My (30M) girlfriend (28F) just called me cringey and weak for having a moment and I don’t know how to react to it

So a bit of backstory. I (30M) was lucky enough to have a beautiful childhood, with a very loving family. When I was a kid I played Pokémon Diamond on my Nintendo DS a lot, and I remember very specifically going to this area of the game called Eterna Forest because I loved its music. It’s a beautiful piano melody that I would listen to for hours, which actually motivated me to learn to play the piano.

Cue today, I have a girlfriend (28F) and we’ve lived together for two years. We have a great relationship. We were in the living room, I was playing videogames while she was sitting next to me browsing Instagram. I was playing Pokémon Legends Arceus on my Switch, which is a prequel to Pokémon Diamond, the game I played when I was a kid on my DS.

All of a sudden, as I progress through the game, I get to a forest area and a beautiful arrangement of the Eterna Forest song I loved as a kid comes on. I wasn’t expecting it and I stopped on my tracks to listen to the song. In a mix of shock and nostalgia, I started tearing up. It reminded me of those happy times when I was a kid and brought back many memories from my happy childhood. I stopped moving in the game, and kept silent while I heard the music while a few tears rolled down, fully living the moment.

My girlfriend noticed and asked me if I was okay. I dried off my tears and I started happily explaining what had happened and gave her this whole backstory. When I finished explaining, she asked “so you’re telling me you’re crying over a videogame?”. I told her it wasn’t the videogame, but what it represented and the good memories it gave me. Then she said “I can’t believe you right now, crying over a videogame is cringey as hell” and she stood up and left for our bedroom. I followed her and asked her what was wrong and she said she was disappointed that I cried over something like that and that she wasn’t expecting me to be “this weak”. She said she didn’t want to talk about it further and went to bed.

I didn’t really expect her to react this way. We’ve been together four years and so far she’s been a great partner, and this is very uncharacteristic of her. She has, however, stated several times that she hates videogames and that she doesn’t like me playing them, but I stood my ground long ago and told her I’m not leaving my favorite hobby just because she doesn’t like it, which she has slowly come to accept. I have found a balance to play in my free time that doesn’t affect our relationship, and until now it has worked just fine.

I don’t want to overreact and call it quits over something like this but I am concerned about this way of thinking of hers. And quite honestly I’m sad that she reacted this way. I was just having a human moment and opened up with her only to be called names by the person I love. We’re planning on having kids eventually and if we do end up having a boy I do not plan on raising him with toxic masculinity or anything like that, so I’m not sure of how to go over this situation.

Tl;dr: A videogame brought back happy memories which made me tear up and my girlfriend called me cringey and weak because of it.

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Update:

First of all, wow! I wasn't expecting to receive this many replies. Thanks everyone for chipping in and for your encouraging comments. It's awesome how some people have reached out privately in concern, I truly appreciate it. Even the ones who have DMd me calling me a sissy, cupcake, loser, and other things. I hope you guys find love and peace eventually.

Now, I'd like to answer a few questions. First, I want to clarify that I do not regret reacting how I did, nor do I feel embarrassment or anything like that, and I won't let absolutely anyone make me change the way I am. I will react to things however I feel like reacting. I dare say I'm an emotionally intelligent person and I know very well how to compartmentalize my thoughts and feelings and not let them take me over. I hate toxic masculinity and I refuse to let such a ridiculous culture dictate how I act. I'm also a strong believer in communication and I think this wasn't a deal breaker in our relationship, at least not until we talked about it (also because it's the first and only time anything like this has happened; if it was a repeat case or if she had doubled down I would have left her a long time ago).

Another part that I now in retrospect think I should have added to the original post to add context, and to people asking what her background is: she comes from a family of athletes, herself being one. We're both tennis players and fans, in fact, that's how we met. We share a passion for the sport. She also has a healthy relationship with her family; she's close with her parents and sister and we see them often. They're all great people. She has been unfamiliar with videogames her whole life. I've asked her before why she hates them so much and she said she thinks they're nerdy, stupid, and a waste of time. I think she's a classic case of hating something you don't understand.

Have I reacted like this before? Yes, I have, but not too often. In fact, only one time before today. It was when one of my favorite tennis players won his first big tournament after a really close match two years ago. I was so happy I teared up. She's a big fan of this player as well and we celebrated his victory together. As for her, I honestly don't recall ever seeing her cry over anything in the four years we've been together.

I talked to my girlfriend after we both calmed down. I began by explaining and telling her how hurt and disappointed I was by her reaction and told her that she just couldn't talk to me (or anyone for that matter) like that for expressing their feelings, because it's just rude and demeaning, and very much unlike her. Then, I asked what's going on, and why would she call me those things. She then proceeded to apologize and explained that it wasn't the crying that upset her (I asked if it also bothered her when I cried that time our favorite player won the tournament and she said that it didn't). She said that it bothered her that I had such a strong emotion to something she really dislikes, which is a videogame, especially with it being a Pokémon game (which is another discussion we had a long time ago where she told me she didn't like that I still played a kids game and I told her she would have to deal with it because I'm not changing who I am and what I like for anyone), and it made her very angry, and she just didn't express it properly and made a very poor choice of words and let the anger get the best of her. She said she doesn't think I'm weak at all and said that she loves me and appreciates everything I do.

I asked her if she feels like I do not give her enough attention, and she said that's not the case, but that she would just love it if I just never played videogames at all and dropped it altogether. I told her once again that's unfortunately not going to happen because it's a hobby I enjoy. I also told her that I would never ask her to give up on her hobbies just because I didn't like them, so it was unfair that she did that to me, and that I would be more understanding of this request if playing consumed me to a point in which our day to day dynamic would be affected, such as me losing my job, or if I stopped doing my house chores because of it or anything like that, but that's far from the case. We have a very good "roommate" dynamic; our house is always clean, I do our errands without being told to. We play tennis together at least three times a week and sometimes after that we hit the gym, we eat out often, our sex life is good, etc. We spend a lot of quality time together. It's just a healthy relationship in general, which is why I was so surprised by her reaction. I've also invited her several times to join me playing fun stuff like Mario Kart or It Takes Two so we spend more time together with her while doing something I like and the answer is always no.

She then said she didn't stop to think how actually meaningful that moment was for me because she got really angry, and said she was sorry she was so dismissive and insensitive and promised not to do it ever again. She admitted that she had some work on herself to do and apologized once more and said she'd try to be more understanding and patient, which I hope she does. I'm not perfect either, but I'm willing to put in the work to work on myself for the good of the relationship, as long as that doesn't mean giving up on something that makes me (or her) happy, because I love her. We're planning on playing some tennis later today so hopefully things will continue to simmer down and this episode won't occur ever again. Obviously this is an alert for me but I hope it stays a one-time thing.