What does it really mean to be a "retro gamer"?

[Gamerforlife]

I don't like the retro gamer tag, which basically means you play 2D games from ages ago. All my friends are playing on their PS3 and 360 games, yet I am discovering the joys of Beyond Good & Evil and Metal Slug 3. On PS2. Is that retro or not?

I have the same problem with music. You see, I love my hip hop, but if I tell someone I like hip hop, they assume I listen to the Eminem, or whatever is selling or on the radio. This is not true, I am listening to what people now consider "old school" or "traditional" hip hop. But 10, 15 years ago this was just called hip hop.

I suppose we could class ourselves as "classic gamers", as we all have good tastes in games (from what I have seen on this forum, mostly anyway ). Gamers want to play what's new, what everybody else is playing. Retro gamers enjoy playing the pinnacle of gaming, the classics, checking out games they didn't get to at the time. That's how I view it anyway. But then some people won't consider me a retro gamer as I didn't have an Atari or a NES.

I don't think PS 2 games can be considered retro yet. I mean that was just last generation, and the PS 2 has still been pumping out new games. You just don't hear about them. Most of the stuff we're playing on our PS3s and Xbox360s aren't much different from the stuff on the PS2 and other last gen systems anyway. Just the same games with a shiny new coat of high definition paint. Next gen gaming my ass

I like what you said about retro gamers playing classics or the pinnacles of gaming. I view serious retro gamers as being much smarter than the rest of the gaming populace. We know our history, we know what games REALLY introduced certain ideas in the gaming world(some people actually think quick time events started in Resident Evil 4 LOL)and we value gameplay, not pretty graphics. I find it sad when modern gamers look at older games and say, "my god, I would never play something that ugly", because apparently videos games are made to be looked at, like paintings

[Curlypaul]

I agree, I mean I dont normally like labels or whatever but I am pleased to put this one on myself. I think it shows that I am not easily fooled by flashy graphics and I am, infact, deeply entrenched in the gaming culture with an understanding of what actually makes a great game.

When I first got into buying old consoles it was mainly driven by nostalgia and I would go and buy all the games that I sold for peanuts years ago. The nostalgia has faded away now and I play the old games that I missed out on, games that I always wanted or genre defining games that passed me by all together.

By allowing ourselves to play games of yesteryear we are open to experiencing genres that have fell by the wayside, or transformed into an altogether different beast. We never make ill informed choices and buy bad games (unless you are a completionist collector), we are not only knowledgable about the history of gaming but we are still experiencing it now and above all, as Racket points out, we can do all of this with out spending a fortune.

[Nullface]

I'm 18 and the first console I had was a Sega Genesis, but my parents had a NES before that. Playing video games was casual since I only had the popular games like Sonic, Columns, Vectorman and some other ones at the time. I just played SNES etc at my older friend's house until the N64 came out. After I got that for christmas it was video games all day everyday with friends. Also the Gameboy. Then in middle school the Xbox came out and we would play Halo all day after school. Next was the Playstation 2 where I just played Grand Theft Auto for months and some other popular games at the time. I didn't venture out of popular titles at all so I missed ALOT of things over my life so I just buy them now because they are alot cheaper or just mod my consoles/emulation. I don't like the current generation of gaming at all. Everything seems to be about graphics or games your supposed to play with the bros. I feel like video games have lost it's meaning and it's just big buisness now to push out the same rehash and generic fps games every year and wait for everyone to buy into them. I only really play games made before 2000 or so. I enjoy 2D and the history of gaming. And venturing into games that I would have just walked pass at the game store at the time they were around. Especially systems that I haven't even seen or heard of like the Neo Geo and TurboGrafx16 which are my favorite systems right now. My friends don't like to play anything with me and they call it old garbage, but their fun to me so I just ignore it while they play on their Xbox 360s or PS3s. This lifestyle feels lonely sometimes, but I make due.

[Joostrevo]

To me it has nothing to do with nostalgia. Got my consoles later actually in 2010

[AznKhmerBoi]

-must enjoy playing sprite based games,
-must own at least 2 console before 1996
-must not base games solely on graphics

[msimplay]

ta-da!
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2007/05/ ... gamer.html

This article really says it all in the way I feel about retro games.
Except I'm not a cheapskate sometimes I have spent quite a bit of money to just play a game =P
I love original packaging and manuals and the history and advertising that goes along with it.

New games are also retro this generation has been the most retro I've seen.
With the likes of New Super Mario Bros and remakes like SSFT2 HD and outright re-releases of old games like Sonic 2.
With dedicated services provided for preservation of the old games.

It's never been a better time to be a retro gamer I also sense a bit of a divide though new gamers seem to have lost touch and only care about graphics.

I mean I like eye candy hd graphics as much as the next guy but that doesn't make old games have bad graphics.
People often talk about how Virtua Fighter 2 and Tekken 3 are showing their age but I still think they look great and really pushed the hardware they were created for.

[gamingafter40]

For me, everything new in gaming eventually becomes retro, so I tend to think of it as a sliding scale. If it's older than ten years, or it's on a console that has not been commercially supported for a couple of hardware generations, then I think it qualifies.

I appreciate the advances in graphics and sound -- but I've also played plenty of games that have neither, and I think the audiovisual improvement curve is starting to top out. It's interesting that the XBox 360 is coming up on its sixth year, with no successor announced yet, and the Wii and PS3 are right behind it. The Wii clearly has some catching up to do, but for the first time in my more than 30 years of gaming, I'm starting to feel like there isn't much pressure to push on to the next level of hardware.

This is a new situation, and I hope it means that gameplay refinements can start to lead the "cutting edge" of gaming again. Not that we won't see improvements in physics and liquid simulation and that kind of stuff -- but if we're not looking for prettier pictures every generation, I'm very interested to see how games develop.