How Do You Define Retro Gaming?
Retro gaming. A sub genre of video games that involves, mostly, old games still being enjoyed today. As technology advanced developers for newer platforms realized there is still a market for old games. Rather than learn to code on a Nintendo Entertainment System or Sony Playstation, these developers more often than not took to PC's and modern consoles with a similar development environment to create games that were in the "retro" style.
You can head over to online stores such as Steam or GoG and find tons of games that are either truly retro or created in that style. @Kralizec does a daily Steam games article detailing what is new on the service - sometimes some classic looking, or really classic, games are on the list. Everyone reading this should follow him and check that list out each day.
Back to the discussion at hand
I have a simple question for those of you reading this. How do you define retro gaming? I know, it is a loaded question because what is retro to anyone is greatly influenced by their age, when they got into gaming, what their cut off is for old versus new, etc.
My take on it
I call retro gaming going back to the generation prior to what is available at stores like Walmart or Target. If they stop selling it, I consider it retro. I consider "classic" games as ending with the 8-bit consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Game Gear, Game Boy, NEC Turbo Grafx-16, etc.
I know a lot of people have a problem calling the PSP a retro hand held. I am not one of those people. I would not call it a classic by any means.
Now we have the retro inspired to contend with
How do you classify a game such as Shovel Knight or The Great Gianna Sisters (newer versions) or Wonder Boy: Monsters Trap (which just released on Steam)? They are retro inspired, that is for sure, and in the case of Wonder Boy, even feature the option to play with "retro" graphics. The Great Gianna Sisters is based on a retro property but features modern graphics and sound while Shovel Knight attempts to mimic the 16-Bit era (I am sorry but that is NO WHERE near "8-Bit" style). Where do you classify these games when discussing retro gaming?
For me...
I consider them retro inspired and will freely talk about them in retro gaming discussion, just like this one. I don't consider them truly "retro" though. Now, in the case of the people behind Volgarr, they let a team of fans legally port the formerly PC only game to the Sega Dreamcast - to me, that makes at least that version retro but the PC version would fall under "inspired". This is because the Dreamcast version is created with the full limitations of the hardware in mind. It is hard to call a game 8-Bit when it is only in graphics, that also happen to feature tons of parallax scrolling, Dolby 5.1 or better sound, etc. That is not created with the limitations of a platform holding you back.
What is your take on retro gaming?
If the game is difficult it's probably retro
lmao
I forgot to bring that up. Lol. Good point.
To me personally, retro is anything from the 16-bit era (Super Nintendo, Genesis, TurboGrafx-16) or earlier. Loosely speaking I use it to refer to anything more than 10 years old or anything new styled on something more than ten years ago.
For me retrogaming is everything before the PS1/Dreamcast. so 16-bit, 8-bit consoles and arcade games.
retro? the graphics are simple and pixel-y but that's what i like about it
I think retro is simply the style.
My personal definition for 'retro' is currently PS2/Xbox/Gamecube and earlier. That gives us a nice 15+ year window for 'modern' fare, which should be long enough for anybody who is seriously into old-school gaming.
Retro style, on the other hand, is a whole different story. Retro City Rampage is obviously playing homage to an older style of entertainment than your modern polygonal attraction, but with the look of 2D sprites and 8-bit gameplay.
That, or you can just go with, "If I remember playing it as a kid."