What is the definition of 'retro' to you?

[DayBreak_Illusion]

Notice how the Wii isn't included? That means it's still not RETRO!!! HUZZAH!

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

Game Stop's opinion has never mattered before, why should it now?

 

[Dr.Kisaragi Dr.Kisaragi]

So Ps3 and Xbox 360 are retro but not wii I guess the wii still innovative console to rhis day huh?

 

[BrawlMan]

The 360, PS3, and Wii already have been retro, and the Wii U is not too far down the line, but give it another 4 or so years. You don't need GameStop's "input" to figure that out.

 

[Stare best girl]

GameStop=discarded opinion

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

The cut-off for calling something "retro" is 2001. No, I won't elaborate (It's hard to explain anyway lol), but this is the hill I'll die on . We need new terms for everything that's come after and what we have today.

 

[Clippy]

Couldn't care less what GameStop thinks but this

In my opinion, the term retro began around 2003

I find interesting. I wonder when the term 'retro' was first applied to video games. The word has been in use in the way we know and understand now since the 70s at the latest but it was usually applied to fashion back then. I made a thread ages ago about an article that talks about retro gaming all the way back in 1996. I wonder if there are any earlier examples.

 

[kuroninneko]

At this rate we are going to need to invent a word for older than retro

 

[MDGeistsfavMC5song]

At this rate we are going to need to invent a word for older than retro

um... maybe disco?

 

[SliperyHippo]

Well, 21 years ago the XBOX 360 came out, and 21 years before that the NES was the best selling console of all time! Maybe we're all just getting old

 

[bjork]

In my opinion, the term retro began around 2003

Nirvana is considered classic rock by radio stations. It's a passage of time thing. You're not going to walk into a store and see new 360, PS3, or Wii U games at a Target or something outside of weird fluke cases. So they might as well be retro. Sorry, we're all getting up there, gramps. It isn't just you, at least.

 

[Scotty Scotty]

Gamestop's opinions on anything are about as relevant as last week's weather.

 

[koiking1122]

it's really funny how gamestop has decided they're an authority on gaming between this and when they announced to everyone "the console wars are over", thought I guess they ACTUALLY have a little more authority on this considering they trade consoles and have to put them under some kind of category. The Wii U being a retro console feels kind of fucked up though, I don't think I agree.

 

[Snipo]

The more time progresses the harder it becomes to find a consensus on what is retro or not, during 2003 it was easy, anything that could output 3d was modern and consoles that could only do 2d was retro. You might think it crazy, but the Wii U is nearly 14 Years old at this point and the cut-off for many people is 15 Years to be considered retro, so imo it isn't that insane even though I would disagree.

 

[Sumea]

I like how GameStop saying something flips reality of matter to people.

I find interesting. I wonder when the term 'retro' was first applied to video games. The word has been in use in the way we know and understand now since the 70s at the latest but it was usually applied to fashion back then. I made a thread ages ago about an article that talks about retro gaming all the way back in 1996. I wonder if there are any earlier examples.

Exactly this. We called some games retro already when gaming itself was not 20 years old. Space Invaders and Pong were the only things you could have "Considered Retro" with a "20 year rule that has always been so except when it wasn't and I just came the fuck up with it on the fly to deny how old I am getting."
Back in 2001-2006, NES was considered Retro and it was still being maintained by nintendo. It had almost a decade of official hardware support still. SNES was considered retro which was not even 10 years old and it was getting it's last official games in Japan. When PS3 was out PS1 was already Retro with N64 and Saturn which were getting their first retro treatments officially by Sony launching downloadable PS1 games, microsoft launching download HDfied versions of Banjo Kazooie & Tooie etc.

Now, of course, for these there is the obvious case of leaping hardware. The progress of technology we had between 70's and 2009 is absolutely insane. Compared to that, 2010-2026 feels outright stagnant, especially the non-leap most feel with PS5 compared to PS4. The big numbers the hardware is marked with today just does not translate to something like jumping from PS1 to PS2. We all do agree that while it is happening, technological progress in gaming became much more marginal and it started with PS3 and Xbox 360. So I understand the gut reaction to deny their status as old, and thus retro. But reality is, they are much older today than NES was when it was called retro. Much older when SNES was called retro. Much older than PS1 when it was labeled retro. And if that does not matter the term does not matter since it is just fairy dust fugaehzi fugayhzi not in the elemental table it is not fucking real. Which might be the case but in that case the fuck we doing here saying GameStop is somehow wrong?

So, in factual basis, yes, these systems are Retro. Wii definitely is considered retro in technology yet time wise it shares the same age with PS3 and Xbox 360, and it's existence was very influental to both of those system's lifespans as Move and Kinect were developed because of Sony and Microsoft electing to challenge Wii. Wii was not irrelevant for the whole age of that generation. Move even was pivotal enough to be at the core of Sony's first VR system, where it manages the job fine-not-amazing out of ten.

Now, Wii U then of course challenges the notion of Age as it shares it's life with end half of PS3 and first big half of PS4. And we can mostly agree PS4 ain't retro. Even though it could be considered retro in time stuff but let's not for sake of sanity. But technologically, in same space with PS3 and Xbox 360 it would be retro. But now I have put even myself in a pickle because while I argue time being a factor for retro, I also cannot ignore technology as a factor. And this has been true also in past where we would consider, in sense, current systems as also retro systems. Say, whole history of Handhelds more than less. For most of it's life, GameBoy was "Retro" when it was out with SNES and especially later half when PS1 and N64 came out. GameBoy, I would argue GBA, could argue easily NDS all were current and relevant platforms, but also in sense, "retro" in technological sense as those systems stayed almost two generations behind, out of reality of portable tech, with some pizzaz and caveats. So, yeah, technology is also part of it.

So... Technology? Is PS3, Xbox 360, and PS3, technology wise retro? Well, the "kid test" for sure would make it so. That is the simple thing where a kid or teenager sees something that is older than them itself and identifies thing as old. That for sure would be case with these systems. Also, while us boomer-gamers will see PS3 as good looking and very comparable to PS5 games, there is a technological retroism in these systems. All of these systems with Wii U represent an old age in console technology. Specialized CPU's, from IBM no less, in all systems. Weird multicore tech. Absolutely miniscule amount of memory in today's standards. Forget "Dude 16 gigs does not cut it for any PC in 20XX" PS3 and Xbox be running here with total memory matching 2002 gaming PC's. And xbox 360 and Wii U have luxury of unified memory and Wii U having whopper two gigs (but only one for games, except if you are Breath of the Wild) while PS3 has a locked amount of 256Mb for CPU and another 256Mb for GPU, and the system XMB in minimized mode has to run in background still, taking about a meg or two of precious memory away. These systems are outright archaic inside. They are absolutely technological relics. It just does not show like that to boomers comparing how they print on the screen versus a PS5 game. Or "It uses HDMI" like that is a valid throw. What, did composite connection make something not retro in 2005? As long as it connected to TV it was not retro back then? Flat screen TV standards and HD age is not even half of the total age CRT age had. Yes stuff improved in steps but this also is very silly unscientific way of defining things.


ALL, IN; ALL:
We are very fickle and subjectibibibe about these shits. At the end of the day the term is a fugahzi fuhgayhzi especially today when there is no more a coherent agreement around the concept. It is based mostly on vibes and yeah it always was mostly vibes but now gamers do not share the vibes like we used to. We vibed in the same groovy disco back in 90's and 200X's. Now there is so many of us. Boomer Gamers thinking how they will shoot themselves on their 50th birthday look at the 18 year old's on the other side of the dance floor doing something absolutely weird with their moves and vibes even though that is still a real ass gamer there. And that real ass gamer is likely to appreciate games that are older than them. Even ones on PS3, or re-released from that age. It hard but yeah.

TL;DR: PS3 and Xbox 360 are retro. Don't Change my mind go home ask your kids about their vibes.

 

[χKai]

Too bad Gamestop isn't the end-all, be-all decider of anything to do with what makes anything a thing in gaming

 

[Advil Lavs]

20 or 21 years is a good gap to call a console retro. The NES was 21 when the Xbox 360 and PS3 came out and they were definitely considered retro at the time. WiiU on the other hand, it has 5 or so years before that.
Also, you know, don't listen to "paid gamers", big gaming stores and critics have always had pretty bullshit opinions.

 

[Sumea]

Too bad Gamestop isn't the end-all, be-all decider of anything to do with what makes anything a thing in gaming

A farmer does not decide what the law is nor is an authority on law and ain't no lawyer not even a weird farmer with a degree in lawyerism but if that Farmer says "It is illegal to shoot someone and bury their body and gaslight their family about them escaping for 10 years" that farmer is still quite correct. No need to be authority to state some things that slide in the side of truth. Sliding being also key you can easily say stuff that are mostly but not entirely correct or something like that.

 

[χKai]

I'm sorry, but I will never consider anything past the 64 to be Retro.

More like Post-Retro, really.

 

[Sumea]

20 or 21 years is a good gap to call a console retro. The NES was 21 when the Xbox 360 and PS3 came out and they were definitely considered retro at the time. WiiU on the other hand, it has 5 or so years before that.
Also, you know, don't listen to "paid gamers", big gaming stores and critics have always had pretty bullshit opinions.

NES was considered retro well before that though. SNES was considered Retro and it was barely a pre teen and it's last games were pretty fresh in Japan at least.

 

[Advil Lavs]

NES was considered retro well before that though. SNES was considered Retro and it was barely a pre teen and it's last games were pretty fresh in Japan at least.

Yea, our perception of retro has never been good. Even the word retro itself isn't use correctly

 

[Sumea]

I'm sorry, but I will never consider anything past the 64 to be Retro.

More like Post-Retro, really.

I'm sorry but that just means the word means nothing and you could just call it all fairy dust.

Post automatically merged: Mar 17, 2026

Yea, our perception of retro has never been good. Even the word retro itself isn't use correctly

This is right but how the word is used also decides what the word is. That is language and meaning of words is more important than definitions. While I also argue that the meaning has become now so blurry it might not even be there if it be like this.

 

[χKai]

I'm sorry but that just means the word means nothing and you could just call it all fairy dust.

 

[Sumea]

It does tho. It is not important but there is at least an atom of matter where given it is, once again, for like third time, one of the most heated topics on this forum. Yes it is not important but also not thinking about this stuff and giving up on thinking about this stuff is how we steer ourselves as a species into Idiocracy future. Yes, nothing matters in grand scheme, in galactic scale, in heat death and suicide will take us away making it all null and void and like it never even was in the end but we also are, now, and as long as we have an attitude we also make things matter. Something is still real to us. And this is one silly mite of dust in air that we still have grander debates about than Roman philosophers had with Diogenes.

 

[Elwiwi]

About time ... Wait Wii u? Does that mean that the Wii never existed?