imagined flat grasslands greener than usual which curve off to the side into the ocean, with some bushes and trees around but not too many.

 

IV and the EFLC bundle, especially Gay Tony, is what I used to watch my brother play. I thought I was too young and not cool enough to play. When he'd play TBOGT, he'd listen to K109, Vladivostok, and Electro-Choc. Those disco and house songs are burnt into my head, and that pause theme too. In IV, we used to listen to LRR. Evil Woman was the sh*t imo, and that station influenced my music taste so much, I'm a Classic Rock kind of guy. ELO is still my favourite band all these years later, never would have discovered them if not for Evil Woman in GTA 4. Or rather I would have had to wait a while until Mr Blue Sky would get big.

 

[Lemoyne outlaw]

easily gta 4. Niko's story is definitely my favorite gta story. and my favorite gta protagonist. it is such an awesome game. and i have so many memories of the multiplayer. especially the airport lobbies. everyone fighting for the annihilators. and racing on the runways. i did a lot of jumps on the median ramps. i had so much fun with my group of friends. and I'm sad that we aren't friends anymore. 2008 to 2015 was such a great era for video games for me. with gta 4 eflc red dead redemption the best call of duties. and much more. that whole era is nostalgic. it's such a shame these games are modded like crazy and don't have many people. gta 4 is still a fun game to come back to. and it still looks pretty good for being 15 years old. but it would be nice for a remaster. as long as they don't mess with anything and just update the graphics and new multiplayer lobbies. but no shark cards.

[universetwisters]

Grand Theft Auto 3 without a doubt

 

I can remember how blown away from it I was after my brother showing me that game in a hotel room in Florida 12 years ago like it was yesterday

[Pistol Bobcat]

Tough call but I'd say San Andreas, played this one the most in the mid to late 2000's as a teen whose escapism was videogames, played it to 100% at least once or twice back then there was no youtube videos of collectibles, spent countless hours exploring the vast hidden interiors universe back when that was a hot topic and the code wizards gave us spells to make it even easier, spent months obsessing over the Andromada before finally obtaining the hard way (if only we knew about om0 and the AP conversion tricks back then...). Also spent countless hours enjoying the limited 2 player mode just causing chaos and setting our own challenges to outrun the police around the borders of the entire map with a bike.

 

San Andreas is one of very few games (alongside MGS1 and 2) I consider to be a near perfect game. If CJ could just climb the ladders

[Krooked_]

Vice City and IV.

 

Vice City because it was the game that introduced me to the series. I remember playing it at a friend's house and just being absolutely blown away by the freedom the game gave you - steal any car you want and go wherever you want. It was unlike anything else I'd seen.

 

And GTA IV because when I first played it back in 2010 it was still a fairly new title and I thought that no other game in the series could hold a candle to it - the visuals, the physics, the sound design etc. It really left a huge impression on me. Also Liberty City seemed like the most real place ever created in a videogame. I just stood there and thought to myself: "Holy sh*t! How is that even possible?" Now that I think about it, I hardly played anything else for over a year haha.

Edited February 10, 2023 by Krooked_

[jonhyosbourne]

Legendary GTA San Andreas. What a good times playing with friends, on school holidays playing for the morning.. what a good times!  

Without a doubt the game that marked me the most. 

 

 

[Evil empire]

Without any hesitation GTA San Andreas.

[gnome child]

Between Vice City and San Andreas.

I played Vice City at a friends house, 2002 I think, and was hooked. They had the Mad Katz controller with the turbo button, lol. My brother bought a GTA game and I was expecting to play the guy in the teal hawaiian shirt, but nope, it was GTA III and I was highly disappointed. Eventually got Vice City for my birthday in 2003 -- my mom knew everything about how profane and explicit GTA could be but she got it for me anyway, even though I was only 7 She just gave me a lecture about how games are not reality and you should never emulate anything you see in it.

San Andreas comes along and I watch the same friends that introduced me to Vice City play this new release. I was f*cking floored by the customization, detail, and just the whole game world. They eventually give me their copy of the game when they completed it, and the obsession hasn't stopped since. Played a ton of SA:MP and started modding from 2008 and beyond, and now focus mostly on creating single player content.

[Phil Collin]

GTA VC & SA, i think i played them around the same time prob around (2006) think VC was my first. Then beat SA with a friend at his place. And my last PS2 GTA i played alot on was VCS which i played until 2009. So i would say them 3 and especially those 2 first just another feeling with them the City in VC the neon colors, the sound and music and all. GTA SA the whole gang experience it was something really new and different that game had so many things you could do in the game 

[Silver]

GTA III mainly because it's my first GTA, but also because I think it really captured the early 2000s vibe that I remember rather fondly.

[PsyWarVeteran]

Even though I played III first nothing hit harder than Vice City.

It was fantastic then and still is very nostalgic to me.

Edited February 16, 2023 by PsyWarVeteran

[Copcaller]

3 it was the game that got me into video games 

[Exsanguination]

I’ll go with III as the most nostalgic although GTA 2 was the first I played , I got III shortly after release in 2001 and GTA has been my favorite game franchise since. 

[Tacymist]

GTA III is the most nostalgic for me, a close second would be GTA2.

 

III made the series feel so fresh and new at the time. Even today, the opening cutscenes and early missions still fills me with a sense of wonder and adventure. III felt like the start of something amazing, and it was.

[IVCavalcade]

VC was my introduction to GTA as a kid so it is definitely the most nostalgic. SA is very nostalgic too, I remember how massive it was culturally and all the kids were talking about it at school (even though we were 9 when it released lol). IV is nostalgic too because it's the first title I was fully invested in the pre-release hype for. I lurked here a lot and watched the trailers hundreds of times, buying magazines to soak up every preview etc. All the next gen developments of the core systems seemed so revolutionary and futuristic compared to the 3D era. Then when it released I met some great people playing GTA IV online back in 08/09/10 that I am still close to, so it's a special game for me in that regard. I remember how exciting it was when TLAD and TBOGT released on XBL marketplace, everyone eagerly downloading them and jumping into a freemode to see what's new.

 

V is getting nostalgic now too, it released the September after I finished my A Levels (UK), and I took a year off and just basically played GTA V religiously lol. I can't believe it has been a decade since then - time flies..

[Americana]

Grand Theft Auto III and IV because these two were the ones I was looking forward to play like crazy. 

 

Both my PCs were bought with these games in mind. 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Americana

[Emmi]

GTA 3: I have fond memories watching my older brother play it (and play it myself when I was allowed to) and being in awe how a game like that was even possible.

 

San Andreas: The what seemed like endless possibilities blew my mind at the time, I spent entire Summer breaks from school playing it.

 

GTA IV: From constantly checking the internet for news on it pre-release to first controlling Niko Bellic in this insane first HD-era GTA ... it was unlike anything I've seen before and a true generational leap in gaming. To this day it is my most played GTA.

 

As for my favorite GTA I'd say it's a tie between Vice City and IV.

Edited March 6, 2023 by Emmi