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?
In regards to what feels retro to me, I personally consider Gen 6 GameCube/PS2/XBOX and everything older to be undoubtedly retro.
I think that the Gen 7 Wii, PS3 & Xbox 360 should technically be considered retro now due to their age, but personally generation 6 and earlier is what feels retro to me.
It’s time to get depressed reading this thread!
For me personally, the “retro” is about period ending before “age of ugliest 3D”.
I mean technically PS1/N64 is retro, but I agree personally it ends with 16-bit era systems.
I consider GameCube/PS2/XBOX to be undoubtedly retro. So anything Gen 6 and earlier. To me 16-bit era and earlier is just “more retro”. Gen 7 I think is arguably technically retro, but it just doesn’t feel retro to me.
I mean, 360 & PS3 games still feel like they’re just modern games with less detailed graphics, and the Wii feels kind of like part of the Wii U era to me; and that association with the Wii U makes it very much not feel retro. But any games released before Gen 7 feels unique compared to modern games, therefore giving that feeling of being retro.
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.
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.
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 with its wrongness.
When people are calling modern things they know are modern “retro”, I think it’s just a simpler form of saying “retro-style”. I mean, when I’m talking about modern retro styled things that aren’t videogames, I personally say “retro-styled” myself; and I consider that to be what people also mean when they call modern things “retro”.
For games, I have to disagree that Retro can also mean games that look old. Again, I consider these to be “retro-styled” as well, not “Retro”, which to me indicates its actual age. VVVVVV isn’t retro, it’s retro-styled. Alwa’s Awakening is an NES style metroidvania game released in 2017, designed to feel exactly like something that could run on real NES hardware. Then in 2022, they actually did just that; they ported the game to real NES hardware and released it as the “8-Bit Edition”. To play it, you either need to flash it on a cart and play it on a real NES, or simply emulate it on modern hardware. In my opinion, this game isn’t retro at all; it’s “retro-styled”, even if you consider the fact it released on an actual retro console.
When people are calling modern things they know are modern “retro”, I think it’s just a simpler form of saying “retro-style”.
“People” in general? No. Only certain gamers.
It seems like you missed the entire point of my comment, and you’re the exact kind of person I’m talking about. A person who has no idea what retro means. You are using it wrong. And by wrong I mean unlike everybody else in the world.
This is what people mean when they say retro, (except you and some other gamers):
relating to, reviving, or being the styles and especially the fashions of the past : fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned
a retro look
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retro
Saying retro style is redundant. Retro is already referring to style.
“Retro”, which to me indicates its actual age.
The word you’re looking for is “vintage”. Retro means in the style of the past.
You’re right. I looked into it some more and you seem to be right that Retro is indeed referring to the style, not the age. Forgive me for the long comment, my intention was only to express my subjective opinion about whether something is retro or retro-styled. I feel very weird calling old games that I thought of as retro “vintage” now, but I guess I have to; I’m going to have a lot of people thinking I’m calling it the wrong thing now. I guess this subreddit should more accurately be called Vintage Gaming, but I have no idea how it would be possible to shift the entire “retro” gaming community’s perspective on what makes a game retro or not.
And by wrong I mean unlike everybody else in the world.
Well, in Victoria, Australia, I think my incorrect understanding is very common, because age being the determining factor of what makes something retro is basically what I’ve been taught from childhood. Everyone I’ve ever met who I’ve had conversations about anything retro with, appear to think very similarly to me.
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.
… Neoretro? For fucks sake
Oh, god. I had not heard that yet, but… Ugh…
If it can purchase alcohol it’s retro
Anything designed for standard-definition CRTs.
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
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.
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.
Everybody older than like 25 in gaming threads: This makes me feel old, but I’m not old, but stay off my lawn anyway.
Around 2 generations of consoles ago, or around 10 years, whatever comes “first”.
10 years seems a bit short, that would mean Hearthstone, GTA5 and Sims 4 qualify.
Yes that’s what I said. PS3 era games and at this point, early PS4 start yo qualify for me. Although still actively developed games aren’t “fully” retro, clearly. I’m still on the fence about calling Bloodbkrne retro, for instance.
the ps3 is retro then?
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.
Anything that came out when I was a kid or earlier is retro so anything pre 2000 is retro. Post is modern.
Anything that came out when I was a kid or earlier is retro so anything pre 1990 is retro. Post is modern.
Anything that came out when I was a kid is retro, so anything pre 1970s is retro. 80s or later is modern.
