When are retro games retro?

[Sano]

I would consider Saturn and the first Playstation to be retro now. Dreamcast, mmm maybe.

[BoneSnapDeez]

PS2/Xbox/GC still seem too slick and refined for me to consider retro.

I would consider the Dreamcast retro though.

Why Dreamcast too and not the others? Just wondering since they are both 128-bit.

Dreamcast was released sooner.

And died sooner.

*sniffle*

[JoeAwesome]

It's best not to get bogged down with what's retro and what isn't. You won't find a majority who will agree. It's like cliques in high school, or genres in music- too much disagreement.

[Menegrothx]

PS2/Xbox/GC still seem too slick and refined for me to consider retro.

I would consider the Dreamcast retro though.

Why Dreamcast too and not the others? Just wondering since they are both 128-bit.

Dreamcast was released sooner.

And died sooner.

*sniffle*

Like said, Dreamcast was discontinued 6 months before the Gamecube and Xbox were released. More importantly it feels different from those other consoles.

[Sasha_Blue]

I miss the Dreamcast, it was ahead of it's time.

Maybe this is why Dreamcast is considered retro, it had a short life span. For me the cut off point would be with the PS1.

[Key-Glyph]

I agree with Luke and others that the term "retro" is flexible by definition, in that it has a rolling membership of consoles that expands as time marches on. It's exclusive, yet constantly accepting new applicants. But I do think the usage of the word "retro" is solidifying into a locked reference to a very specific aesthetic and experience regardless of that technicality, which is something like "pixelated games on pre-CD technology." (It's true that a large portion of the DS library would fit this definition despite being on a more current system, but somehow that makes sense to me. I honestly do think of the DS as being some sort of strange "new retro system" anacronism, and I wonder if publishing date will ever be overwhelmed enough by the aesthetic connotation of the "retro" term to make this a common viewpoint. If it isn't already. I really have no idea.)

It's like the term "antiques." It generally means "in the style of ancient times; old-fashioned," and yet when you go to an antiques store, you know exactly what to expect: old teacups and porcelain figurines.

Speaking of which, I was discussing with my husband the other day whether we thought this particular connotation would ever change. Are retro gaming stores the antique shops of the future, or will those sorts of places always predominantly carry silverware and oil paintings and other such knickknacks of colonial/European flavor?

[Hobie-wan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGpa2r_jN6s

[Tweekers237]

PS2/Xbox/GC still seem too slick and refined for me to consider retro.

I would consider the Dreamcast retro though.

To me, for something to be "Retro", there has to be some Nostalgia attatched.
With that said, I would consider Dreamcast to be borderline Retro but not the PS2 or GameCube because the Dreamcast is somewhat mythical. PSOne is also borderline Retro to me because of its age and it represented a change in the VideoGame culture.

Its a good topic of discussion and should be defined.

[Gunstar Green]

I miss the Dreamcast, it was ahead of it's time.

Maybe this is why Dreamcast is considered retro, it had a short life span. For me the cut off point would be with the PS1.

The games themselves are another reason. The Dreamcast had a heavy focus on arcade ports and arcade style games in general. Overall it just resonates more with the end of the 5th generation than the start of the 6th. In a way it belongs to both.

[Menegrothx]

To me, for something to be "Retro", there has to be some Nostalgia attatched.

That's just stupid. You can feel nostalgic for something that happened a year ago, yet you can never feel nostalgia for video games of the 1970s&early 1980s if you you were born in the 2000s and never experienced them as a child.