@d0720960 36 here; I didn't have a home game console until the PS2 era, so there's definitely associations for me for games of that period.

But even some Super Mario Galaxy stuff evokes nostalgic feelings for me because it was such a formative period for me in my 20s when I got to play it, so there's strong associations with an earlier period.

I think "nostalgia" on its own as a word is slightly meaningless, because it gives no context as to what one is nostalgic for. The music is merely the trigger for the nostalgia; of what is the actual nostalgia it evokes?

Maybe for him, it's of a time before a big tragedy or trauma.