this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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RetroGaming

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I went to a Gamestop the other day, and they had a little section for pre-owned games for older systems (think Xbox360, PS2, DS, etc). I was perusing and grabbed some games, but I noticed something, the cases that have the XBOX360 games have a giant "RETRO GAMING" on it in the centre. So I am like wtf, I grew up with the XBOX360, what the hell do they mean "retro".

So I went and asked like friends and other people if the XBOX360 is retro now, and basically everyone was like "yeah". I was talking to my EX about it and she was like "the xbox came out in 2005/6. There is more time between us and the xbox360 than there was between the xbox and the SNES when the xbox came out. Was the SNES "retro" when the xbox360 came out?"

I am like not ready, not willing to accept the XBOX360 as retro. Because that is saying my thing that I grew up with is "retro" or "old" now and im not ready to accept that because im not ready to be old.

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I am also often upset, confused and scared by the passage of time

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Downvote for making me think about it

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It is not retro. It is "Modern," like how art from the 50s and 60s is called "Modern Art."

Here is an easy chart:

1st Console Gen (Magnavox Odyssey) : Historic

2nd Console Gen (ColecoVision) : Antique

3rd Console Gen (NES) : Vintage

4th Console Gen (SNES) : Retro

5th Console Gen (N64) : Classic

6th Console Gen (XBOX) : Renaissance

7th Console Gen (X360) : Modern

8th Console Gen (XBOX ONE) : Post-Modern

9th Console Gen (XBOX SERIES) : Contemporary

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Gamestop needs to go back to when their cases looked like this

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I miss those styles, so much stuff has a corporate sanitized look and feel these days

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

We are not old, we are retro

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

I'm downright vintage.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

Here here! stomps cane

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I feel like the “retroness” comes down to more the gameplay than the passage of time. Despite coming out 20 years ago, 360 games have a lot of similarities to modern games. Contrast that to the SNES, which had a much different limitations and approach to game design.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Yes and no. I only play the 360 (because of money, not choice) and the very specific brand of action games they had are not a thing today. The mechanics and presentation are "retro" in the sense that they are from a different era.

There are many that share similarities but the more you play from this era today the more you notice how much things have changed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, maybe we need a different word to describe the games and systems that we think of when we say "retro". Because when I think of 'retro' games, I'm thinking of Super Mario Bros and the OG Doom and shit like that, not Halo or whatever. I'm thinking of the time before consoles were mostly just pre-built PCs in a fancy looking box.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This shit hurts me every time. I remember playing xbox360 in high school with my friends. I’m getting old.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Welcome to the party, pal

We were playing the Nintendo 64 and original Xbox when I was in high school.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

On that note, I told a younger colleague yesterday that I rewatched Stargate (the 1994 movie, which is six years younger than Die Hard) recently, and her reply was "Oh, I thought that was a programme, not a movie".

FML, makes me feel old.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Just you wait until you reach a point where you think "I used to feel old when I was in my 20'ties. Now I'm really old."

t. Am 41 years old.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Imagine what 60 must feel like.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

More like the same thing.

At 80's however will be like "Damn, I used to talk with randoms about my age and making such a big deal in my 20'ties. And now I'm in my 80'ties and I could die in any moment."

At 100'ties will be like "Ah, fu-"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This was how I felt when the post about the PS2 turning 25 came by a few days ago. What the fuck happened.

Why is everything worse now lol

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

I just bought one last year.

It's not retro. It's in that sweet spot where it's irrelevant enough to be dirt cheap.

We'll need to wait another 10-20 years before the kids who grew up with the xbox360 have enough time and disposable income to buy and play all the games they loved in their youth.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

About as old as NES on the Wii

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Abe Simpson was younger as a character at Xbox 360 release (first appearance 1988) than the Xbox 360 is today.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

It was the Gamecube for me. I was like, "How the hell can a recent game like Metroid Prime be 'retro'?" and then I realized if the game was a person It'd be old enough to drink... and then it got a remaster right after that realization.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Some other games now old enough to drink:

  • Metal Gear Solid 3
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  • The original Far Cry
  • Burnout 3
  • Doom 3
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

The people born when this machine was released have finished school, learned to drive and potentially even started their own families.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

I’m with you, retro is when they were still counting bits

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

In my opinion, retro games/consoles are a lot like vintage cars. It doesn't matter how much time has passed because it's not about their age, it's about the era they came from.

In the case of vintage cars, it's any car manufactured prior to 1930. In the case of retro game consoles I'd say it's anything prior to 1994.

Edit: typo. 1995 should have been 1994. The launch year of the PS1 and the founding year of the ESRB.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's a surprisingly narrow definition.

So do you look at something like a Studebaker Commander Coupe and go "well obviously that's modern"?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

No, definitely not modern, possibly a classic, though that term has some additional qualifications, so I'm not sure.

But 1930 is chosen and is generally recognized as the cutoff for vintage cars by most collectors clubs and organizations, because that year marked a major industry wide shift, for consumers, manufacturers, and regulation, and while there have been relatively minor shifts in the industry, not much has really changed since.

Similarly, 1994 (made a typo above) marked a similar transition, the PS1 was released that year, marking a shift to 3D graphics, the ESRB was established in the US, and consumer adoption reached a point where you could finally say video gaming was here to stay. And just like with the automotive industry in 1930, things in gaming shifted from a period of rapid experimentation, innovation, and regulation to a period of slow, gradual improvement along the lines established by the fifth generation of consoles in 1994.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

1930 is chosen and is generally recognized as the cutoff for vintage cars

By who? I'm a big car guy and have never heard someone say a car has to be near 100 years old to be vintage. Most laws here in the states say 30. This is the only real source I could find that agrees with you but then it goes on to disagree with itself so idk.

Personally, I'd say "vintage" is 1950s and into the 1960s. I would say the C1 Corvette is "vintage", but the C2 is "classic".

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This hurts me. I have vivid memories of playing Halo 3 and Hexic back when I was in middle school.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

First time?

Halo (combat evolved) came out when I was a junior in highschool.

Before that, it was GoldenEye and then Perfect Dark.

And I even got to play some Timesplitters at PS2 launch because the rich kid got the multitap and extra controllers.

Heck, we're (significantly) farther away from the CE anniversary launch than it was from the original.

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