What's the definition of retro gaming?

[Brian Boru]

if it is old enough to drink, it is retro

So Half Life 2 and Far Cry… hmm.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

So Half Life 2 and Far Cry… hmm.

They are getting a little long in the tooth

 

[JarlBSoD]

So Half Life 2 and Far Cry… hmm.

Yeah, well, both those games are old now

 

[Zloth]

I sort of have a flexible personal limit on what is retro and that is, if it is old enough to drink, it is retro, ie 18 (here in swe). But i can stretch that a year back and forth depending on the game.

So games from Paradox become retro at 18 but games from the USA don't become retro until 21?

 

[Colif]

Games from Mali become retro at 15 years. They age fast down there. Could be a technology lvl and their new games look like what US games looked like 6 years before?
a few countries have no limit, their games age real fast.

 

[JarlBSoD]

So games from Paradox become retro at 18 but games from the USA don't become retro until 21?

Not my fault US has stupid laws

 

[mainer]

So how should we do "retro"? Everything more than X years old? Everything from year Y and earlier?

We shouldn't get tied up in defining it, and avoid "That's not retro" "It is too!" wars

If you think it's retro, post about it.

No new game released in the last 20 years is retro.
All games over 25 years old are retro
there is a 5 year grey period where it could be maybe retro

I don't think retro should be defined as a specific subset of games. I would say it's more like nostalgia, something that reminds you of "the past", where the cut-off for what is considered "the past" and "current" is different for different people.

So I hadn't checked out this Retro Section before because I thought that it must be about arcade-type games, or text-based games, or early console games; and I felt that I didn't have any relevant information to post. But if we're discussing "old-school" type gaming then I'm enthused, and apologies for being so late in checking out this section.

But as far as the definition of "retro gaming" is concerned, I thought I'd check out this post to get an answer, but it seems as if there are a variety of opinions on what constitutes "retro". Is it a time frame as @Colif suggested? The player's age could also be factor there in the perception of what's retro as @Pifanjr & @Krud mentioned. My perspective as a 68-year-old gamer is going to be different from someone 28, 38, 48, or 58 years of age.

I'm more inclined to agree w/ @Brian Boru in that we should avoid a strict definition to avoid the "retro wars", and just post based on your personal perception.

Just off the top of my head I'll list a handful of games that I think are retro, : the Wizardry and Might & Magic games, the Ulima Games, the Realms of Arkania games, Gabriel Knight games, Lands of Lore, Betrayal at Krondor, Fallouts 1 &2, even the 1st Diablo. All of those are retro games to me.

 

[Colif]

retro could be a moving target. Undoubtedly come a time no one is alive that remembers the games that existed in 1990, and they might want to count another generation of consoles in the mix.

Might be some push back from those that know the truth until we no longer here to argue

 

[Krud]

So Half Life 2 and Far Cry… hmm.

Half-Life 2 is now old enough to rent a U-Haul. But not old enough to run for President.

 

[Krud]

Just off the top of my head I'll list a handful of games that I think are retro, : the Wizardry and Might & Magic games, the Ulima Games, the Realms of Arkania games, Gabriel Knight games, Lands of Lore, Betrayal at Krondor, Fallouts 1 &2, even the 1st Diablo. All of those are retro games to me.

I would agree with all of those except the Fallouts and Diablo. Though I would say those all had a slightly "retro"-ish feel to them even when they debuted. Blizzard and Interplay leaned into the top-down orthogonal style at a time when other studios were dabbling more with 3D and first-person.

 

[Colif]

ARPG never moved away from that style. Its not really retro, just under used.

 

[ToxicOffender]

"Retro-Gaming" makes me instantly think of pixelgraphics sidescrollers/shoot-em-ups/jump-n-runs.

I don´t think titles like "Half-Life" or "Fallout" are considered "Retro-Gaming", but then again everyone seems to consider "retro-gaming" all the titles of his childhood/youth so there will probably be people in 3022 (considered this already rotten planet still lives) claiming GTA VI is "retro-gaming".

 

[Colif]

Well, by 3022 they might have stopped remaking it so maybe GTA 6 will be retro by then. It will be time to make GTA 7.

Its not set in stone, its a rolling 25 years or so, before is retro, after is modern whatever that means by then.

retro might well be "games of youth" perhaps as I didn't see a computer till I was 16, its only every other generation since that always had video games. I remember a time before... it was horrible. the terror...