What Even Is Retro Gaming?
I’ve been kicking around the idea of creating a retro gaming blog for a while now, so I have a place to talk about games I like (or otherwise have things to say about) and other related topics. But something I’ve been encountering is that, if you start to think about it for too long, something weird starts to happen…
What even is “retro” gaming?
Most people seem to say that when something is 15 years old, it counts as retro. Which seems like a fine enough definition, but the logical conclusion is that both the PS3, and Xbox 360 are all “retro” now. Is that right? If you think about it, when the PS2 came out in 2000, the Sega Genesis, released in 1989, would still need a few years yet to be considered “retro” by our current definition, and yet comparatively, the gap between what’s possible on the Genesis and PS2 is so much wider than the gap between what was possible on platforms 20 years ago versus now.
Looking back on the history of video games, it’s hard to overstate just how absurdly fast the technology evolved. Since the late 80s and early 90s, we went from having detailed 2D games to rudimentary 3D games to advanced 3D games in more or less the span of 10 years, and that’s just looking at the home console scene. Yet now, ever since the jump to HD, it seems we’ve been encroaching closer and closer to the plateau of just how technologically advanced we can make video games. What do you do next after you can render every hair and every pore on a character’s body?
A little while ago, the Xbox 360/PS3 exclusive version of Sonic Unleashed was finally brought to PCs through a fan-made port. While it boasts some modern conveniences, supporting higher resolutions and a better framerate, it is through and through the same game that came out in 2008. Yet, in a lot of ways, it also feels like something that could have come out within the past few years; it looks absolutely gorgeous, with (generally) great looking lighting and environments. It’s still also very much a product of its time too, with the influence of games that were popular at the time like God of War and Devil May Cry likely being what inspired SEGA to create the controversial Werehog levels.
A lot has changed since the release of Sonic Unleashed in 2008, undoubtedly, but should we say that Sonic Unleashed is a retro game because it’s over 15 years old? Something about that feels wrong to me. I’m more inclined to say that there is a historical marker that marks the divide between “retro gaming” and “modern gaming”. Once you make the jump to HD, to modern formats, it seems like the beginning of a new era of gaming. But that’s also tricky, because the Wii, which launched after the Xbox 360, used older technology and eschewed HD formats entirely, often being jokingly referred to as “two Gamecubes duct-taped together” in retrospect.
I could say there are other hallmarks of “modern gaming”, such as wireless integration, online storefronts, social features, and usage of SD cards to store data, which putting it all together makes a pretty compelling case that “retro games” are anything that came out on platforms made before roughly 2005-2006, and everything afterwards are “modern games”. But then… how the hell do we classify PC games? Or arcade games? What counts as a “modern” arcade game versus a “retro” arcade game?
At this point I’m tempted to just throw up my hands and say “retro” is anything originally intended for outdated technology and call it a day, with the small caveat that there is still space for something to be outdated but not quite retro yet. I still think the (what seems to be) generally accepted definition that “15 years ago is retro” is wrong, but having thought about this for way longer than I should have, I don’t really think I can provide a better definition, maybe it’s just an “I know it when I see it” kinda thing. Besides, it’s not like this REALLY matters, just because I say this is a retro gaming blog doesn’t mean I’m going to strictly limit myself to whatever “retro” is, I’ll almost certainly end up talking about modern games or even brand new games, it’s my blog and I make the rules so I can do whatever I want.
Also, if you google the definition of retro it means something that is new but made to look like something old, and what we’re ACTUALLY talking about is vintage games, so Super Mario Bros isn’t a retro game, it’s a vintage game! And Terraria is actually a retro game, except in a few months it’ll be over 15 years old, so maybe then it’ll be a vintage game. Oh no.