“What is Retro?”

What is “retro”? The answer is: there is no answer. Sorry, pack up, go home, end of article, hit like and subscribe and thanks for watching. It ought to come as a surprise to nobody that “retro” isn’t all that useful a term beyond a general layman description. In fact, the dictionary isn’t even helpful here. Don’t rush to cite it, I’ll do it for you.

It may shock you to know that “retro” doesn’t actually mean “old”. It’s not the same thing as antique, vintage, archaic, classic, original, ancient, and so on. Retro means imitative of a style from the past, not the substance being imitated itself. Retro is that which is derivative, which is evocative of something that came before it. On a purely dictionary-level literal meaning, retro by definition can’t just refer to all old games. And further, many old games are dramatically different from one another, depending on the era, but we’ll get to that.

Is this retro?

However, one context in which “retro” seems fairly accurate is indie games. How many indies have you seen marketed on a kind of retro style? Everything from Shovel Knight to Sea of Stars, Celeste to Cuphead (imitative of an era of animation) capture elements of the past in the forms of newer products. They are literally retro games.

That’s just not how we use the word and its related terms in gaming, and that’s fine. As a hobby, enthusiasts have the freedom to develop new terms and usages for them. But let me draw out a few more observations.

Is this retro?

When we say someone is a retro gamer or let’s play some retro games, do you think about a kid playing on Wii U, the console they grew up with (it’s 10 years old, after all)? Do you think of retro games as PS3 games? How often have you seen an indie calling itself retro because it looks like Bioshock Infinite? Are those the kinds of games that indies indicate when they’re thusly styled?

Not really.

Is this retro?

Here’s where one’s personal definition for retro becomes of interest, at least to me. And let me say, this is all done out of interest and love for the hobby! I’m not trying to enforce a view, construct a creed, or demand you shift your attitudes and perspectives about retro toward this way or that.

What do the following statements have in common? Anything older than 5 years is retro. Anything older than 10 years is retro. Anything older than 15 years. 20 years. Anything older than one generation back. Two generations.

Is this retro?

The commonality? They’re all arbitrary. What’s the difference between 10 years and 15 years, I asked a gentleman earlier today, besides for the number 5 and a whim? To my mind, these all seem like numbers picked out of the air that aren’t really reflective of the concrete changes in design made through gaming history, something real that you can hang a definition on.

What do I mean? Think about it. How much of a difference is there between PS3 and PS4 games? What about Wii U and Switch games? The Wii U being retro when the Switch runs essentially the same games just with “Deluxe” tacked on afterward seems indicative.

Is this retro?

Rather, I propose looking at the development of gaming alongside the actual definition of retro and the common use of retro for retro gamers and retro indies to propose what is really retro. I tend to break that down along the lines of console generations, with the development of handheld gaming and PC gaming remaining relevant factors that mostly fall along the same lines. Obviously, it’s not a perfect system and there’s overlap, but it works for me!

I attempt this by underscoring the key differences implemented throughout gaming history by breaking them down into eras.

Generations 1 and 2: Antique

In order for there to be a retro imitation, there has to be something previous to imitate. It follows then that the earliest games cannot by definition be retro, themselves. Vintage may not be the best word here as that can hint at timeless quality and… well you’ve seen some of the built-in games from this era. I propose Antique or Original for this period.

Generations 3 and 4: Retro

Here already? Yes! The 8-bit and 16-bit generations learned from the pioneers of their yesteryear to create more commercially successful platforms with games, particularly 16-bit ones, that no longer resembled the Pongs and innumerable Pac-Man ripoffs. However, the DNA of gaming is still there. I call this era Retro because 1) it follows after the Antique, 2) it is frequently what is imitated by retro-style indies, 3) it seems to typically be among the most referenced eras in retro gaming.

Generations 5 and 6: Early 3D

While discs and 3D elements were just barely being introduced in previous generations, this era of gens 5 and 6 came to be dominated by CDs and 3Ds. With the advent of the PlayStation, the N64, and the Saturn, as well as some others, the gaming world had a technological leap forward, stretching its legs in a new three-dimensional universe. The distinction between 8-bit and 16-bit vs early 3D couldn’t be clearer. “Retro” doesn’t suffice as a term to hold all of these games with their massive differences under one umbrella, while simultaneously admitting that yes, PS1 is old.

Generations 7 and 8: HD

With each technological leap forward, it’s not always possible to go back. I don’t know that we’ll ever see another new console released that solely has an RF adapter. While Nintendo coincidentally played from the sidelines and dominated sales for the Wii’s generation, progress was moving rapidly toward high-definition consoles and displays. 3D itself was early no longer, having largely matured more detailed animations and textures with greater polygon counts. Games were clearer than they’d ever been. So long, teenage acne!

Generation 9: ???

That leaves us with the current generation. Figuring out where the Switch fits in or how to compute the PS5 and Xbox Series basically being dedicated gaming PCs is a task for historians down the road. It’ll be easier to unpack and expound upon the unique traits of an era once the era has passed. Maybe by the time it’s through it’ll be a set of generations about cloud gaming, streaming services, or digital only purchases. We’ll see when we get there.

Is this retro?

Like I said, it’s not a perfect system but as you can see, you can generally point out the key advances in gaming tech over time and perhaps those are the big monuments in history to pause at. It doesn’t make sense to me to keep expanding “retro” to mean so many different kinds of games.

The next time somebody says they’re going to play some retro games, ask them if they mean Bonk’s Revenge or The Last of Us Part II. Or to phrase it differently: you’d feel funny if you clicked on a streamer labeled for retro games on Twitch and they were playing Final Fantasy XIV, especially with imagery like this:

As history marches on, we’ll require more capable terminology to better reference the sheer difference between games like those. Either way, we’ll still have new retro games, like Undertale or Mina the Hollower.

Arbitrary or not, I’d love to hear your thoughts! How do you define “retro”? Do you consider yourself a retro gamer? What is retro? What does your heart tell you? Light up my life with your comments and I’ll see you in history.

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.