Retro V Modern

Agricola

When does gaming officially stop being Retro and become modern?
In 2010, what year(s) would you consider to be the cut off from what you'd consider to be retro and modern.

Recently listened to an episode of Retronauts where they were talking about the original Tomb Raider. Made me feel very old!

For me, Id consider games up to the late 90's i guess.

justbrian

Anything made up to 2004 is retro anyway. PS2 excluded it is not really retro as new games still come out. A case could be made that early ps2 games are retro. Same for PSP which came out in 04, still an active console.

Obviously current consoles are not retro, but pretty much everything else is including xbox 1.

o1s1n

justbrian wrote: »

Anything made up to 2004 is retro anyway. .

Hah! Way to make me feel old

I hate the term retro in relation to games. We don't call non contemporary films/books/music retro, so why games? It's a stupid term that makes older systems seem to be no more than dinosaur relics, only played for nostalgic reasons.

Good games are good games. Doesn't matter what era they're from.

deathrider

I never considered PS1 retro until the last year or so. Everyone seemed to be reffering to it as a retro console, and before I know it, I found myself on the band wagon
Before that, I would have said the Snes/ Megadrive games, and anything prior to them.

landsleaving

I suppose you could say when the normal game shops stop stocking them altogether is the point they become 'retro' to an extent, so the PS2 is on its way at the moment as most shops have stopped stocking it.

For me though, the Ps1 era on I would call modern. The games are 3d for the most part, and on discs (asides from the N64). There hasn't been a great leap from then in the same way the 2d to 3d/cratridge to disk was a huge change. Yeah graphics are better on PS3/360 than PS1/2, etc, but gameplay is more or less the same. So I guess pre-PS1 I'd call retro.

CiDeRmAn

justbrian wrote: »

Anything made up to 2004 is retro anyway. PS2 excluded it is not really retro as new games still come out. A case could be made that early ps2 games are retro. Same for PSP which came out in 04, still an active console.

Obviously current consoles are not retro, but pretty much everything else is including xbox 1.

Perhaps a little perspective here please!

Simply because a console is not current, does not make it then retro.
Retro-ness, that indefinable quality, is very subjective, to be sure, but certain things are always true.

Sprite based systems reach retro status easier than polygon powerhouses, simply because sprites sing "Retro" so well, so the GBA is virtually a retro console already, despite the fact it has only been unsupported for around 4 years or so.
Systems that predate 1995 are all retro simply because, well, they are ok, thats Megadrives, Snes', Gameboys, Gamegears, anything with Atari stamped on it's ass etc.
After that it gets a bit, well, harder to define.
Is the PS retro?
Is the Saturn retro?
Is the N64 retro?
No, they are not, they are consoles for the enthusiast, sure, but they retain too much of what has remained current, game and gameplay mechanics that have been unsurpassed, they could not be given the retro moniker at all.
Now "cult", that's different, each and everyone of the consoles mentioned above may be seen as culy systems, that is having a following of fans that slavishly follow every release, japanese, american, european etc.
They can tell the chips on the PCB inside, the video standards supported, the odd variants that they have in cabinets at home.
The Dreamcast would be a prime example of that.
But being retro doesn't make you cult, the Atari Jaguar, the 3DO, they have no cult following, unloved in life and death

As for the Xbox, GC and PS2, may as well include the DS and the PSP as well, they are not, could not be retro, they are the last gen, the games still retain too many of the genes possessed by the current gen, the Wii is a GC with extras, the PS2 and Xbox game libraries retaining far too much on common with the current gen gaming content to be in any way "obsolete", certainly in any manner bar visuals.

So, does that clear it up?

zing zong

I have a simple outlook on what makes retro

*one gen before the previous current gen*

for example the PS1 is one gen before the PS2 which was the gen previous to the PS3 (obviously :rolleyes:)

so to me PS1 and N64 would be retro, though not even the original xbox or gamecube as they are kinda still fresh in the sense games are handy enough to come across

Roar

o1s1n wrote: »

Good games are good games. Doesn't matter what era they're from.

hear hear

pdbhp

o1s1n wrote: »

Good games are good games. Doesn't matter what era they're from.

+ 1
Good games will stand the test of time and be playable in 50 years time just like good movies or music etc.
I would call retro anything that is over 10 years old or hasn't been supported in several years like the Gameboy Advance

whaturmuva

I think the cut off on retro right now is probably the PS, N64 era.

CiDeRmAn

My car is retro,
That means it old and crap by the way, not old and cool, that would be vintage motoring.

My poor poor '01 Citroen C5, nearly time to take it out the back to shoot it, it'd be the kinder thing in the end.

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

Good games are good games. Doesn't matter what era they're from.

Like Goldeneye, Donkey Kong Country and Mortal Kombat!

pdbhp

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Like Goldeneye, Donkey Kong Country and Mortal Kombat!

Waits for retr0 to start arguing about Goldeneye:D

CiDeRmAn

I didn't even mention the retro perfection of Dino Rex!

Mike Litoris

For me Retro is still the 80's, 8 bit, 16 bit and arcade. I see the 90's up until the PS1 as being kind of in limbo where for me gameplay kind of stood still until the huge leap in tech.

CiDeRmAn

Unfortunately retro for some is whatever the console was before your first one, and for a lot of unfortunates, the first console is the PS2, so that paints a lot of machines as retro.

In ten years time there will be no doubt that the PS2 is a retro console, the 360 will be knocking on retro's door, not Retro's door mind you, retro's door, oh you know what I mean.

By the time I'm losing control of my bladder and bowel, which shouldn't be too long now, the PS3 itself will be seen as retro, the games quaint and the controller outdated.

And my Vectrex and Virtual Boy will be worth millions!!!! MWA HAHAHAHA!

Mike Litoris

I've never actually played the Vectrex. That fascinated me as a kid. Got a VCS from Santy instead.

o1s1n

The Vectrex really is one of the nicest home consoles you can get. It's totally unique. Nothing like it at all. I'm seriously impressed those things are going so long too.

CiDeRmAn

For some reason it's something that I just never see over here, every other console seems to turn up here and there at some point, Odyssey, Pong, various nintendo variants, but the Vectrex not a one.
Now I know it was sold here, for how long I can't say, so where are they?

Could they be 50ft down in a Dunsink landfill?
If so, o1s1n, get the shovel out!