What is the definition of 'retro' to you?

[Deleted member 660650]

It runs so loud these days T_T b-but that's how you know that the little ps4 is trying; is doing it's best! *nodnod*

If you listen to the sound of PS4 as it works you can hear the subtle sound of "dattebayo dattebayo dattebayo" lolol.

So if you wanna overclock a PS4 just pour ramen into it!!!! lololol

 

[Advil Lavs]

People tend to use the word "retro" wrongly:

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You would see "retro" especially in clothing because often old trends sometimes revived therefore people either wear clothes that were once prime fashion or they wanna wear such old-fashioned style clothes therefore the clothes that are produced new in "old style" makes it retro clothes.

In the context of video game consoles, they are not being "retro" because "it has been decades since they were released" and/or "despite they are old they are still popular or have gained new popularity".

For example NES is not a retro console, what's retro console is NES Classic Edition because it's a modern take on an old console that was released way after the original console. It kept the old style as it's but has the modern stuff when it been long time since the original console was released and all which pretty much makes it a retro console. That's why for example slim PS2 models are not retro consoles of fat PS2 lol.

So instead of calling NES "retro" we gotta call it "vintage" because:

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So should we call 3DS and PS Vita "vintage"?: Sure. They are old tech especially when they were what that era could produce but now we are in a different era with a different generation of consoles. For example I would also call PS4 vintage too lol.

Even if that's true, people have started calling it "retro" and it's difficult to change the minds of a large mass of people.

 

[ThirteeTooBeets]

I heard that for something to be considered retro it has to be 20+ years so there's still a bit of time for them to fall into that category

Edit: I mixed the terms retro and vintage together whoopsie

 

[Deleted member 660650]

Even if that's true, people have started calling it "retro" and it's difficult to change the minds of a large mass of people.

"Even if it's true"? Dude I literally shared da damn English dictionary. I ain't decide dictionary meanings of words lol.

Honestly I see the word "retro" rarely and when I see people use it half correct half wrong especially by new generation people among boys lol. Even young girls use the word correctly thanks to their common knowledge on types of clothes.

But you are right. Yes, it's hard for society to say, for example "suspicious" instead of "sus", "I think you are wrong" instead "it L take", and "I've realized I'm wrong and I'm sorry about it" instead of "u gay" lol.

Old people does the same shit too. They call any off-road vehicle or any vehicle looks like one "Jeep" when "Jeep" is just a brand of a car. It's like calling any ordinary-looking car "Toyota" ayy lmao.

In the end it's a topic of "common wrongs society does without realizing how wrong they are" and mostly it causes trivial wrong usage of words or they just die because they misunderstand simple laws of physics lol.

 

[Jeff]

Stop making me feel old.

 

[Deleted member 660650]

Stop making me feel old.

 

[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: Aug 7, 2025

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?!

 

[Deleted member 821138]

shhhhh lol

 

[Egg (McMuffin) Man]

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

 

[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.

 

[Ikagura]

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.

Well, technically post-Video Game Crash is the current era in the same way Anno Domini (aka after the birth of Jesus) is also called "Current Era" (to disconnect from any religion and have a more objective naming for historians).

I'd probably agree that console gens is more objective than retro because to some rare people even the PSX/N64 is "modern" since it has brought up 3D which we still use today.


I'd also say that the PS2 era has added modern elements we're still witnessing to this day in games and polished things up. It will be easier for a kid who grew up with a PS4 to play PS2 games than a kid who grew up with the PS3 to play PS1's.

Perhaps we could talk about the early days/prehistory with the first two generations, the 2D era with the NES/SG-1000 to the late SNES, the 3D era with the 5th and 6th gen, the HD era with the 7th gen onwards and we'll either get the VR or the "immaterial era" with Games as a Service, Cloud gaming and digital only consoles (I kinda shudders as the thought).

 

[Juiceala]

Doom is modern, we still use these visual techniques to this day, also Atari is modern because pixelart is still used today, vextrex however is retro because nobody cares for vector visuals anymore

Also fun fact, the video game crashis only an American thing, for us here in Asia and the rest of the world is just a myth, a bedtime story, we never had such a thing.

 

[Ikagura]

Doom is modern, we still use these visual techniques to this day, also Atari is modern because pixelart is still used today, vextrex however is retro because nobody cares for vector visuals anymore

And Street Fighter II is modern because fighting games are still using it as a groundwork.

Also fun fact, the video game crashis only an American thing, for us here in Asia and the rest of the world is just a myth, a bedtime story, we never had such a thing.

I'd still argue that since the USA has a bigger influence over the world it's still very relevant and that Nintendo + Sega rising from the ashes of Atari and Coleco was a turning point of video game history.