Retro channel at IGN

[Zeus]

In case you care

http://retro.ign.com/

[Julius Seeker]

I've been reading it for a few days, I think their definition of retro gaming is a little broad as some of the games they cover are still on my "games I bought recently and intend to play sometime in the future" list =P

I would personally draw the line at about Donkey Kong Country at this point.

[Zeus]

So, SNES and before? Pre-PSX/N64/Saturn? No games for those systems can be considered "retro" until the next gen?

[Julius Seeker]

So, SNES and before? Pre-PSX/N64/Saturn? No games for those systems can be considered "retro" until the next gen?

That's just my opinion, there's not really any clear determining factor to say whether something can be considered Retro or not, I am sure mostly all hardcore retrogamers and emos would disagree with the SNES being considered retro at all. The 16-bit era is sort of grey, whereas a system like the Commodore 64, Atari 2600, or MSX is clearly retro, a system like the PS2, N64, or PSX is clearly not retro as they're all still very clear in the mostly all of the current gaming generation's memory.

[Zeus]

There's just that huge contingent of really old gamers who only considering stuff prior to 1985 "retro". The problem is that word has no meaning anymore, it gets used so much for so many different things and means different stuff with different people.

[Julius Seeker]

I think this is actually a good topic of discussion =)

The reason I draw the line at DKC, or even FF6, is because I feel the games of that year and later are still relevant. There was a huge shift during that time period, and many of the trends which began in games released in 1994 are still active today. People still use those games as comparison points for games released today; but they don't use Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario World, or anything like that anymore; and NES is completely out of the question. A few years ago this wasn't necessarilly true, a lot of people were still judging games based on games like Link to the Past and Final Fantasy 4, but this doesn't happen anymore. Sure there will still be a large number of people that may say Super Mario Brothers 3 is their favourite game of all time, or even me "Castlevania 3 is my favourite Castlevania of all time"; but these games are not really used as a comparing point for games today.

Mario 3 came up a lot when Galaxy was released, but it was as an indirect comparison point: "Mario Galaxy is to the 3D marios as Mario 3 was to the 2D Marios."

That's my justification for currently drawing the line in 1994 at least.

[Zeus]

I still judge all RPGs against FF6 and CT

[Anarky]

I still judge all RPGs against FF6 and CT

AMEN!

[Julius Seeker]

I still judge all RPGs against FF6 and CT

Same, exactly why I don't consider them retro.

[Zeus]

I still judge all RPGs against FF6 and CT

Same, exactly why I don't consider them retro.

They were pre-1994

[Julius Seeker]

I still judge all RPGs against FF6 and CT

Same, exactly why I don't consider them retro.

They were pre-1994

You're mistaken. FF6 was released as Final Fantasy III October 1994, and Chrono Trigger was released August 1995.