When its "game design" philosophy are no longer in line with what's currently the norm. Example of retro: games that use tank controls (classic Resident Evil), example of what's not retro: GTA4, an open world from 2008 is not that different from an open world of 2025.
For what it's worth, I'm totally open to having the topic spread out more from just games to consoles - I've been having a lot of fun reading the replies here. Hell, maybe we could slot PC hardware/software into the mix, somehow, though maybe that'd dilute the discussion too much... It's been a pretty odd feeling seeing the black and gray Optiplexes from my youth begin to be called retro, not that I disagree though. I feel like Core Duo stuff might be starting to enter that phase, and I feel like a contributor is the Macs of that generation/era beginning to feel retro as well - their design language and Mac OS's aesthetic at the time really contribute to that, I think.
I feel like the Retro label only applies at most up to Sega Saturn and it's a stretch.
I've heard the term Classic games to be more accurate but again it might be hard to define what qualifies as classic independent of its quality.
I think i'd compromise and say everything made for CRT displays could be Retro now, so up to PS2.
It’s tough to gauge when something becomes now considering how long each console generation is now but I’d say 15 years or older should be retro now.
Which is weird to say since that means some “forever” games could soon fall into that like Minecraft.
I guess when a forever game has a classic mode or version then you know it’s retro.
It's retro when we have to pay obscene prices for used games.
Don't collect the games or systems everyone else does. For example, the original Xbox is way cheaper to collect for than the PS2 or Gamecube. Maybe because it's not as popular, but the games there are great still today. Not every game of course, but many are.
at least after 2 console generations, but it depends on how the market is. i don’t know if pa4 will be retro at ps6 launch, but maybe a few years after. the wii u’s already retro due to how the consoles dead. a good deal of what feels retro is about what’s commercially dead
The "rule" (so to speak) I've always followed is that I consider Retro anything from 2 generations ago. So at the moment, the PS3 / 360 era is borderline retro to my eyes. But then again, it's more like a personal viewpoint than anything, really.
I think that PS2/GameCube/Xbox is definitely retro, and I think handheld-wide, the DS and PSP also count.
Xbox 360 is 20 years old so should probably fall into that camp but I think the time dilation we've all experienced since lockdown has skewed our perception.
Another thing to take into account: the older people get, the fastet time seems to go.
You think PS3 and Xbox 360 aren't old? Well, I have news for you: you might be thinking as people in their 40's in 1995 when the PS1 released: "Nintendo Nes released not that long ago, only 11 years ago, it's about the same." That's exactly how my parents felt it back then (they even called my PS1 "your Nintendo") and that's how my friends' parents felt it too (a lot called "Nintendo" every console). Most adults where thinking that way.
PS3 is today 19 years old, 360 is 20 years old.
That's why I think "a console is retro when it's at least 2 generations old" is a good rule.
With that rule, our personal perception of time is not taken into account.
Our feelings about time flying aren't taken into account.
And it's then a super interesting conversation imo to talk about what make PS3 and 360 retro. There are a lot of stuff that do actually.
I fully subscribe to the idea that PS3/360 can already be considered retro. We're talking about machines which have games that mostly run straight from optical media, for one, something that simply doesn't exist anymore (the last holdout being the Wii U, I guess, since Switch never used discs). These consoles also contain mostly basic online and social features, such as not having a dedicated share or capture button or not supporting streaming or screen sharing, when compared to the succeeding consoles.
I'm onboard with calling PS3/360 retro but not exactly because they're two generations old. I don't feel like PS6 and PS4 games will be different as PS5 and PS3 games are, but then again maybe it will blow my socks off and be a massive leap.
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Topic: When does a game become "retro?"
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