Are My Games and Systems Retro?

Posted by Retroware Admin on Thursday, April 12, 2012 · 22 Comments

As long as I’ve been on this crazy roller coaster of the retro gaming community I’ve been asked either directly or indirectly “What do you consider retro?”. Plus we are now on the verge of a new generation and retailers like GameStop are announcing that they are no longer supporting older systems; are these retro now? Originally it wasn’t something I even worried about but eventually I had to set a boundary for myself and for others who asked me about reviewing certain things. So for my own show I decided anything before 2001 was fair game and anything 2001 on wards was still too young. It seemed like a fair limit, at this point anything released in 2000 would be 12 years old, that is almost half as old as me. That seems old enough to consider something retro, especially with how fast technology is moving these days. This article could end there I guess, there are flaws in the logic but the general line drawn in the sand is a solid one. But since that would be boring, lets dive a little deeper.

There have always been people out there who collect the previous generations. I’m sure when the NES really hit its stride you could of found plenty of people going from one game store to another looking for Colecovision and Atari carts to collect. But I’m not old enough to remember that much about those days so I can’t exactly bring up memories of the term Retro Gamer being used or not and what systems those pertained to for reference of a system’s expiration time. But I can draw some conclusions based on how technology was back then, meaning it wasn’t so easily tossed away like it is today. Technology was made to last and thought about in terms much longer then it is today; cell phones for example now are usually made and marketed with the idea of it being on shelves for only a year. Believe me when I say that would of been crazy in the beginning of the video game days, not only by the manufacturer but by the consumer. Look how long VHS stuck around in America even after the introduction of DVD, Star Wars Episode II got a VHS release in 2002 for example. Now while this is the extreme it lends to the idea that Retro in terms of technology wasn’t even close to the same as it is now. I know many friends and including me played their 8-bit and 16 bit systems well into the end of 64 bit era, and it wasn’t because we were “retro gamers”, the technology was still semi current (and besides the games were still fun).

Today on the other hand technology makes bigger leaps in shorter times making larger gaps; and unfortunately also super small gaps which adds to the confusion. When the retro gaming craze as I know it (the one that took the internet and retail market by storm) really took off around 2005 it was much more obvious what should be considered retro at that time. Looking back it was much easier to see the major differences in each generation for every platform and separate them as retro based on release dates and the dates they officially fell out of the market. But even then some people were hesitant to call the N64 retro even as we approached the release of the Wii and then even a few years after that. But now it has gotten even harder, because the hilarious thing about the quick and big strides in technology is visually we have hit a semi stalemate.

Look at the comparison pictures of Mario in the 8-bit, 16 bit and 32/64 bit eras. There are big differences in those, less pixleated, smoother, more colors, more 3D to 3D made of polygons; even differences in just the 8 bit variations. But then look at Mario from the Gamecube to the Wii. Yes there are differences but they are not even near as drastic overall.

Does the Gamecube really feel retro yet? Even though the time has been there, it just doesn’t scream retro at this time, just obsolete. Of course this isn’t a perfect example and not the only thing to consider.

Now what about the Playstation 2? Like the Gamecube it has fallen out of major market stores completely, but even it doesn’t have the same feeling as the systems already highly considered retro; but for entirely different reasons than the example with Mario. For one the PS2 and PS3 are very different beasts in terms of graphics, we can’t compare that. But, the Playstation 2 was being milked for years, still getting new games and still being sold as new.

They both have something in common though, both new systems (at least for a time) supported the old, as did the Xbox 360 support the Xbox. This still helps keep the last generation seem very fresh through the current generation even as we are now just starting to make it into the next generation. The Wii being the heaviest offender having full backwards compatibility with the games, controllers, and memory cards up until the last year. It seems that ironically as technology moves forward at break neck speeds technology also holds on long enough to make it difficult to just abandon ship. Plus financially the global economy has kept many people from fulling surrounding themselves with the systems of today up until recently, keeping the obsolete systems fresher still.

Then to add to the confusion there are those gray areas such as the Dreamcast and Game Boy Advanced. The Dreamcast is easier for some to call retro since it came out in 1998/1999 and died off very quickly. But the GBA came out in 2001 and lasted for a good while later being supported of the DS. But it is only a 32 bit system having mostly classic 2D style games on it.

Sadly no one person can make the call, and there is no high council of Retro Game Masters (or at least not one I am aware of) to make the call. It really lies with each person to make the decision on what they want to add to their retro collection list and argue about it on various game forums. I think on a large scale, we won’t start seeing anything about these recently fully deceased systems in the terms of retro collectibility any time soon. I know for me the gap is only going to get larger on what starts being added to the proverbial box of retro, there is so much out there unexplored and also just for all the reasons I mentioned above in terms of technology. How will you decide?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Smith/1018001907 Michael Smith

i go with a system or handheld being at least 10 years old or 2 generation old at least. but things becomes retro so much quicker nowadays.
Neocasko

For me, the “retro” system I remember most fondly is the Gamecube. Even if it is treated as obsolete, it’s the one that I has nostalgia for. Since the term “retro” means “backwards” or “in the past”, any system of a previous generation can technically be considered retro because it is of previous “backwards” generation of a earlier time. Which also mean there should be people who fondly remember that Gamecube/PS2/Xbox era as fondly there are who fondly remember the NES era. People like me.
MOGGIECATMOG

Antique Games are a thing of the past.Did you see what i did there.To me the N64 still feels new in terms of tech.2D is what i like to think of as RETRO.The thing with that is that some new games use 2D as an art form to which Retro applies.The Dreamcast is not what i call a retro system(YET) but in 20 years it will become retro.Reason is that games were still being made for the console and they look modern.Just look at the ps2 ico it still looks new.2001 that game was made..?WHAT IS WORTH COLLECTING ON NEW CONSOLES? i cant think of any for the 360 and ps3….

necrom23

There are plenty of games worth collecting on new consoles.. just open yourself up to new experiences. I’m picking up PS2 titles for $2-3 now that are just as fun and interesting as SMB3 was.

Masterofmedia

fast moving technology? the current systems are 2004 tech released in 2005 and on a 10 year plan

http://twitter.com/FullerxspectruM Isaiah Fuller

Well said.

Aceofopus

Sometimes I feel most people don’t consider the original Playstation retro since you can easily play its games on the PS2. Feels odd when people feel easier calling the Dreamcast Retro although I think that might be just from everyone history with Sega as a console manufacturer.
Retrogamesack

For me, something is retro once it leaves the mainstream public mindset. So that means that the Gamecube can be considered retro while the PS2 probably couldn’t even though the PS2 was released much earlier. Tricky, eh?
Chris

For me retro is anything pre Nintendo 64
http://twitter.com/PeterSkerritt Peter Skerritt

Retro is *such* a hard term to classify.

I don’t think that any of the consoles from the previous generation are retro just yet. PS2 games are still readily available and the Gamecube was just discontinued as GameStop, so the availability should begin to decrease over the coming months. The Xbox and its games are also fairly common at used game shops, with not too many games being a challenge to locate.

I do, however, term the games from the 32/64-bit generations as retro now. PlayStation games are starting to become a bit more difficult to track down, although the more fragile nature of disc media has something to do with that. Nintendo 64 games and hardware aren’t quite as common anymore, either… at least in my anecdotal view.

It’s a fascinating conversation to have, but regardless of how we classify our collections, I think that being able to build libraries for any platform is a great thing.
Masterofmedia

My personal cut off is the Playstation / N64 era, and the reason why is at about that time is when machines turned from magical boxes of ingenuity to more software orientated.

Its much more interesting to me to watch how some wizard took 4k of code on a machine with no real video hardware, racing a scanline on a TV oscillating at 15Khz, and produced a fun game playable for hours than knowing that SonysquareEA dumped 10 million on a soundtrack and its compiled against standard libraries available.

I am old enough to remember the VCS and we owned a colecovision, and I still play games today, but for me a lot of the magic is gone when the only limitations really are ram and storage
Lance Pelissier

I believe anything form Windows 95 to X-BOX 1 as old school (Nintendo systems don’t count as I always belived Windows 95 was the end of Nintendo). any of the old 8, 16, and 32 bit systems I do call retro; of course I do use things like PSN Store and compilation disks for convince.
Sgt Pepper1983

Personally, I consider anything that’s out of date retro, regardless of whether it’s an antique, classic, obsolete, or a failed piece of junk.
Athouin

I personally consider the Xbox/GC/PS2 and Dreamcast as retero.since their life cycle end about 2006 when I was just starting High school.
necrom23

I’m not sure if PS2 and up will ever be retro in my eyes because it’s the style of the system that counts. In 12 years I’m almost positive that we won’t be considering PS3 retro either. Gamecube might somewhat bridge the line, but I think the line stopped at N64 – which was still rough enough to be retro. And I was born in 1980 if that matters.
James

I regard retro as anything pre-64 bit. So the ‘youngest’ retro consoles in my eyes are the 3DO, Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64
Lance Pelissier

Anything form the 8, and 16 bit days I call retro. things like PS2, X-BOX, and Gamecube I call old school. I don’t count the 32 and 64bit systems as I moved any form consoles at that time (bream Windows 95) it was the X-Box that won me back.
Andrew Elliott

When you think of retro, you mostly think of “last decade” (or previous decades).

For example, in the 90′s, the 80′s were retro. In the 80′s, 70′s were retro.

As you said, “for my own show I decided anything before 2001 was fair game and anything 2001 on wards was still too young.” and I think that’s a good clause. At least 10 years should do.

I would add one caveat however, it should be 10 years after the release of the last commercial game.

Here’s why:

The Gameboy (released in 1989) experienced something of a rebirth in 1997/1998 with the pokemon titles. By it’s 10th birthday it was very much a live and kicking (despite the Gameboy colors release). And Game boy games continued to be release for some time. With the last Game Boy release being Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 (September 2001).

How can the Game boy be both current and retro at the same time?

Likewise:

The PS2, despite being 10 years old, still has new titles being released for it. It’s like VHS in the 2002: Old but still in use.

( source: http://ps2.gamezone.com/products/new-releases )

The PS2 is past it’s prime, but not yet dead and buried.

On the other hand, you have the Dreamcast, with the last North American game being released in 2002.
(There are some unlicensed games as recent as 2007, but we’ll ignore those).

The Dreamcast is pretty much ready to be consider retro (imho). This also works for the N64 as it’s last game came out in 2002.

Elaborating why, people in 2006 might be hesitant to call it retro given that new titles were released just a few years before.

Jrk22m

Actually you have it wrong. For trends and fashions of one decade to be considered “retro” you have to wait a decade. I don’t know where you were in the 90′s but the 80′s stuff was definitely not cool back then. In fact the reason the 90′s music and fashions were more “stripped down” and less gaudy or flashy is because we were trying to get away from the 80′s. What we did have was a 70′s retro revival with television shows like 8-Track Flashback on VH1 (hosted by David Cassidy showing music videos from the 70′s) and radio stations (back when radio was still a little relevant) that played 70′s music and ONLY 70′s music (as opposed to Oldies or Classic Rock). In the 90′s the 70′s were cool, in the 80′s the 60′s were cool and in the 2000′s the 80′s became cool. This decade I fully expect a bunch of 90′s revival stuff, kids getting into Nirvana and Pearl Jam and such. In fact, you can see it building steam now.

http://www.facebook.com/AdamRaue Adam Fox

I’d say 2 generations behind would be retro…..Wii is out, GameCube was before that…so N64 would start the retro for Nintendo….where-as the PlayStation systems had a longer life-span..PS1 went from 1994 until the PS2 release in 2000…Nintendo only went about 5 years between consoles….of course, companies like Sega that made their last system in 1999, its already retro b/c Sega has been making games for TWO generations of consoles afterwards….there were Sega released games on Xbox/PS2/GameCube and Xbox360/PS3/Wii….
Brian Martin Hooper

Retro isn’t an age in time it’s a style and state of mind
Mathew jackson

My father was a die hard atari XE gamer back when evreyone switched to the NES. I distinctly remember that no one was collecting any old atari or Colecovision in that time period. I think I know why, for the same reason that Nintendo had a hard time being sold in the US market, gamers were jaded by the poor game engineering and were left high and dry after atari collapsed. I also remember asking my father if ataris or nintendos would ever be antiques and he said it was junk and I don’t think the nostalgia that we have today for this “junk” was ever predicted by anyone before ’95. In a generation where a new version of windows came out every 2 years and cell phones were becoming available, no one cared about 80′s gaming. I think that as were traverse through a new electronics era the idea of being a kid again and seeing interactive history will make gaming more and more collectable and will share a similar fate to cinema being taught in lecture halls and entertaining while it teaches about culture and technology.

Are My Games and Systems Retro?

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