3DS & Vita are Retro now?!

[Jeff]

Stop making me feel old.

 

[qw90700]

Stop making me feel old.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Yes.

 

[Overlight]

Sadly for us they're both and now like many i feel old

 

[Sumea]

If it ain't 20 years old yet, it ain't retro.

And 10 years later you say stuff needs to be 30 years old to be retro.
Historically, 10 years was enough age for a system to be considered retro. Heck, some systems could be classified as "Living retro" or retro on launch, such as GameBoy Color that while a powerful handheld, was still a retro system in it's power and graphics compared to what existed otherwise.
We used to call systems that were far less than 20 years old retro, like NES and SNES in 200X where neither were that old, SNES especially which was still getting new games up to early 2000's in Japan. Of course, with this, the times and more rapid evolution in technology than today helped to solidify this. Of course NES looks outright retro compared to PS1 even if there has not been even 10 years yet. Of course PS3 does not feel retro when last PS3 games looked way more comparable to PS5 games than NES did to PS2. And yes, PS3 is old enough now to give NES vs PS2 comparisons. But, if we are honest, Switch 2 as a handheld makes both Vita and 3DS look outright retro, 3DS especially but even Vita is graphically much weaker than it's "PS3 grade" marketing promises.

Overall, if we were honest and not trying to deny our aging and remind us of the fear of that aging and impending death, we 25-35 year old gamers would be honest and ready to say that Vita and 3DS as 14 year old systems have entered retro or fresh retro territory. Both are more than less discontinued and dropped in support though the fact PS3 fans as collateral continued support for Vita PSN game sales is funky. Though, most online games and other online support is long gone with vita, as they are with 3DS.

TL;DR "Who told you 20 years is the requirement for retro? Used to be that 10 years was enough, and if not 15 was more than enough."

 

[Leon]

I put retro as released 20+ years ago, 30+ as vintage, same as cars.
The reason is while modern gaming is well....shit, you can still see it was inspired by the mid 2000's, vintage is things that were forgotten or rarely mentioned, a entirely different experience.

 

[ThatOneLum]

Came to the thread to talk 3DS/VIta and see that it's mostly devolved into people arguing over what retro is and whether or not you can count either of the aforementioned consoles into the category

I keep both a 3DS and PS Vita loaded up with softmods because they both have fantastic community projects that support them with insane QOL features we'd never have gotten from Sony or Nintendo.

So far, I've been using my Vita for every "Nostalgia Society" game because it's so versatile. (no one point out we've only done PS1 game so far. That's not my fault :P )

 

[DjQuick2008]

Next year the ps3 should be classed as retro at least it would be hard to deny after 20 years

Post automatically merged: Thursday at 10:59 AM

I put retro as released 20+ years ago, 30+ as vintage, same as cars.
The reason is while modern gaming is well....shit, you can still see it was inspired by the mid 2000's, vintage is things that were forgotten or rarely mentioned, a entirely different experience.

i find myself playing offline classics rather than online nowadays ploughing through need for speed most wanted 2012 at the moment dosent really need an online connection for the single player mode

 

[solnK!]

Im planning to "revive" my 3DS very soon, I don´t know if I should consider it retro/vintage.
Maybe in like 5 years?

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

I refuse to think anything that is PS3, 360 and Wii as old. They just came out right? im not crazy?!

 

[tuesday]

shhhhh lol

 

[Egg (McMuffin) Man]

3DS and Vita will never be retro. They're just old.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

3DS and Vita will never be retro. They're just old.

In the 2030's I'd hardly consider them not retro.

 

[Egg (McMuffin) Man]

In the 2030's I'd hardly consider them not retro.

Whether or not they are retro has nothing to do with the age of the games and everything to do with the era in which they were released. They were released during the current era of gaming, and they will always be a part of this era.

 

[Lena CE]

Language is fluid and the fun part is no one will ever fully agree on definitions because words change and adapt with the times.

 

[Sumea]

Whether or not they are retro has nothing to do with the age of the games and everything to do with the era in which they were released. They were released during the current era of gaming, and they will always be a part of this era.

By that logic nothing is retro. NES is current, SNES is current, Dreamcast is current and so on.
People have generally agreed for decades now that console generations are a shorthand for an era in Gaming. I have no idea how you could say "Vita and 3DS released at current era" since they released slightly before PS4. The two systems are still, technically, from last years of PS3 and Wii being current systems. No idea what logic dictates PS3 and Wii as "current" consoles but the same logic needing to apply, we would need to just call everything current era that just breaks any conventional understanding of words and how they have been applied historically in niche of video game hobbyists.
How do you even claim "Something will be always part of the current era"? That is not how time works you need to start calling pyramids and lead plumbing current inventions by that logic.

 

[Juiceala]

Just a reminder, Wii got commercial releases up until the 2020s while the WiiU was commercially discontinued around 2018.

 

[cloudsets]

I find the amount of distress expressed in this thread confusing. I think of anything that is no longer being made as “retro.” It's not that big of a deal.