What is the definition of 'retro' to you?

[Yankee]

Good point there. I don't think anyone would look at Tibia, Lineage, Asheron's Call, or Ultima Online and say they're not retro.

 

[artema]

Or between the Gamecube and the PS4?

Unless I messed up the dates.

Yet the difference between a PS3 and a PS5 is still largely less noticeable than between the SNES and the Gamecube...


Wait, there were MMOs in the 90's and even some games like ChuChu Rocket made with Online in mind since '99.

Yes, there is games that uses online features before that, but isn't the pattern that companies followed until 7th generation.

 

[Sandteufel]

I'd say the PS2 generation and before, though I still subconsciously feel that's wrong since I'm only 20 and remember a time when the PS2 was still popular. Now I feel like a caveman.

 

[Logi]

if gamecenter cx has covered a game from the console it is retro

 

[Karnik]

Hmmm..... In my language, this is one of the meanings of "retro" :

 

[ATenderLad]

Hmmm..... In my language, this is one of the meanings of "retro" :

View attachment 8216

Ah, retro - To wear a frog hat. I learned something today.

 

[Karnik]

Ah, retro - To wear a frog hat. I learned something today.

Hahaha... Naaaahhh!... I didn't explain myself well, I fear.
That's what rest on when you do .

 

[Somnia]

It is nebulous but imo if something is within that 15-20 year range it is pretty definitively retro to me. It's all about generational gaps within humans. I think the term kind of loses meaning when the 7th generation and onward has seen so much homogenization within design and technology, so unlike the 6 gens prior it doesn't feel like there are as clear shifts and evolutions of the medium. I understand where people who wanna say the PS3/360/Wii and onward aren't as deserving of a retro moniker are coming from. When 15+ years removed from those systems launching we still have boatloads of DNA from those games in modern releases it definitelt doesn't feel like that unique of an era.

But still, people who were born in 2005 are about to turn 20 this year. The PS3/360 will feel pretty retro to them when most formative memories of gaming and their earliest tastes of gaming nostalgia will be had with games from that era. We already kind of see this happening with the endless "omg remember when" posts about that era of Call of Duty and what have you. Sure a lot of that is propped up from people my age (late 20s/early 30s) who are just bitter about their lives post-high school not feeling as fulfilling, but a lot of it does come from people who were hadn't hit high school when the PS4 released reminiscing about their formative gaming memories on PS3/360 hardware.

 

[zilbert25]

When Nintendo and Sega released their first home consoles

 

[Ailuropoda Melanoleuca]

Personally, I'd say it's only retro if it's from an era or platform BEFORE game controls were standardized. Which in terms of console games, means titles built for the standard dual analog controller -- so a very hazy line through history beginning with the PS1, ending with arguably either the Gamecube, Wii or WiiU. Look, Nintendo's weird (we all know that).

On the PC side of things, it's a bit harder to pin down. Mouse support is obviously the biggest element, but I'd argue that there are more elements, too, that divide "modern" PC games from "retro" PC games. Like tooltips. Trying to play old games on GOG without tooltips can be... profoundly frustrating.

Come to think of it, WASD movement may also be a strong sign. Not really sure when that was standardized... one of the late-90s FPS, iirc. Was it the original Half Life? One of the Dooms? Help me out here, nerds.

 

[Skeetos]

Although I answered with PS2 and before. Some of those early Xbox 360/PS3 games could fit in there too. Talking stuff like Dead Rising 1 or Lost Planet where they were obviously a step up from the previous gen but still early enough to still feel like they'd fit on those older systems. Anything after around 2010 I feel like I wouldn't consider Retro just yet because a lot of those games still feel like they could come out now and no one would bat an eye. Did anyone know that the 360 had a port of Rise of the Tomb Raider? Crazy to think that that console from 2005 ran that 2015 monster of a game.

Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2025

Personally, I'd say it's only retro if it's from an era or platform BEFORE game controls were standardized. Which in terms of console games, means titles built for the standard dual analog controller -- so a very hazy line through history beginning with the PS1, ending with arguably either the Gamecube, Wii or WiiU. Look, Nintendo's weird (we all know that).

On the PC side of things, it's a bit harder to pin down. Mouse support is obviously the biggest element, but I'd argue that there are more elements, too, that divide "modern" PC games from "retro" PC games. Like tooltips. Trying to play old games on GOG without tooltips can be... profoundly frustrating.

Come to think of it, WASD movement may also be a strong sign. Not really sure when that was standardized... one of the late-90s FPS, iirc. Was it the original Half Life? One of the Dooms? Help me out here, nerds.

Some Quake pro from back when Quake first came out standardized WASD when he whooped everyone else's ass in a tourney. At least I think that's how it went.

 

[YuriSukiSan]

It's hard for me to quantifiy it, if I wanted to be pedantic purist I would probably say it's the Atari generation. I feel like the PS1, N64 and Saturn (despite my love of everything that came after) are a reasonable cut off point but as another poster mentioned games like Ultima Online, Everquest and FFXI aren't modern. You try playing EQ 99 then tell me it's a modern game! So in that regard I think 2000ish is when games started to transition in to the modern era as much as I like the games that came after.

 

[vulonkaaz]

retro is a feel

since the early 2010s maybe a bit before the great reunification the great standardization happened, the xbox style of control became dominant, gamepads became USB meaning PC versions didn't have to deal with keyb and mouse anymore, every game started having roughly the same layout, racing games started using triggers for accel instead of normal buttons, game consoles slowly started to lose relevance cause they offered the same experience as PC

Skyrim will never feel retro cause it follows the current standard feel, many modern indie games could be considered retro (unless i narrow down my definition)

 

[Ikagura]

Retro is a feel.

This is a really subjective thing but I may agree that Skyrim still feels modern (despite using the same game design from the early 2000's).

 

[vulonkaaz]

(despite using the same game design from the early 2000's).

if we take that into account then Starfield is a retro game

 

[Ikagura]

If we take that into account then Starfield is a retro game

Which is a serious issue for me. Bethesda could've built a new engine or even adding seamless transitions like in Cyberpunk instead of the same old loading screen when exiting a building.


It also worries me that fundamentally GTA VI will still use the same game design we got since GTA III. Franchises need to evolve.

 

[bobobobo2]

if it's in the repo it's retro! *sweats profusely watching spike go on vita spree*

 

[Photik]

I'd say all before PS1 and N64 is retro. From then on, going into PS2 was the new/golden age of 3D. After that, i'd say it's bleh

 

[Leifang]

if it's in the repo it's retro! *sweats profusely watching spike go on vita spree*

Portables don't really fit with console gens, do they? Usually a few behind though I don't think late PS2 games like MGS3 or FFX are retro by design.

 

[bobobobo2]

i... would... have... hard... time... calling... even... psp... retro... to... be... honest..., everyone... was... supposed... to... be... hooked... to... the... matrix... by... now..., then... there... would... have... been... no... doubt... ps2... is... retro..., but... our... technocrats... decided... to... slack... it... off... and... work... on... ps666... instead...

 

[thanonyx]

For me, when a gaming console reaches it's 20th anniversary then it gains official retro status. The Xbox 360 debuted on November 22, 2005 so that means on November 22 this year it will be officially considered retro.

As for PC games that game itself has to be at least 20 years old to be considered retro.

 

[rexfenix]

I have a slight feeling that anyone saying "anything after PS2 can't be retro" probably have not yet come to terms with the simple fact that they are, in fact, getting old.

It happened to me, it will happen to you too...

 

[CaptainJupiter]

15-20 years feels good as a qualification for being "retro" to me, which makes me feel ancient since I'm in my thirties and first played video games on my parents NES in the early 90s, had a Genesis in the early-mid 90s and got an N64 as basically "my" first console the year after it came out.

 

[Leifang]

15-20 years feels good as a qualification for being "retro" to me, which makes me feel ancient since I'm in my thirties and first played video games on my parents NES in the early 90s, had a Genesis in the early-mid 90s and got an N64 as basically "my" first console the year after it came out.

By this definition, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age would be "retro", which kind of doesn't work. Games changed FAR less in last 15 years than they had in, like, every two years before 2000. Four years back then was two generations leap!

Seriously, compare GTA 1 in 1997 to GTA 3 in 2001... and bigger gaps... let's just say, between 1993 (Doom) to 2003 (Call of Duty) there's been much larger leap than between 2013 (GTA 5) and 2022 (GTA 5 re-released).

There's same time span between Daggerfall and Skyrim as between Skyrim and now. Daggerfall was retro when Skyrim got released, but Skyrim isn't retro now, not when next Elder Scrolls isn't even in the works.

 

[Ikagura]

I have a slight feeling that anyone saying "anything after PS2 can't be retro" probably have not yet come to terms with the simple fact that they are, in fact, getting old.

It happened to me, it will happen to you too...

This seems logical.