What does "old school" mean to you?

The term Old School is used a lot by gamers for describing stuff. What does old school mean to you?

Old school to me is my NES/Genesis/SNES glory days. The early 90's was a good time to be a gamer.

OK smart one give credit where credit is due.

IGN Podcast Retrocity had this topic on their latest podcast.

But thank you for asking here anyway. To me old-school is before N64/PS1

For me oldschool means pong and the Atari 2600. Lord_Daemon

Really? What, were you in high school when the industry crapped all over itself in '83?

Everything pre-PlayStation 1 is old school. :)

[QUOTE="Lord_Daemon"]For me oldschool means pong and the Atari 2600. Video_Game_King

Really? What, were you in high school when the industry crapped all over itself in '83?

Rose-tinted glasses. Nostalgia can be deceptive.MetalGear_Ninty

Eh, not always. FF6 is as good as people thought back then, and I believe that games were better back then. The only difference today is that standards are lower.

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"]Rose-tinted glasses. Nostalgia can be deceptive.Video_Game_King

Eh, not always. FF6 is as good as people thought back then, and I believe that games were better back then. The only difference today is that standards are lower.

[QUOTE="Video_Game_King"]

[QUOTE="MetalGear_Ninty"]Rose-tinted glasses. Nostalgia can be deceptive.MetalGear_Ninty

Eh, not always. FF6 is as good as people thought back then, and I believe that games were better back then. The only difference today is that standards are lower.

But still, the good games of back then were better than the good games of today. Sure, they had their flaws (FF7 had an awful beginning, Panzer Dragoon was shallow, FF4's final dungeon was torture), but at least reviewers were willing to point them out.

Rose-tinted glasses. Nostalgia can be deceptive.MetalGear_Ninty

I define "old school" as a period of video game history before the 64-bit era (5th-generation). This period also includes the "modern" era of gaming (3rd generation) which the NES started.

I was born two years after the first generation of gaming started around 1973, but was too young to remember it. But I do have fond memories of the second-generation which ended with the video game crash of 1983, as it was when I started gaming on the Atari 2600 (previously known as the VCS) and 5200. I remembered the affects of the crash, such as the large number of cartridges appearing on bargain bins in places like Kay Bee Toys.

Call me old-fashioned, but I am quite uncomfortable with games focusing on blood and gore as I lived in a generation where such things were not possible because of technical limitations. It is why I strongly prefer Nintendo's first-party games as they usually fit with my gaming tastes.

[QUOTE="Lord_Daemon"]For me oldschool means pong and the Atari 2600. Video_Game_King

Really? What, were you in high school when the industry crapped all over itself in '83?

No I had already graduated from high school the year before.

For me oldschool means pong and the Atari 2600. Lord_Daemon

This is what comes to mind whenever I hear "old school".

Nostalgia and pink-goggles.foxhound_fox

When I think "old school", I think of a different overall mindset. I think of games that were short and hard, rather than long and easy. Games where gameplay came first, rather than 3rd (after hype and graphics). The old games themselves aren't necessarily better than newer ones, when compared side-by-side. Most genres peaked around 1997-2002, and I wouldn't call that era "old school". "Old school" to me means 16 bit era and before then. Game quality back then wasn't necessarily better than it is now, but at least the mindset was right.

Old school to me is any game from the 2d consoles, so basically nothing newer than the snes/genesis.

I also use old-school to describe newer games that play like older games, kinda like how Lost Odyssey essentially plays like a 15-year-old rpg from the snes era, or how Braid plays a lot like the old 2d mario games.

OK smart one give credit where credit is due.

IGN Podcast Retrocity had this topic on their latest podcast.

But thank you for asking here anyway. To me old-school is before N64/PS1

Nifty_Shark

[QUOTE="Lord_Daemon"]For me oldschool means pong and the Atari 2600. Video_Game_King

Really? What, were you in high school when the industry crapped all over itself in '83?

Yeppers. First computer was in '83, a kit built Timex-Sinclair, too.

Pong and Magnavox in '77 (Atari's graphics weren't as good).