r/RetroGaming is very strict about retro. They say the Nintendo 64 is retro while the PlayStation 2 is modern. This despite the fact the PlayStation 2 is now 25 years old.
So I got to wonder about this community deems as “retro”.
Or a better question: what’s considered retro and not retro? What’s the fine line between retro and modern?
Anything designed for standard-definition CRTs.
2 console generations.
After PS3? modern. On or at PS3? retro.
Anything running 480i/p is retro. If it’s higher than that, it’s modern.
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If it can purchase alcohol it’s retro
Retro is a style and astetic as much as a function of time or technology.
Even mathematicians struggle with dividing things into precise and consistent sets and categories. Try to relax.
To me, “retro” just means something that is now only possible for consumption through the previous, now impossible or highly impractical, acquisition of said medium. PS3? Retro. 3DS? Retro.
This seems like a good line to draw. Does it play natively on current consoles? Not retro. If you have to use an emulator or pull out an older console then that’s retro.
I used to be stricter with that. Now I consider retro any platform that are 2 generations behind (for the ones still active in the market). So PS3/360 and earlier.
Anything that came out when I was a kid or earlier is retro so anything pre 2000 is retro. Post is modern.
Anything that came out when I was a kid or earlier is retro so anything pre 1990 is retro. Post is modern.
Anything that came out when I was a kid is retro, so anything pre 1970s is retro. 80s or later is modern.
anything that came out before 2011
Around 2 generations of consoles ago, or around 10 years, whatever comes “first”.
10 years seems a bit short, that would mean Hearthstone, GTA5 and Sims 4 qualify.
Yes that’s what I said. PS3 era games and at this point, early PS4 start yo qualify for me. Although still actively developed games aren’t “fully” retro, clearly. I’m still on the fence about calling Bloodbkrne retro, for instance.
the ps3 is retro then?
Any console that existed before me is retro. I started with the PS1 and N64 so those are modern and all the ones before are retro lol
I’d say anything before the PlayStation era.
Anything that would make a kid today instantly say “ew, that old thing?” is retro to me. That includes everything up through PS2/Gamecube/Xbox to me.
Anything pre ~2000, graphics came on incredibly in the years at the end of the 90s start of the 21 century. The difference between FF7 (1997)
and FF10(2001)
is vast
Anything that needs to be played on a CRT.
Old games don’t need to be played on a CRT any more than modern games need to be played on an OLED/LCD flat panel.
Then how about anything that plays better on a CRT vs a modern flat screen? Older games were absolutely made with CRT artifacts in mind and look worse on newer screens.
They’ll lag if you don’t.
I’d say, at 50, imo anything 32 bit and below is retro but there needs to be a new name for the “old” stuff that is 64bit
So Gameboy isn’t retro?
Playing Super Mario Bros. on Switch = “not retro.”
