r/RetroGaming is very strict about retro. They say the Nintendo 64 is retro while the PlayStation 2 is modern. This despite the fact the PlayStation 2 is now 25 years old.
So I got to wonder about this community deems as “retro”.
Or a better question: what’s considered retro and not retro? What’s the fine line between retro and modern?
It’s time to get depressed reading this thread!
Tbh I tire of society and it’s insurance of putting things in labelled boxes.
It means different things to different people based on their age and experiences growing up.
For me it’s PS2 backwards.
For me personally, the “retro” is about period ending before “age of ugliest 3D”.
I had this discussion (read argument) back on reddit a while back. And it’s about 15 to 20 years or at the time people were calling PS1/N64 Retro during the PS3 era.
By my math systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360 are now “retro”, at least for some kids. I defiantly feel dated when some kid shows up on a PSP thread going on about their Dad’s old PSP. And it’s weird to think that the Vita and 3DS are about to fall into that camp.
Retro means new things that look like they’re old. As in “looking backwards” for inspiration. Like pixel art. Prime example: VVVVVV.
I’m mostly being pedantic, but it’s a pet peeve of mine that gamers (and only gamers) use “retro” wrong. Every other type of collector correctly uses the word “vintage” instead: Vintage clothing, furniture, coins, wine, etc. And they use “retro” to mean new things that look old, like retro clothing. Only gamers call vintage things “retro”.
In my experience when I point this out, gamers just get mad. I don’t understand that. But I’m kind of a language nerd who watches linguistics videos for fun. And yes, I know language changes and evolves, and words mean how people use them, and dictionaries are not prescriptive, etc., etc. It’s still wrong, damnit! It’s a niche use by specific group of people that confuses everyone else because of its wrongness.
It gets even worse, I more and more see the use of NeoRetro when “Games that looks and feel old” are referenced. We already have words for that, but the gaming scene seems to be fixated on the word Retro alone.
Oh, god. I had not heard that yet, but… Ugh…
20 years is a good cutoff, in my opinion. That puts the original God of War in retro territory, and I’m ok with that. I’m also ok with vanilla WoW (up to patch 1.8 or so) being retro. These things are old, we’re getting old and pretending games from 2005 and before aren’t retro is just wishful thinking.
/r/retrogaming’s definition doesn’t work anymore now that there are multiple generations that grew up with video games. Just because it doesn’t feel retro to the 40 year old who remembers playing the PS2 as a teenager doesn’t mean it’s not retro. The PS2 is absolutely a retro console, and the PS3 is very much getting there.
Anything designed for standard-definition CRTs.
If it can purchase alcohol it’s retro
Retro is a style and astetic as much as a function of time or technology.
Even mathematicians struggle with dividing things into precise and consistent sets and categories. Try to relax.
Anything that isn’t HD and on a console that’s designed to be always online. So PS3 and 360 aren’t retro to me, but Wii is, as are most portables prior to the Switch. It’s not the age of the game that makes it retro to me, but its design philosophy. And of course any new game intentionally designed to look or feel old is retro, the original meaning of the word.
I used to be stricter with that. Now I consider retro any platform that are 2 generations behind (for the ones still active in the market). So PS3/360 and earlier.
To me, “retro” just means something that is now only possible for consumption through the previous, now impossible or highly impractical, acquisition of said medium. PS3? Retro. 3DS? Retro.
This seems like a good line to draw. Does it play natively on current consoles? Not retro. If you have to use an emulator or pull out an older console then that’s retro.
If it can be emulated on a potato it’s retro. If it’s it’s old but not trivial to emulate then it’s classic.
Anything that needs to be played on a CRT.
So Gameboy isn’t retro?
Playing Super Mario Bros. on Switch = “not retro.”
Old games don’t need to be played on a CRT any more than modern games need to be played on an OLED/LCD flat panel.
Then how about anything that plays better on a CRT vs a modern flat screen? Older games were absolutely made with CRT artifacts in mind and look worse on newer screens.
They’ll lag if you don’t.
I’d say, at 50, imo anything 32 bit and below is retro but there needs to be a new name for the “old” stuff that is 64bit
