When the term “Retro game” entered common parlance, it covered games that were “younger” at the time than GTA V is now.
Saying a game is retro simply on the basis of age is akin to phyletic gradualism, a concept in biology that proposes evolution is a slow, linear process where small improvements are made over time. In fact, both games and reality and more like punctuated equilibrium. This is another proposal that evolution occurs in rapid bursts in response to changing conditions, and is otherwise dormant during periods of stability and/or stagnation.
A game like Deus Ex, which released in 2000, would have been unimaginable to someone playing Super Mario Bros. 3 which released in 1990, a mere 10 years earlier. The retro label was coined not due to the exact chronological age of games but was rather a clumsy description of how rapidly technology and games had changed. Retro spoke to more of the distinct differences in technology, gameplay, graphics, and the ability to set a more serious tone than older games. Doom (1994) is retro compared to Metal Gear Solid from 1999 merely on the differences in what is expected out of the player in both gameplay and how to understand a story. GTAV came out in 2013, and the only real changes to games since then have been they’ve become more predatory with subscription models and pointless microtransactions. A game like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2025) could be easily fathomed by a person from 2013 playing Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Also yes I am very salty because one time at work a coworker heard that I was into “retro games” and cheerfully told me he had a working PS3, believing he would impress me. Here I was, a person who owns a functioning Commodore 64, trying to explain to my youthful coworker that a 15+ year old system is not sufficiently retro for my elderly tastes. At a point during our conversation he uttered the words “What’s Sega?” and I felt my bones transform into a museum exhibit.
At a point during our conversation he uttered the words “What’s Sega?”
*wild eyed, approaching menacingly* You know, the genesis? 16 bits of face melting colors and sound? Sonic + knuckles cartridge with the flip-open top to attach another game cart?
So retro games have pixel graphics, modern games have 3d graphics. Gotcha.
It’s only retro if it’s from the retro region of japan
Classifying it by convention and technical capability in retrospect is just as fraught. Shovel Knight would be very recognisable to someone playing on the sega genesis and is younger than GTA V, meaning we can classify games from 2013 as retro by such a standard
On the contrary, I’d compare it to divergent evolution. Shovel Knight does have the aesthetics and gameplay of older games yes, but it is incredibly smooth compared to even the best of platformers of the 8bit era. It still retains the technological and gameplay innovations of newer games, while the sprites, music, and controls are a more advanced version of older conventions. I can tell you as a certified old person ™️ that Shovel Knight would have been considered incredibly advanced by 1989 standards. A better comparison would be Mega Man 10 from 2010, which is a more precise imitation of retro capabilities.
Modern metroidvanias like Hollow Knight are part of this as well, more advanced versions of older conventions, while integrating modern conviniences.
At best you could say VR games are perhaps the next great divergence, but the problem there is there are like 3 good VR games and it’s still incredibly clunky. Reminds me of how early attempts at 3D resulted in games like Bubsy 3D, before the industry had to adapt and give us Ratchet & Clank or whatever. Wake me up when there’s some actual distinct change compared to when 3D games first got their legs.
Also Shovel Knight absolutely slaps and thank you for reminding me of it because I’m gonna go boot it up.
The way you could recover some money after dying points to a post-2011 development. Most people would call that a “Souls-like” mechanic, which was released in 2011. Before that, the only example I could think of is Diablo II with the way corpses worked in that game. Diablo II was released in 2000. Pre-Diablo II examples are basically roguelikes like Nethack where previous dead characters would form bones that had (often cursed) loot based on what those characters were wearing when they died.
And the thing is that Dark Souls, Diablo II, and roguelikes are all RPGs. Diablo II and roguelikes belong to the same general RPG branch. So to summarize, that particular game mechanic started as a roguelike mechanic, it was adopted in Diablo II and other ARPGs because ARPGs are a daughter genre of roguelikes, and it was later adopted in another RPG before that particular RPG had enough mainstream success to spread that mechanic to non-RPG games including a platformer with retro aesthetics.
So N64 or PS2 isn’t retro?
This is an artifact of Death. Within
Netjester?
That…
If you’re familiar with producer dan (YKS and blocked party podcasts) apparently he was a mod on /wooo/
This is my most obfuscated way to say ‘I see you, 420 person’
This is up there with learning kirt was recruited by the NSA to deface al-qeada forums.
They’re at the midpoint between retro and modern gaming. This is especially true for the N64 and that console generation. It still was using cartridges when optical media would soon take over, it epitomized that janky early 3d aesthetic between retro 2d and modern 3d, and it had weird deadends like Golden-Eye or how console controllers hadn’t settled on the dual joystick form. The N64 was released at a time when arcades were no longer king but the PC haven’t taken over yet. This was a time when entire game genres would segregate themselves based on the platform. This was most obvious in “computer RPGS” vs “console RPGs.”
Those are “modern”.
The “postmodern” era starts at the PS4.
Like how the 17th century is the modern era?
Its worse. Martin Luther is a figure of the “modern” era
To be fair someone claiming to be into retro games and not having heard of vintage consoles is akin to someone claiming to be into film history and being like “What’s a silent film?”
Like I’m not even a film buff and I know who Charlie Chaplin is despite that being like 100 years ago. Do some people just not have curiosity? Are they rage baiting in like the weirdest way posaible?
I guess my autistic ass just loves deep diving into wikipedia articles about random facts so maybe I’m the weird one
You’re not weird, you’re a very good owl
I divide gaming between retro, transitional, and modern.
Retro: Arcades are king. Multiplayer gaming meant going to the arcades. Everything is either 2d or some wireframe fake 3d.
Transitional: No dominant gaming platform. Arcades competed with consoles, PC, and handhelds. Multiplayer is declining third places with aging arcade cabinets, couch co-op, and private servers. The epitome of transitional aesthetics is the janky 3d of FFVII.
Modern: Dominant platform is, depending on who you ask, PC, consoles, or smartphone. Multiplayer is matchmaking between strangers. There are gaming communities like speedrunning and the FGC and paragaming communities like cosplay and Twitch streaming.
For fun, I would go over your examples:
Deus Ex: Mid transitional game. In general, pre-HL2 FPS are transitional games. Golden-Eye, Halo 1, Quake Arena, and so on. A lot of the SFX just screams peak transitional gaming, especially JC’s death scream and how it’s so fucking funny. That shit would never happen in modern gaming.
SMB 3: Late retro game. It’s just building up from SMB1, which could be seen as a sequel to the original Mario Bros. Late retro games are post game crash of 1983 games.
Doom 1: I flip-flop, but I think it’s an early transitional game. Compare it with Wolfenstein 3D, which is a late retro game. Wolfenstein 3D has bleeps and bloops along with a pointless point (lol) system like some arcade game with no multiplayer. Meanwhile, Doom spawned the world’s first speedrunning community and had the first pvp deathmatch. Doom also has more of that weird janky 3d vibe, especially with its “platforming” sections in Doom 2.
MGS1: Mid transitional game. Among other things, it has the transitional mark of still figuring out how camera placement works. Actual retro games don’t have this problem because everything is in 2d.
GTAV: Modern gaming. GTA IV is early modern. Everything else before that is transitional gaming.
I propose we break games into “retro”, “modern”, and “postmodern” categories.
I historicize it between retro, transitional, and modern. Peak retro is arcade games like Pac-Man, Centipede, and Space Invaders, peak transitional is console JRPGs like FFVII and janky early 3D, and peak modern is some gacha lootbox bullshit.
I wanna hear more about postmodern gaming
This isn’t bad posting, it’s cursed posting.
My favorite retro games are the Witcher 3, followed by RDR2
Just like how modern games are produced mirroring aesthetics of N64, SNES or Atari games, it is about time we get games that try to mirror the retro aesthetics of RDR 2. And by that I mean horse testicle physics
Don’t forget to program the dogs to realistically poop
Ok but seriously do you think maybe Rockstar games has too big a budget
No I think they forced their workers into horrible crunch conditions and gamers loved it because it made the graphics sooooo realistic
I think it’s worth pointing out that the horrible working conditions and people not seeing their families was done to facilitate things like testicle physics and horses plopping in real time. Which proves not just that managment was incompetent but also that millions were wasted and thousands of hours were worked for the purpose of wasting it, the effort put in was seen as valuable just because it was more effort and time and broken lives.
But that’s not really the vibe I want to bring to badposting.
My bad I pooped the vibe first
…maybe it’s because they keep firing their employees?
Which was a huge mistake, they should instead have fired upon management.
At the very least that!
Underrated gems
Omg I love retro references
any game older than 1 month is retro
yeah i’m a retro gamer. what the hell is an amiga? does it run balatro?
I think it’s really cool that rockstar is reviving their retro franchise is all I’m saying.
crosscode released 18 years ago
This is just a facts post
