Poll: Where is your line between Retro and Modern gaming?

[Signa]

So I just got PMed on another forum from a guy that I was discussing games with. In it, he asked if I played some "retro" titles in my past. Specifically, he was wanting to know if I played Spyro or any of the Oddworld series. I'm 26 and grew up playing games on the Intellivision and Commodore before the NES even came out, so calling games that were on the PSX "retro" just sounds really silly to me.

So I'm wondering where you draw your line of retro gaming. I know there are a lot of kids out there old enough to be born after such classics like Final Fantasy 4 and 6, and still be posting here. I've found that trying to get my younger siblings to play games that predate themselves has been hard, so I bet if they were actually into gaming they would call games on the N64 retro. So I ask the rest of you, what is the latest system you personally would call "retro?"

I consider the line at the SNES, because that was before 3D, any all games just felt a lot different then they do today because of it. Before that, I see the NES as the "hard-core retro" system for me, because all those games just expected you to win the game by repetition and not with save files.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

When pixels turned to polygons.

 

[NeutralDrow]

NES and earlier is my line. Defined as "anything before I started gaming" (Genesis era).

 

[BolognaBaloney]

When early 3d began.

 

[Generator]

PSX/N64 for me. I realize there was no truly great shift between that generation and the generation immediately after it, but it was the first generation that I started playing games during, so for me, it's retro.

 

[Kollega]

SNES generation. N64 and PS1 are not old enough to be considered retro... yet. When next console generation rolls around, they surely will be.

 

[Julianking93]

When pixels turned to polygons.

That.

Anything before Ps1, I consider retro.

 

[TheGreatDirectorWatanbe]

I'd say Genesis and SNES since that was the Generation that I started gaming.

 

[Shock and Awe]

N64 and PSX are the oldest "retro" consoles in my book.

 

[omega_peaches]

N64/PSX started modern for me

 

[Meggiepants]

When joysticks came back. And not just one, but two on each controller! Aw yeah!

 

[super_mumbles]

I've always thought of them in this way:
Anything pre-nes is "vintage"
Nes/MS -Snes/MD is "retro"
N64/PS is "Old-school"
PS2/Xbox/GC is "Last gen"

To me the N64/PS and younger just seem to still be too new to be considered retro. Retro, in my opinion, was when gaming was a small hobby on the side of peoples lives and didn't really play a huge role at all.

 

[Signa]

I suppose a person's definition of "retro" can change from person to person too. I was about to say "WTF? 3 people already voted for the last generation's consoles as retro!?" but now that I think about it, there are plenty of gamers out there that see non-current gen games as "too old to play" and therefor "retro."

To all of you saying "N64/PSX" I hope you at some point have taken the chance to play SNES/Genesis games. I really don't think it's the nostalgia speaking when I say that there were some amazing games you passed up because you were born too late. I was made in '83 and was gaming by '86-'87 (I was a smart kid, but ignorant of what year it was until '88 or so ), so the best titles anyone can tell me to go back and play are all arcade games. I feel lucky that I've gotten to watch gaming evolve as much as it has. Things would not have been so impressive if I started with low polygon 3d and watched it evolve to bumpmaps and brown.

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

The NES generation, otherwise known as the Fighting Third.

 

[Angry_Bosmer]

I consider retro something that can be still be played today. What I mean by that is you can still pick up a nes or genesis controler and enjoy yourself but a n64 (because the control sucks) or a Ps2 (because the view distance on any 3d game is ridiculously short)cant relive it's past glory. An Xbox is retro. Then again last gen goes on a game by game bases.
of course current gen is modern,

 

[A random person]

The 16-bit era, including non-16-bit consoles at the time (i.e Jaguar or Virtual Boy; not because they're good, hell no, but they're aged enough to be retro). I also allow a degree of leeway/blurriness into the PS1/N64 era, depending on the individual game and cultural traits of said game (it's as vague as it sounds).

 

[philzibit]

I grew up with the SNES and NES, but it's now to the point that the N64 and PS1 are retro for me.

 

[AvsJoe]

SNES and previous. It was the 5ix-Four, D-Cast, and P-Sone that ushered in the modern for me.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

"Retro" is always going to be different to different people based on their age. Im like you OP, I consider Retro to be Atari 2600's and arcade machines..We didn't have Intellivision in Australia I don't think.

Icons come to mind when I think of retro. PacMan and the ghosts, Galaga and its multitude of enemies, Donkey Kong for its look and its sounds. I think the retro style of gaming hasn't died though. I mean look at a game like Geometry Wars. It takes everything great about old school and makes it modern.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I might be persuaded to consider N64/PSX games retro, but mostly when I think of retro I think of SNES/Genesis or older.