What is the definition of 'retro' to you?

[fake-chan]

Yes.

 

[Potapota]

I choose to not consider it retro

 

[UnDubious]

Gaming progressed very rapidly at first, and has slowed down since. So while NES games felt retro 5-6 years later (Super Mario 3 came out in 1990 in North America, 5 years later the Playstation was out!), the games we see on consoles today aren't wildly different from those of the PS3 and 360 considering all the time that has passed. Higher resolution, better framerate hopefully, but nothing revolutionary. That's why it's hard to call them retro. I can think of the DS as retro because it has all those 2D games, and the 3D is very old-school. Lots of simpler games too. PSP almost. 3DS or Vita, nah.

 

[Enian]

The PS3 is almost 20 years old. I know, hard to believe, but I'd say at that point you can definitely call it retro.

Gaming evolution has slowed down and as one grows older the years start to blend together, so it may seem as if the PS3 and Xbox 360 and the Wii, etc., were just announced a while back. In reality it has almost been two DECADES.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Nope i refuse! The Wii and the DS just came out

Correct.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

Sadly yes it´´s "retro" honestly by today´s standard anything older than 5 year is "retro".
To me retro = shit I played as a kid and to me PS3 is not retro is just bloody old.

Retro gaming is a pastime that constitutes playing on a vintage hardware and no PS3 is not vintage.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Definitely. It's going to be 20 years old next year. It'll be older than the Sega Genesis was when the PS3 launched.

 

[Deleted member 171852]

I don't think games changed enough from the PS3 era to now to be considered retro. The whole thing about the term is that it is supposed to represent things that are very different from how they are now because they were made too long ago. Probably in a few years(hopefully) this will change
Also you guys are all too old, accept it already :^)

 

[Clippy]

 

[Retro Doomer]

Nope not for me.Everything after the ps2 is modern for me.Maybe we can call the Ps3 Vintage or Classic/Old School but not Retro

 

[Deleted member 171852]

View attachment 78122

Any opinion told by an anime girl automatically turns into the truth, and everyone knows that everyone in retrogametalk.com is an anime girl

 

[diapered]

the games we see on consoles today aren't wildly different from those of the PS3 and 360

I feel the same way. The word "retro" does have an interpretation based on the passage of time, but no matter how much time passes, I would not consider seventh gen "retro" in a gaming context. I consider sixth gen on the "edge" and anything before that retro. Retro games have a unique feel because the developers were clearly limited by the hardware at the time, but starting with sixth gen, graphical models and memory are at the point where games can pretty much look as visually impressive/interactive as they can: games just start to become more detailed, intricate and expansive. For example, I think (for the most part) ps2 games play just like modern games, just with outdated graphics.

 

[Deleted member 132407]

Retro is like 20 to 40 years old. PS3 released 2006-2007.

 

[C-MS]

When emulation gets good. I can't wait for playing Silent Hill Downpour! ... Oh wait...

 

[Retro Doomer]

Any opinion told by an anime girl automatically turns into the truth, and everyone knows that everyone in retrogametalk.com is an anime girl

Well my Character looks like an Anime boy so.....;) does that count.

 

[Deleted member 132407]

When emulation gets good. I can't wait for playing Silent Hill Downpour! ... Oh wait...

It's playable @ https://rpcs3.net/compatibility?g=silent+hill+downpour#jump

 

[Clippy]

Well my Character looks like an Anime boy so.....;) does that count.

We know you're just saying what Hilde thinks.

 

[C-MS]

It's playable @ https://rpcs3.net/compatibility?g=silent+hill+downpour#jump

Can't think if that is good news or bad news. Thanks anyway bro

 

[Deleted member 132407]

Can't think if that is good news or bad news. Thanks anyway bro

I loved it most haunting soundtrack by Daniel Licht, he composed the soundtracks to Dishonored games including TV series Dexter.

 

[Sumea]

No.
Not in my opinion. Anything with HDMI and Bluetooth controllers will never be "retro" in my eyes

Well, usually that has to do with age.
Was NES Retro when PS2 came out? Was NES retro when Xbox 360 launched then?

The numbers today say, that PS3 is today older than Mega Drive was when Xbox 360 launched, with MD's few years of head start compared to SNES which makes the figure even more slanted.
HDMI has been around for well over 20 years, HDMI as a thing is not exactly most modern tech either, and given how extended in life and compatible oldest versions currently still are, this view makes it really weird. People definitely saw SNES and NES as Retro in 2002-2007, and some of those "retro" games were very new still at the time, like chrono trigger coming out less than 10 years earlier, or to be launched for the first time officially in few years to future depending where you live. Chrono Trigger officially launched in Europe for DS in 2009, and was hyper popular game to emulate. Now systems that have almost third more in their age today are refused to be seen as retro from denial and robust video standard, even though PS3 is widely a 720p system compared to modern 1080p and 2160p targets.

Though, it is interesting this view holds itself and to me it speaks of an effect that I feel video games have been suffering because of lack of perceived technological progress. PS5 age marks almost clear downgrade in that regard. The leaps were humongous from NES to SNES to PS1 slapping everyone's nuts to PS2 slapping them nuts twice harder, Xbox 360 and then slow burning from behind PS3 slapping their relative acorns. But at this stage the leap from PS2 to PS3 looked more like a hop that HDTV compatibility and HD resolutions bolstered into impressive with the graphical upgrades but it was nothing like from PS1 to PS2. Then PS4 comes out and the leap is not even really there. Graphical fidelity made an iteration, not a leap forward. A lot of games launched on both PS4 and PS3 more as a same game, nothing like what happened with PS1 and PS2 cross gen titles. To me, if you consider the time and what used to be considered retro relative to the time that had passed from launch or "death" of a system; 360 and PS3 are categorically, clearly cut retro at this point. But I can also understand that it does not feel like that when modern gaming has not been taking technological leaps like the games did for their first 20 years. This also includes game norms being so solidified, that a lot of console games still feel the same on PS5 as they did on PS3. FPS games have played more than less the same for decades. Souls games have been souling, and nothing has been a revolution to the games in the same way in years. Love or hate them, to me one of last revolutions was the battle royale genre of games that for sure needed the hardware to be executed in the way they were, not to talk about upgrades in internet technology to enable it too. Gaming has been diminished more and more of "revolutions" since PS3 started to wither away and that in my opinion is major factor in perception of retro.

Post automatically merged: Jun 7, 2025

Retro is like 20 to 40 years old. PS3 released 2006-2007.

Like I surmised, this logic would dictate that in 2004, the only popular game system considered retro would be Atari VCS and maybe Donkey Kong and Pac-Man arcade cabinets, and NES would cross over to being considered retro only when XBOX 360 launched, and SNES would not be retro at this point.
I feel at the time, even though in reality last SNES release in Japan was still somewhat fresh, that most people in 200X considered NES and SNES retro, even though they were not even nearly 20 years old at that point.

 

[ThatOneLum]

I think that the PS3 doesn't "feel" retro to a lot of people, which is understandable. It doesn't take much pointing out to recognise that the generations that came before the PS3 all had their own distinct levels and feels that sort of evaporated after 7th-gen consoles launched.

All those caveats aside, the PS3 is retro to me.
It's got basically 2 decades under its belt, and the industry has moved on from a lot of the design sensibilities of the era (Project Ten Dollar, Everything is greeny-brown, etc). I understand why people don't agree, but for me, it just about pushes the threshold.

With the PS6 likely launching in a couple of years, it's only going to get harder and harder for people to keep making the argument that the PS3 isn't a retro system.

 

[Sumea]

Yeah. If people asked "is Wii retro?" even though the age is just about the same, Wii definitely clicks as retro to people even if it has bluetooth controllers. HD era has been undeniably slow to progress.

 

[C-MS]

Yeah. If people asked "is Wii retro?" even though the age is just about the same, Wii definitely clicks as retro to people even if it has bluetooth controllers. HD era has been undeniably slow to progress.

The Dolfin agrees with you man. And dolfins are smart unlike me. So you must be right.

 

[HyperNelson01 HyperNelson01]

Really the PS3 is a console that is part of the 7th Generation of Consoles and as it has been in existence for 18 years it looks more like a classic console than it seems as well as the competition (XBOX 360, WII) that have been in existence for 19 and 18 years and are also considered classic consoles due to the time that has passed from 2005-06 to the present which is 2025.

Because if we talk about retro consoles of 7th Generation they would be the handheld consoles that really opened the doors in that generation of consoles you know (DS, PSP) that both consoles are 20 years old and are considered retro due to the long time that has passed from 2004 to the present day, which is 2025.

 

[Varyag]

It's two console generations ago, games still came on physical disks that you could play without an internet connection. Yes it is retro.
Furthermore, given the current state of AAA gaming, I'm willing to call "retro" anything from 10 years ago and older, sliding scale. This close to calling the PS4 retro too.