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What do you consider retro?


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The topic for this thread is based on something I saw in another thread. What do you consider retro for consoles and games? I've heard many people say it's the 20 year rule. AKA if the game is 20 years old or older it is a retro game.

I've always subscribed to the "Two generation rule". If games or consoles are two generations behind, then it is retro. Here is my example: The current gen Playstation is the PS4, so two generations removed is the PS2. The PS2 and all games on that console are retro.

What is your take?

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Retro for me is "not the current play style."  Even though PS2 is old, the gameplay looks essentially the same to me as modern games, so it's hard for me to say it's retro.  The only real difference in gaming in the last 20 years (other than "whoa - better graphics!") is the advent of online connectivity of virtually every game released, leading to games not being finished out of the box and micro transactions that never end.  Remember when purchasing a game meant you were done paying for that game forever?!?!?!.....

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28 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

Anything meant to be played on a CRT.

If you can't plug and play a game system with a new TV, I consider it retro. All of the effort I've had to put into having an original xbox working on my 4k TV tells me its not a modern console. Component cables and an OSSC are pricey. Pound cable was a disappointment.  The blacks were so bad in Halo I found it unplayable.  

Also,  I was surprised by how bad these games look and play compared to modern 3d games. Not at all how I remember them from highschool.  So they may be in a different category from 2d consoles, but they definitely are not modern. 

 

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If you mean retro as in good games/systems that are the foundations, and culturally changed the world forever, then there are only 2 retro systems, NES and SNES. Everything else is just old. The definition of retro is "relating to, reviving, or being the styles and especially the fashions of the past : fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned" so technically no games or systems are retro.

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2 hours ago, Tekdrudge said:

The topic for this thread is based on something I saw in another thread. What do you consider retro for consoles and games? I've heard many people say it's the 20 year rule. AKA if the game is 20 years old or older it is a retro game.

I've always subscribed to the "Two generation rule". If games or consoles are two generations behind, then it is retro. Here is my example: The current gen Playstation is the PS4, so two generations removed is the PS2. The PS2 and all games on that console are retro.

What is your take?

I think the same way, but believe it's the 30 year nostalgia cycle. Just how Stranger Things was all he rage 5 years ago (1985-2015), and now the 90's are making their comeback (Dunkaroos is now a thing again), cultural nostalgia generally has a cycle. Therefore, I would only just now consider SNES/GEN becoming retro. Any games for systems that are no longer sold in B&M stores I just refer to as old or old school. I wonder if self respecting member here ever uses the word "vintage" to describe their games.

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Vintage = 20 years or older.  So everything prior to the PS2.

PS2 is really on the bubble though, just hitting the 20 year mark this year.  PS2/GCN/XB games really feel different today's just from the sheer variety of different genres that were popular but also existing in a time right before the leap to HD and online gaming.

Edited by fox
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2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

This answer probably depends on how old and cranky you are.  To a kid, 5 years is an eternity.

Ain't that the truth!  I guess it's because they haven't lived for very many years yet...eh, proportion of past vs future years?  Don't know how to say it right...

Yet time goes at exactly the same rate for everyone, whether you watch the pot boil or not...observe...

 

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Graphics Team · Posted

The biggest shifts in gaming I'd say are:

2D Single Screen -> 2D Scrolling -> 3D -> Online

Everytime we see a big shift like this, the old style of gaming becomes retro. I think when the internet starting playing a larger role in popular gaming, like playing halo or COD online and being able to buy items and expansions to download, that was a big enough shift in how games were played that the older style of gaming becomes "outdated"

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I think as time passes on and the less and less changes that occur to new systems, It's going to be harder to call any old system "retro". There's hardly any difference between PS3 and PS5 games besides looking slightly better. I doubt PS6 will be any different. Until we reach the days of holodeck gaming where we are literally inside the game, it's going to be hard to feel nostalgia for games that just look like outdated current gen games.

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I was in my local game store once and this kid was talking to his grandmother (Mom? Aunt? Idk she looked older though) about how he wants a GameCube to play stuff like the original Luigi’s Mansion. He described the GameCube as “this really old retro system” and me and the workers all died a little inside.

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Retro and old don't mean the same thing. Retro is something that's brand new but in the style of something that's old.

If I buy a new pair of jeans and they're in the old bell bottom style, they would be retro. If I go and get a pair of my grandfather's bell bottom jeans, they are not retro, they're just old.

If I buy a brand new record player, that's retro. If I find my parents' record player, that isn't retro, it's just old.

Panzer Paladin just came out on Switch, that's retro. 30 year old games on the NES aren't retro, they're just old.

So to answer your question, the only real retro consoles are the Analogue, Hyperkin and RetroUSB consoles. And a few I probably missed.

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6 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

So to answer your question, the only real retro consoles are the Analogue, Hyperkin and RetroUSB consoles. And a few I probably missed.

What about modded Game Boys? It’s still an old Game Boy inside but can have new buttons, shell, screen, and/or have other modifications.

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