What makes a game retro?

To me any game that isn't this console generation or is over 5 years old but to some people Mario Galaxy isnt retro.

@bluedeathking: If a game /or/ system is older than fifteen years; it is highly considered 'retro'. Ten is usually just dubbed as 'outdated' or 'old'

An example using console systems-

PS4/ X1/ Switch- Current

PS3/ 360/ Wii- Outdated

PS2/ XB/ GC- Retro

*You shouldn't consider these terms bad anyway, dip into an old/ retro game every now and then and have a lot of fun. Some are timeless classics, likewise a big fan of Super Mario Galaxy myself.

Crappy graphics. ;)

Technically anything from last gen and back are retro, but I personally feel anything after the Dreamcast is modern.

I'd say like 10 years old. Games like Red Dead Redemption, Army of Two, Sonic Adventure from the beginning of last gen are definitely retro and don't hold up very well if they went for the realistic look

I thought "retro" was a term we applied to new products that imitate older things, especially in a stylistic sense. An old game is not inherently retro, though a new game styled in the fashion of an old game could be.

Hyper Light Drifter, for example, is retro; old Zelda games are not. Modern platforming games like Owlboy are retro; Mario is not. Arguably any modern game made in the "metroidvania" style is retro; the old-school Metroid games are not.

I think terms like "Classic", "old school", "old", or "outdated" are what you are talking about @bluedeathking

Game is retro if you love talking about how great it was, but hate actually playing it...

To me a retro game is something that contains the following ingredients: addictive replayability (Pacman) and simple but visually pleasing graphics.

That seems more like nostalgia, than retro.

People can enjoy retro games. Nostalgic however is past feels towards (_) and would indicate sentimentality, in a bias way.

I guess I'm not true retro gamer then. I enjoy talking of old games, and collecting them, but actually playing them is always bit painful...

Apart from classics such as OoT, SM64, MGS1, TR, which are still as good as ever.

hahaha yeah I guess that's a good definition

@henrythefifth: Games like Super CastleVania IV, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario Bros 3 etc are older than I am, and I find them very fun.

So to each his or her own.

I consider games that were made in the 2D and early 3D era to be TRUE retro games even though anything before current gen could be technically classified as retro...

Same

This comment pretty much sums your question almost perfectly. My personally, I love retro games!

Has to be about 15 years old, in my estimation.

I use the terms classic and old for games before the current ones. New games in their style are supposed to be retro. Case in point: Sonic Mania is a new game in the vein of the classics and retro. When it comes to 3D, the lines blur between the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox generation and the following one, but I don't consider the former to be old due to its classics, as opposed to the PS1 and Saturn generation. Indie development ought to recreate the aesthetic of 6th generation games one day... And its single player focus.