61 replies to this topic

[Dr Manhattan]

Is the Sega Dreamcast old enough to be considered retro gaming?

I'm curious to see what you think.

[potatohead]

It's getting there. If it's not retro now, just give it a few more years.

FWIW, I say no. My kids say yes though. Then again, they think Atari is ancient.

[ὁ Ῥωμαῖος Νέος]

While I voted yes, my answer is a bit more complicated. In the definitions normally used, yes, Dreamcast is retro. However, when you look at gaming on a larger scale, it straddles the line between modern gaming and the transitional period. If it had lasted longer than 2 years, it would most definitely be cast in the same as the PS2 and Xbox, but as it stands, it almost feels like some sort of novelty, a prototype of sorts, rather than a full sixth generation console.

[A_Locomotive]

I'd say yes because its reached the point where I've met people who didn't know what one was. so yeah.

[mbd30]

No. Graphically it's approximately on par with the Playstation 2 which is still sold in stores.

Edited by mbd30, Sat Feb 4, 2012 11:59 AM.

[ls650]

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.
Maybe in another ten years or so... maybe.

[mbd30]

ls650, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.

Not even the first wave of CD based video games? Sega CD and Turbo Duo?

[BydoEmpire]

I voted no - I put it in the same generation as the PS2, Xbox and GC so to me it's only one generation back. Further, many the games are the same style as modern games (FPSs, JRPGs, modern-style racing & sports games, etc).

[Ransom]

Nah, it's just 'old' at this point.

[Wickeycolumbus]

For me, retro starts in the 16 bit era. It's just hard for me to think of '3D' systems as classic or retro

Edited by Wickeycolumbus, Sat Feb 4, 2012 2:36 PM.

[BassGuitari]

Technically and academically, I suppose it is, since it has been outdated and obviated by later hardware. My gut tells me "no," however.

"Retro" means different things to different people. I feel what I guess you could call nostalgia for the 32-bit days/late '90s, but I'm not sure I'm quite ready to call things like the Dreamcast or Playstation or N64 or Saturn "retro" yet. Maybe it's because those are the "newest" systems I'm interested in, or maybe I don't want to admit to myself that I'm getting older. Or maybe it's because I don't feel that modern platforms really offer any fundamental advancements in how games are played or the hardware that plays them (Wiimote and Kinect notwithstanding); it's just bigger, faster, flashier, and prettier versions of things the Dreamcast did a decade ago. Sure, you could argue that that's what any system does in relation to its predecessors, but I won't argue semantics here. Whatever the reason, I say give it a few years yet.

I guess, to me, systems like Dreamcast will become retro when kids start posting shit like "ZOMG it use optical media FAIL lolololol WUT WHERE THEY THINKING??????????" on IGN messageboards.

I wonder, though, if the term "retrogaming" is itself becoming sort of, well, retro. It seems to me that these days, especially since the rise of the internet and emulators and compliation packages from the likes of Activision and Atari, that "retro" games have become absorbed into a larger gaming collective. The distinction between "retro" gaming and "modern" gaming isn't as relevant anymore, since any modern platform can run old games. There's only "Gaming," and retro games are just parts of it. They can continue to offer new (by way of their being so old) gameplay experiences to new generations who didn't grow up with them.

[DemonoidTentacle]

I LOVE the DC, but I don;t consider it retro, hell I don't consider the N64 retro. A lot of my friends would though.

[Mirage]

Depends on how old the person is you're asking I suppose. I'm voting no. But, full disclosure, the DC is the newest system I own that plays games (not counting my modern computers, which I rarely game on).

[Megaman Legends]

In my opinion everything before the Gamecube is retro.

[Austin]

It is and it isn't (wish there was a middle option!). On one hand, a good portion of its library is focused heavily on quick pick-up-and-play, arcade-style gaming, something you don't see much with consoles these days outside of the download-only area shops. On the other hand, most of the games utilize 3D polygonal visuals, some of which still hold up pretty well today. It's tough to dub something "retro" when it doesn't look like it's that old.

[AtariLeaf]

ls650, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.
Maybe in another ten years or so... maybe.

Thats basically my take too. Its not a logical argument per se, but I also have a hard time looking at anything with a CD/DVD drive as retro. Too me retro is synonymous with carts.

[AtariLeaf]

mbd30, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:39 PM, said:

ls650, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.

Not even the first wave of CD based video games? Sega CD and Turbo Duo?

Good point but in my warped mind I could see a genesis and SegaCD side by side and think the first is retro and second isn't. Doesn't make any sense, I realize

Edited by AtariLeaf, Sun Feb 5, 2012 4:00 PM.

[Seob]

AtariLeaf, on Sun Feb 5, 2012 3:57 PM, said:

ls650, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.
Maybe in another ten years or so... maybe.

Thats basically my take too. Its not a logical argument per se, but I also have a hard time looking at anything with a CD/DVD drive as retro. Too me retro is synonymous with carts.

So the 3ds is retro also?

[thegoldenband]

As others have more or less said, the Dreamcast could be seen as the end of the preceding era, or the beginning of the next one. In a weird way the Dreamcast seems more "retro" to me than the N64.

Of course, the Dreamcast is also the most recent major console included in our gameplay tracker. (Technically a couple handhelds like the NGPC came later and make the cutoff too, but the point stands, I think.)

[AtariLeaf]

Seob, on Sun Feb 5, 2012 4:31 PM, said:

AtariLeaf, on Sun Feb 5, 2012 3:57 PM, said:

ls650, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.
Maybe in another ten years or so... maybe.

Thats basically my take too. Its not a logical argument per se, but I also have a hard time looking at anything with a CD/DVD drive as retro. Too me retro is synonymous with carts.

So the 3ds is retro also?

Retro is always carts but carts are not always retro.

[bomberpunk]

i think the Saturn is where the line in the sand is drawn, and she sits on both sides. so the Dreamcast, no.

[ὁ Ῥωμαῖος Νέος]

AtariLeaf, on Sun Feb 5, 2012 4:51 PM, said:

Seob, on Sun Feb 5, 2012 4:31 PM, said:

AtariLeaf, on Sun Feb 5, 2012 3:57 PM, said:

ls650, on Sat Feb 4, 2012 12:36 PM, said:

I don't consider anything with an optical disc to be retro.
Maybe in another ten years or so... maybe.

Thats basically my take too. Its not a logical argument per se, but I also have a hard time looking at anything with a CD/DVD drive as retro. Too me retro is synonymous with carts.

So the 3ds is retro also?

Retro is always carts but carts are not always retro.

So the SegaCD is not retro? You haven't thought this all the way out, have you?

[Tenorman]

I voted yes, which is odd because I don't even consider the PS1 or N64 to be retro.

The fact that Sega has been out of the hardware business for 10 years now though makes me view them differently than Sony or Nintendo. I think the general public isn't really even aware of any Sega systems besides the Genesis simply because the company doesn't have the presence in the marketplace that it used to.

[ntavio]

I voted no for the reason that it is the same generation as PS2, GameCube, and Xbox (and I don't consider those retro).

[atari181]

It is a last gen console, hardly considered retro