What is the definition of 'retro' to you?

[A4lmond]

For me retro depends on the topic we're talking about.
For video games? Well... Games from 15 or more years ago are already retro. Yeah, MGS4 wasn't released in the 90s, but it's been so long since it came out that my life has moved on a lot since then and now Bloodborne is almost 10 years old... But things are different for let's say books, because of how technology advance, for books to be old they need to be at least 100 years old because it needs a change in society for us to see a difference between then and now. We're just starting to see differences with books from the 70s (If they are for medicine then a lot less we need), and with games this happens much faster.

I think this is also why people don't like to think about said games that are 15 years old as “retro” because most things would NOT be considered retro after so little but like you said, technology advances so quickly it makes sense that games become retro relatively fast

 

[χKai]

I think this is also why people don't like to think about said games that are 15 years old as “retro” because most things would NOT be considered retro after so little but like you said, technology advances so quickly it makes sense that games become retro relatively fast

I will never think of the PS2 as 'retro'.

 

[A4lmond]

I will never think of the PS2 as 'retro'.

I grew up playing with consoles older than me because my family could never afford recent consoles and I lowkey keep forgetting that the PS2 is one of those, like wdym I'm halfway through college and the PS2 came out 3 years BEFORE I was born?

 

[χKai]

I grew up playing with consoles older than me because my family could never afford recent consoles and I lowkey keep forgetting that the PS2 is one of those, like wdym I'm halfway through college and the PS2 came out 3 years BEFORE I was born?

Sign of the times, man.
There were video games before my era too, even though it was things like Pong and Atari. But the video game industry was just picking up back then, and hadn't yet become the art form it transformed into by the time '85 rolled around.
You were just a little late to the party..

 

[LightningmanEXE]

I think of retro as ps1 and n64 and backwards... I feel like that was the experimental stage of games, and from the ps2 onwards we kind of had it figured out. it's less that it's old, and more that it was unrefined.

for the record I grew up with an SNES.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Maybe retro will mean the physical consoles...

With the next gen possible to be digital only this would become antiquated to use a cartridge or disc...

 

[DrunkGecko]

anything before ps3/xbox 360 era

 

[aquova]

It's about two generations or so I think. PS3/Xbox 360/Wii are right on the cusp, but I wouldn't call them retro just yet. PS2/GameCube/Dreamcast I think qualifies at this point though.

 

[Male Nerdity]

I feel anything 3 generations or older is essentially retro. That pushes it back around 25 years or so.

 

[Daughter of Janus]

(Serious):
If this is repeated anywhere, apologies.

I didn't read every page of this. So for me, "retro" for video games, at least refers to when the console itself has reached end of life plus 5 years.
I see that as the time when things should be considered retro, at least with video games.
Movies, on the other hand, I think a decade makes a film retro.

With Books someone else said 100 years, but I would say more around 40-50 years. Things change in the world so fast now, and with how language, political views, and opinions change so quickly, retro isn't as old, at least how I see it as it once was.

 

[Dannzy]

It depends on the essence of the games for me. All the big games from the mid 2000s to late 2010s aren't very different from the games we have now. When you go further back, games are made with designs that were often so different that you can really feel their era beyond the graphics. I guess I'm more philosophical in this sense.

 

[DEH]

I now believe that the Playstation 1 is Retro but the Playstation 2 not yet.

 

[nobitakun]

I always split console groups into two: non HDMI and HDMI. Calling names it's very subjective, but using the right screen is necessary :D

 

[aquova]

I didn't read every page of this. So for me, "retro" for video games, at least refers to when the console itself has reached end of life plus 5 years.

What counts as end of life though? The PS5 was released 5 years ago now, but they're still making PS4 titles. Is it five years after the last official game is released?

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

What counts as end of life though? The PS5 was released 5 years ago now, but they're still making PS4 titles. Is it five years after the last official game is released?

This gen is confusing...

 

[Daughter of Janus]

What counts as end of life though? The PS5 was released 5 years ago now, but they're still making PS4 titles. Is it five years after the last official game is released?

(Serious):
When it is officially declared at the EOL by the parent company