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[Kikorin]

Other than graphics, "retro" was also a gameplay thing. Back than every new gen was making possible gameplay advancement that simply were impossible in the oldest gen. Right now, games are exactly the same as they were during the PS3/X360 era.

Is really difficult say something like GTA V is "retro", if is still the most advanced open world ever released.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The internet has brought us immediate access to everything, so the concept of retro has actually disappeared. It doesn't make sense anymore, and that's why modern creators who try to nail the feel of past games or shows mostly do it wrong. Stranger Things is the prime example of this. It feels fake and artificial.

 

[Fess]

1995 we had PS1 and the 3D revolution.
10 years before that was C64 and NES days and 2D graphics.

There hasn't been a jump as big after that, everything from PS1 and forward has been iterated generations with higher resolution, higher framerates, more detailed textures and now ray tracing.

Retro for me is pre-PS1 days. 2D graphics essentially.

 

[Pandawan]

Technology was advancing at breakneck speed back then. From 1994 to 2004, we went from 2D platformers on the SNES to Far Cry and Half Life 2 (realistiс 3d games with physics). And in between (still during these 10 years) there was the PS1 era with 3D, but ultra pixel graphics, so the transition from PS1 to PS2 seemed like a miracle. Characters in video games (going from PS1 to PS2) started to look like people, not like cubes with pixelated face texture. And all of this happend in 10 years. Just in 10 years games switched from looking like interactive 2d cartoons (where you walk from left to right) to realistics games with real stories.

The youth in the 2000s (who started playing games on PS2, XBOX and Gamecube) really considered PS1, N64 games as outdated retro games. They really looked like that compared to PS2 games. And NES and SNES games even more.

And also whole genres just started to beign invented during this period. We first saw Diablo, Warcraft, Resident Evil, GTA started as small 2d game and went to phenomena on PS2 and all of this still in those 10 years.

And the thing is (why the 1990s games feel dated) - the early games in these new genres were really clunky, and people who were used to playing new games just couldn't play the yearly games.

-People who grew up playing Warcraft 3 just couldn't go back to Warcraft 1, that game seemed clunky.
-People who grew up playing GTA3 VC and SA just couldn't go back to GTA1 and 2.
-People who grew up playing Half Life 2 just couldn't go back to DOOM2

And there was only 4 years between GTA1 (1997) and GTA3 (2001). It's crazy how we went from GTA1 to GTA3 in just 4 years. From GTA1 to San Andread in 7 years. Now it took almost twice as much time from GTA5 to GTA6 (12 years)

And over the last decade (and even a little more), gaming technologies (graphics, physics, details, aliveness of the worlds etc) seems to be only degrading from Batman Arkham Knight 2015 to Suicide Squad 2024 from GTAV 2013 to Saints Row 2022 from Skyrim 2011 to Avowed 2025 from Uncharted 4 2015 to Forspoken 2023. Thats why this 1990-2000 era seems like something else.

 

[Trilobit]

Things progressed way faster back then. I know that's a "no crap" statement but I think that skews perception

Yeah, maturity of tech is interesting.

If retro is 10 years back then this flagship phone is a retro device to us:

In 2015 this was a 10-year old retro flagship phone:

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Oh neat. Yeah, the NES hung around for a long time in some regions of the world. Here in Canada the NES was officially discontinued in 1994. But the hardware was still being sold for like $75.00 or less. Maybe even $50. There were retailers who were still getting rid of old stock hardware. But by 1996, it was basically gone.

The Genesis (Yes, it was called that here, like the US) was discontinued in 1997, but Majesco sold the Genesis Model 3 in 1998. You could still find them in 1999-2000. The SNES hung around until 2000. In 1999 the Sega Dreamcast was released. Which was a big leap over the PS1 and N64. The Sega Saturn really was discontinued by 1998. It was a pretty big flop for Sega TBH, and the Genesis outlived it.

However, if you were a bit older as a gamer (say early 20s around 1997/2k) the 8/16bit games were already turning into collectable items rather than the modern games you bought.

There were already some rare/great games like Dracula X on the PC Engine CD that had their price inflated. Otherwise building a library was dirt cheap, even on eBay. People had lists of all the releases for a given platform in a given region to guide their hunts of hidden gems of yore.

Functional emulators for a lot of these old machines existed on PC (nesticle etc.) same for arcades (MAME was already a thing).

The retro scene existed all along.

I would say that the last time we had a real jump in terms of decade difference was 2005 to 2015 (in 2005 most people were on ps2 2015 was the ps4 era)... But this is more a question of texture quality, resolution, lighting methods and scope.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Retro just means your controller can be missing a button and still be playable.
Astrobot is a retro game because it doesn't use the Touchpad.

 

[deriks]

Because evolution in graphics and mechanics was in seen in a single game basis. In that case, a single game can show lots of stuff that we never saw before. Now maybe one or two games try something new in the whole gen

I guess it's normal since we achieve a great place, but at the same time I feel that most of developers are afraid to try new ideas

 

[TGO]

It's not just Games, Movies & Music from the 80 seemed old in the 90's
It's only 10 years like you said
But today something like The Dark Knight Trilogy which is celebrating is 20th Anniversary and most music from the 2000's or even late 90's don't seem as old of the 80's counterparts did in the 90's
I watched Constantine on 4K Blu-ray the other day and it looked like it was shot yesterday and I couldn't fault it's CGI either, yet it's 20 years old now.
I think WE are the ones that are producing Diminishing returns because WE peaked a decade ago.

 

[Sooner]

Game technology changed 10x faster back then. Hell, going one generation from Pitfall to Super Mario Bros or SMB3 seems like a lifetime of progress.

 

[Celine]

From the same Edge issue (#13, September 1994):

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Retro is anything before Fortnite Season 4. Old asses.

 

[Wonko_C]

I'm playing and enjoying Ridge Racer 6 and thinking this was a cool game that feels like it just released 5 years ago... It's almost 20 years old now.

I hate how from the 360 generation everything feels like a blur that flew by so fast to me. Growing from my mid 20's to my mid 40's and I can't sometimes feel that much time has really passed. It's terrifying.

 

[Gp1]

I'm playing and enjoying Ridge Racer 6 and thinking this was a cool game that feels like it just released 5 years ago... It's almost 20 years old now.

I hate how from the 360 generation everything feels like a blur that flew by so fast to me. Growing from my mid 20's to my mid 40's and I can't sometimes feel that much time has really passed. It's terrifying.

The entire 360 generation lasted almost a decade so that was your "blur" right there.

 

[awwr999999]

NES > SNES > N64/PS1 > GC/PS2 were all massive leaps in graphical fidelity.

The PS2 fully replaced the PS1 but nothing post-PS2 has fully replaced the PS2. PS2s and PCSX2 are still a requirement for any serious gamer.
PS3 was the first PS disappointment - the first PS console that didn't do everything better than the previous PS consoles.
Downgrades like starting at a home screen instead of booting right into games and a new wireless DS3 controller that's worse than the DS2.
Good looking, easy to use memory cards got replaced with generic USB thumb drives and an annoying PC save system that lacked the fun extras memory cards provide.
PS has never gotten back any of the great PS1 and PS2 save functions. Aspects tied to physical memory cards that Konami and other studios used to make their games far more interesting.
PS2 memory cards are likely the only proprietary memory cards that users actually like and go out of their way to collect.

 

[_Ex_]