When did each generation become "classic"?

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Classic gaming has been around only since about the 1980s, as far as I'm concerned.

This is for consoles, but handhelds can be included as well.

I'd say the PONG consoles became classic around the video game crash (1984).

2nd gen? For Channel F and Studio II, mid 1980s. For the Atari 2600 on (the "true" 2nd gen), I'd say it was circa 1990 when they became classic, with the end of production of the 2600 Jr and the Colecovision, Intellivision, Vectrex, etc having been out of production for several years.

3rd gen - I'd say the Master System and other non-NES systems, due to their earlier decline, entered "classic" around 1995, when the Master System had been twice replaced (Genesis, then Saturn). For NES, I'd say it was at the end of the 1990s.

4th gen - I would say around 2002 for Genesis/SNES, near the beginning of the 6th generation cycle. Non-Genesis/SNES systems (including Sega addons), late 1990s.

5th gen (pre Saturn) - These were the "fake" 5th gen systems (or "4.5 gen"). 3DO was the most successful of these. I would say about 2000.

5th gen (true) - Saturn, PS1, N64. Saturn went classic first, around 2002. N64 was just entering classic when I started collecting, so 2005. PS1 was around 2006, when PS3 launched.

6th gen - Xbox and Gamecube, 2010-ish. PS2 is just now classic, so 2014 or so.

I think of each console as having a lifecycle.

New - Young - Peak - Mature - Old - Classic.

Let's use the PS1 as an example:

New - Sept 1995 to 1996. Console launch, first couple batches of games. Limited adoption.

Young - late 1996 to end of 1997. More games, more players, more gotten out of the hardware. First price drops.

Peak - 1998 and 1999. Large game library, high market penetration, systems value priced.

Mature - 2000 and 2001. Large game library, high market penetration, systems cheap. Console being superceded - in this case by Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, GCN.

Old - 2002 to 2006 - System superceded, but still sold in background. Game releases slow dramatically and eventually stop. Production ends.

Classic - since 2007 - Places like GameStop no longer sell the system or games as a general rule. Pricing and market moves into the classic realm.

[Rickstilwell1]

What year do you consider Dreamcast went classic. 2005, 2006 or so? I know in 2006 Game Crazy also grouped it in with their $1.99 "classic plastic" section alongside PS1.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

What year do you consider Dreamcast went classic. 2005, 2006 or so? I know in 2006 Game Crazy also grouped it in with their $1.99 "classic plastic" section alongside PS1.

Around 2005, about the same time N64 went classic.

Interestingly, I got my Dreamcast in March 2006 from Game Crazy.

[8-Bit Archeology]

So where would stuff like the atari 400 or 800 or even the sg-1000?
Is there a total list with release dates. I would find it hard to put the 800 with pong or the 2600 and the sg-1000 is closer to the 2600 but came from a much different market.


Also... didnt they just stop making games for the ps2 just last year? I remember e3 showing a sports title soccer i think. About 2 years ago.

[Tanooki]

I think 'classic' just like the kind of misused term that has stuck 'retro' kind of is up to interpretation.

[Rickstilwell1]

So where would stuff like the atari 400 or 800 or even the sg-1000?
Is there a total list with release dates. I would find it hard to put the 800 with pong or the 2600 and the sg-1000 is closer to the 2600 but came from a much different market.


Also... didnt they just stop making games for the ps2 just last year? I remember e3 showing a sports title soccer i think. About 2 years ago.

I think a game that nobody would buy the system just to play that is also available on higher end systems hardly counts as the system having any life left in it. It would be like saying the Genesis was not classic in 1998 when even the Saturn was on its way out because of 1 game like Frogger and Majesco's Genesis 3 & Game Gear systems.

[tom]

Colecovision, Atari 5200 and Vectrex are 3rd Gen consoles (Wikipedia is wrong), you can read up about it here in the DP library under magazines (Electronic Games for example) or in DPs own fanzine as well.
Also, the NES was released in 1983 (it was called Famicom), cut-off should be earlier.

Sometimes it was called 'third wave'

[Tanooki]

Hard to argue with a publication like that as it's etched in history as it was made, while wikipedia and armchair debaters of the internet can say something else it would just be revisionist history for their own benefit I suppose.