Topic: How long ago is "Retro"

Hi there, I was having this discussion with someone, but wondered what other people think.

How old should a console/game/anything be to become retro?

I subscribe to Retro Gamer and it has a blast to the past section, but it is on 2005 at the moment which is only 17 years (oh god I feel old saying that), surely Retro should be around 25 years.

Just wondering really...

@Bunkerneath I consider any last generation console to fall under the retro label. Any last gen console out of production. Anyone young and new to gaming would probably view all previous generations as retro.

2d 8bit, 16bit, 32bit look so dated to me (even though i grew up with them) that they look like metaphorical silent films or black & white films to me, compared to what we have today. I think younger people born after the 2d era may see them that way. The tech advances were paradigm shifts like silent films, to black and white, to technicolor, to color, to hd, etc.

I would personally draw the line with N64, PS1 and the like. The graphics on Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox are just still too advanced to call them retro in my opinion (especially when they were coming fresh off the heels of polygons galore) so I'd give that generation about 10 years before it can truly be called 'retro'.

@Bunkerneath Retro Gamer first published in 2004. If it required "retro" to be at least 25 years ago it would only have covered up to 1979.

I've introduced my kids to some Wii games and they would definitely consider the low-res graphics to be "retro".

When I hear retro, nes, snes, genesis dremcast and so on, come to mind, and the ps3 as well, I would count those as rectors consoles, and the games that came with them as retor games.

I think it is impossible to define what is retro. It will always be subjective because people started playing games at different times. To me, it is anything old enough that I thought "oh this is a old game" when I first played it. That would make my definition of retro as before 2001, but that is just for me, and it will probably change when I get older.

I think 2005 is not unreasonable to consider retro, games have changed a lot since then, maybe not quite as much as between 1988 and 2005, but because of the internet quite a lot has changed. Things like DLC, or micro transactions didn't exist in 2005. Updates to games weren't really a thing, at least on consoles. iPhones and Android didn't exist yet, which is pretty significant because of all the mobile games.

Everyone has their own definition and that's part of the reason why I think the term should be retired. Retro gaming is a dated concept that I don't think is useful any more.

All games can and should be appreciated mindfully of the time and context in which they were released, no matter how old they are, and I don't think it makes sense to divide them into "retro or not retro." I'm not retro filming if I watch Blade Runner. I'm not retro musicing if I listen to Revolver. Games are games.

I draw the line at 2 generations before the current one.
In other words: everything before Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Yeah, there's no hard definition as it's more of a subjective description based on feeling, kinda like when you call a DVD player "vintage," the same label given to vinyl.

I draw the line at 16 bit too due to all the reasons stated above, including graphics that are too advanced to be considered "retro." But I don't know, it's a feeling thing. Words are fickle.

@Bunkerneath
I already considered PS3, Wii and XBOX360 games as Retro games.

I would say more than 20 years

Well the definition of Retro is a style, design or fashion from the recent past. So with that said, I feel it's different for each person. Just like I consider 50s and 60s retro style, my parents wouldn't, the same can be said about video games. I myself consider anything pefore PS2 retro but younger people would consider PS2, PS3 and even Wii retro. Nothing wrong with that really it just makes talking about retro things without a clear definition hard. Like when I ask someone what's their favorite retro game and someone pops off with Suoer Mario Sunshine it's hard for me to even consider that retro. Or when they say I am a retro gamer I play GameCube games on my Wii. Again nothing wrong it just sounds odd to me.

Now get off my lawn you young folks.

@Eel Can't wait for Zelda 20 years later - live action graphics with Link and Zelda played by Tom Holland and Zendaya.

N64 and earlier. Any console with modern graphics and online functionality won't ever be a retro console.

I see retro as pretty much anything from the previous decade or earlier. Although I will always have a soft spot for the "Golden Era" spanning anywhere from Famicom/NES to Playstation, Nintendo 64 & Dreamcast. In fact I regularly still play older games.

There is something about the simplicity of past era games that just feels good to play. Whether that be the styles at the time which reflect in the art direction of the game, or even the soundtrack being less advanced in their arrangement, just hits my ears easier.

For me, as others have mentioned, it's three generations back from the most modern generation. So right now, that is the Gamecube/ Xbox Era for me.

I was a SNES kid and I considered the N64 "retro" when it was on the Wii VC because of how far things had advanced. So objectively it's hard to argue that the Wii/360/PS3 are not "retro" consoles now. The only argument I can have for how they are not "retro" is the fact that the Switch is a modern console and isn't technically pushing things that much further than the 360/PS3. But you could've said the same thing about the DS not pushing things that much further than the N64

Also I picked up a "Meta" Quest 2 this week which has a mobile processor in it. The visuals it pushes out while doing full tracking, stereoscopic 3D in higher than full HD resolutions? They're pretty comparable to the 360. Given the price of that thing and the fact that it's portable enough to strap to your head and include all the stuff to make VR a thing? Hard to argue that the HD twins are not-retro now. IMO.

My usual take would be that it's retro if you can emulate it on a handheld.

This does mean that the Switch is now retro, mind you...

@Matt_Barber I propose changing it from just any handheld to “a low to mid range tablet or phone”