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Retro means new things that look like they’re old. As in “looking backwards” for inspiration. Like pixel art. Prime example: VVVVVV.

I’m mostly being pedantic, but it’s a pet peeve of mine that gamers (and only gamers) use “retro” wrong. Every other type of collector correctly uses the word “vintage” instead: Vintage clothing, furniture, coins, wine, etc. And they use “retro” to mean new things that look old, like retro clothing. Only gamers call vintage things “retro”.

In my experience when I point this out, gamers just get mad. I don’t understand that. But I’m kind of a language nerd who watches linguistics videos for fun.

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DarkMetatron@feddit.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
It gets even worse, I more and more see the use of NeoRetro when “Games that looks and feel old” are referenced. We already have words for that, but the gaming scene seems to be fixated on the word Retro alone.

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- ICastFist@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  … Neoretro? For fucks sake
  
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- CrayonRosary@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Oh, god. I had not heard that yet, but… Ugh…
  
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MoogMuskie@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
When people are calling modern things they know are modern “retro”, I think it’s just a simpler form of saying “retro-style”. I mean, when I’m talking about modern retro styled things that aren’t videogames, I personally say “retro-styled” myself; and I consider that to be what people also mean when they call modern things “retro”.

For games, I have to disagree that Retro can also mean games that look old. Again, I consider these to be “retro-styled” as well, not “Retro”, which to me indicates its actual age. VVVVVV isn’t retro, it’s retro-styled. Alwa’s Awakening is an NES style metroidvania game released in 2017, designed to feel exactly like something that could run on real NES hardware. Then in 2022, they actually did just that; they ported the game to real NES hardware and released it as the “8-Bit Edition”. To play it, you either need to flash it on a cart and play it on a real NES, or simply emulate it on modern hardware. In my opinion, this game isn’t retro at all; it’s “retro-styled”, even if you consider the fact it released on an actual retro console.

On a side-note, I personally think that “retro-styled” games should be allowed to be discussed here. But not all pixel-style games are trying to look retro, so the line between what games are and are not allowed to be discussed with modern pixel-style games, could get a bit blurry.

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- CrayonRosary@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  Define retro.
  
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  - MoogMuskie@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    You’re right. I looked into it some more and you seem to be right that Retro is indeed referring to the style, not the age. Forgive me for the long comment, my intention was only to express my subjective opinion about whether something is retro or retro-styled. I feel very weird calling old games that I thought of as retro “vintage” now, but I guess I have to; I’m going to have a lot of people thinking I’m calling it the wrong thing now. I guess this subreddit should more accurately be called Vintage Gaming, but I have no idea how it would be possible to shift the entire “retro” gaming community’s perspective on what makes a game retro or not.
    
    And by wrong I mean unlike everybody else in the world.
    
    Well, in Victoria, Australia, I think my incorrect understanding is very common, because age being the determining factor of what makes something retro is basically what I’ve been taught from childhood. Everyone I’ve ever met who I’ve had conversations about anything retro with, appear to think very similarly to me.
    
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    CrayonRosary@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    
    I feel very weird calling old games that I thought of as retro “vintage” now, but I guess I have to.
    
    Nah. Maybe? Even I call them retro games sometimes. My favorite gaming hardware YouTube channel is called “Retro Game Corps”. It what gamers call them. Depending on who I’m addressing, I use either.
    
    Like I said in my original comment, I was mostly being pedantic. Then again, if the entire gaming world shifted to calling them “vintage games”, I’d be thrilled. Someone recently started a thread here titled “What’s your favorite vintage game?” And I did a “Not bad Obama” face and nod.
    
    in Victoria, Australia…
    
    Well, yeah! I expect everything be upsidedown and backwards there! 😜
    
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