New Super Mario Bros. is almost 20 years old
At this point if a console doesn’t have an HDMI port, it’s retro.
I don’t know if it’ll happen but I’m gonna be tickled if games ever develop academicly studied eras like films do. Like the whole silent era, golden age, Hollywood Renaissance, new wave, etc thing.
“Oh, you enjoy Dig-Dug? A classic from the Namco golden era. Personally I’m more into the early British wave of ZX Spectrum titles. The Stamper brothers were autuers, ahead of their time. Have you played Atic Atac? The origins of the standard life bar.”
Actually now that I type this out this is just what white guy 45 minute video essays are
if you carry the love of video games in your heart, this has already happened.
there are people who absolutely love british speccy titles, and they are perverts.
i think the line between retro and contemporary for consoles is defined by internet connectivity tbh. the n64 only had internet with the n64dd (which didnt last long), whilst the ps2 and the dreamcast had internet support built in or via some adapter. so i think the line of “retro” stops at the n64/psx era but thats just me. the term will be subject to change anyways as time goes on so it doesnt really matter
I mean if you want to get into the weeds about that, the Atari 2600 and the Intellivsion both had dial-up modem cartridges in the early 80s. The GameLine and PlayCable. (Fun fact the company behind the GameLine eventually became America Online, yuck)
The NES and Genesis had connectivity as well, but only in Japan. The NES one is a little surreal because it had email and stock trading. The earliest console I can think of that had internet multiplayer capacity was probably the Sega Saturn in the mid 90s, or maybe the Apple Pippin? Whichever came first.
The real dividing line is between when games were arcade-dominant and when games were/are console-dominant, which also maps pretty well with when games started to be 3d. The only flaw in this conception is how to fit mobile gaming into this since mobile games are massively popular but are part of its own niche instead of replacing console games.
The DS was so fucking good. Probably the best console of all time, not even joking
