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Thread: What point do you consider a console retro

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    Quote Originally Posted by Merriam-Webster
    Main Entry: ret·ro
    Pronunciation: 're-(")trO
    Function: adjective
    Etymology: French rétro, short for rétrospectif retrospective
    : relating to, reviving, or being the styles and especially the fashions of the past : fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned <a retro look>
    I think that it's interesting that this dictionary definition incorporates the notion of fashionability into the meaning of "retro". Perhaps there's a certain aura of chic that attaches to older things, separate from simple nostalgia.

    For that reason, I would suggest that a game system needs to first pass through a stage of being perceived as "last-gen", filled with "jaggies", and just all-around "old" and/or "lame" before it can emerge from its status as a pariah and be seen as "retro-cool". Thus, for the "mainstream" gamer, I think that a retro system is a system that one may remember from the distant past, but would hardly consider playing seriously.

    For the collector, on the other hand, I think that a "retro" system is one that is old enough that its place in the evolution of the form is settled; enough time has passed that its impact on video games in general can be clearly seen. And since serious collectors tend to be older, their memories stretch back much further than the ten years that some of you are proposing. Hence some of the reactions of "heretic!"

    Those of you calling the Dreamcast "retro" today will understand the outrage five years from now when today's 14-year-olds start calling the X-box "retro".

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    Pear (Level 6) retroman's Avatar
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    i would say every other Generation of consoles....so that makes the 16bit era retro...and when the next Gens come out, it will make the sega saturn and ps one retro...

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    I consider "retro" to only include systems that are generaly no longer fun to play on and are only usefull as tools to showcase the roots of home console systems. I realize many colectors and game fans would disagree with me this (and in some cases rightly so) but while I would love to own an Atari 2600 again, or even a Oddessy 2, the truth is I cant bring myself to play such systems anymore. The games were fun for their time, but in hindsight, I cant help but wonder if it was only because they were all that were available to me. Systems such as the NES, Master System, SNES, and such realy dont look like retro to me. The games graphics may be crude and primitive to todays standereds, but they were sometimes massive in size compared to what came before. Things like Crystalis and such could have never existed on many of the older systems. I would say anything retro, would have to be 5200 and older. Though in all honesty, most of those old systems I would realy like to see (and play) atleast once in my life.

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    Quote Originally Posted by WanganRunner
    Quote Originally Posted by Cmosfm
    I know that's your opinion, but I just disagree with your opinion.
    I disagree with your Barry Manilow avatar.

    Firstly, the definition of "retro" in application to videogames is pretty damned subjective. Next time just give your opinion, and leave mine the hell out of it.
    Can't even disagree with someone's opinion without offending them nowadays.

    Despite that you're opinion is WRONG! :P













    WRONG!

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    There seems to be two different camps emerging here, the "20 year old systems" camp and the "two generations old" camp.

    I'm going to have to go with the "two generations old" group. Genesis / Gamegear / SNES / Turbografix-16 / Gameboy Color are therefore all retro systems.

    PS One, N64 and Saturn will all become retro when the PS3 and Super Gamecube come out.

    Like I said, though, there seem to be diverging opinions here, so take your pick as to which definition suits you best.
    Still a gamer, still a liberal.

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    I'm going to agree with Dr. Morbis and say when a system has another generation between itself and the current one, it is retro. Some systems however blur the line, such as the Jaguar, 3DO, Cd-i, etc.....

    I don't really consider them retro quite yet, mostly SNES and older stuff.
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    I personally consider NES/SMS retro, and everything before it. I think when a system has been out of production for 10 years it is definatley retro. SNES/Genesis still got a few more years to go.

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    The only two systems I own are Intellivision and NES. So...I guess I am pretty much NOT modern???

    I think anything before the NES though, as that was what revitalized the market, and there was a dead period before that. The pheonix rising...so to speak...is what the NES was.


    I do have some MAME stuff though...

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    nes and before -- retro (although I havent ever really played anything from before nes

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    For me it's this: If it's not a current system, it's retro.

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    And so this topic demonstrates that there are two types of people: Those who can divide things into only two categories, and those who can split them up into three or more.
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    Retro is 8 bit generation and before. Old school is anything that isn't being currently produced.

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    You crazy kids and your videogames!

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    I classify systems that are two console generations removed from the current one retro. The catch is that the system can't have any current systems that are backwards compatible with it. So, if they PS3 is backwards compatible with the PS1, then it won't be retro. If it isn't, then the PS4s emergence will make the PS1 retro. On the flip side, the Gamecube's release made the SNES retro.

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    Retro is just a word, like "punk" for instance, but as a general term, but me in the two generations old. Where does "old school " and "cult" lie?

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    Found on the net...

    -----
    Retro is a contemporary term used to describe things from a bygone era. It is often used in a positive sense, referring to quirky or attractive products that are no longer available. For example, "Retro fashion" or "Retro Chic" may consist of outdated styles, such as tie-dyed shirts from the 1970s, or poodle skirts from the 1950s. A love of retro objects (things from the past) is called retrophilia.

    Retro, both in popular and in legitimized culture, can be seen as an uncritical exaltation of the past, used as a weapon against contemporary cultural forms. Retro is uncritical because it sees itself as a return to a lost authenticity, to basic values which somehow have been corrupted by later evolutions.


    A critical attitude towards both the legitimate and the non-legitimate would then be what is called camp. Camp is an ironical attitude, an explicit re-introduction of non-dominant forms. It claims legitimacy, but instead of aiming at timelessness, it wants to live only a short life. It does not want to present basic values, but precisely to confront culture with its waste, to show how any norm is historical.


    An example of Retro computing is the IBM 1130 computing system from 1966 which still has a following of interested users, albeit mostly via a simulator rather than the real thing.
    ----

    Now, going by this, I would have to agree with the folks here who have put up the 20 year old rule. Anything newer than that just wouldn't fit into the meaning of Retro. It may be old, but if it isn't 20 years old, it just hasn't aged enough!

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    I know this topic is waaaay old but I thought I'd weigh-in because I was mulling this over this morning.
    In my mind, it takes 20 years for a console to be retro. I have no basis for saying this other than, in my head, nostalgia takes about 20 years to bubble-up.
    Specifically, this morning I was thinking to buying a PS1 20 years ago and realizing that it's now a retro platform.

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    Quote Originally Posted by fultonbot View Post
    In my mind, it takes 20 years for a console to be retro.

    20 years seems like a good benchmark. Only thing is, I can remember back in 2003, when I first got the retro game bug, and started playing the Super Nintendo and Genesis again. I thought those systems were "retro" even though the Super Nintendo was only 13 years old by then. Maybe it was because even though it was only a mere 13 years, it had been several generations, and generations with dramatic technological shifts. Comparing a Super Nintendo game to the most advanced Xbox game in 2003, was a gigantic difference in technology.

    The Dreamcast is currently 17 years old, yet it doesn't feel as retro to me right now, as the SNES did back in 2003.

    I think maybe the technological leaps between whatever generation you're considering and the current modern day generation, is a huge factor.

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    Good point I think it is the tech and outward appearance of the game to the screen more than just a year as a year is just a number.

    N64/PS1 are 3D, but so is the Dreamcast, but a well made DC game looks damn near in quality to some early PS2 era stuff, and still looks fine enough not to feel retro outwardly but the N64/PS1 they look downright retro as all get out, much like the old polygonal blocky arcade stuff of the 80s like I Robot or something. Gameboy looks and feels retro, but in some ways Gameboy Advance while it is, doesn't, given that the new wave of tech out there seems to lean towards GBA level output quality in colors and graphics on tablets and phones. It's a blurry mess really.

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