Retrogaming, also known as
classic gaming and
old-school gaming, is the
hobbyA hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation in one's spare time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
of playing and collecting older computer, video, and
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
s. These games are played either on the original
hardwareHardware is a general term for the physical artifacts of a technology. It may also mean the physical components of a computer system, in the form of computer hardware....
, on modern hardware via
emulationAn emulator in computer sciences duplicates the functions of one system using a different system, so that the second system behaves like the first system...
, or on modern hardware via
portsIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
or compilations. Participants in the hobby are sometimes known as
retro gamers in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, while the terms
classic gamers, or
old schoolIn slang, old school can refer to anything that is from an earlier era and looked upon with high regard or respect, including music, clothing and language.More formally, Old school may refer to:In music:...
gamers are more prevalent in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Retrogaming, also known as
classic gaming and
old-school gaming, is the
hobbyA hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation in one's spare time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...
of playing and collecting older computer, video, and
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
s. These games are played either on the original
hardwareHardware is a general term for the physical artifacts of a technology. It may also mean the physical components of a computer system, in the form of computer hardware....
, on modern hardware via
emulationAn emulator in computer sciences duplicates the functions of one system using a different system, so that the second system behaves like the first system...
, or on modern hardware via
portsIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
or compilations. Participants in the hobby are sometimes known as
retro gamers in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, while the terms
classic gamers, or
old schoolIn slang, old school can refer to anything that is from an earlier era and looked upon with high regard or respect, including music, clothing and language.More formally, Old school may refer to:In music:...
gamers are more prevalent in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Similarly, the games are known as
retrogames,
classic games, or
old school games. Retrogaming is often linked to, although not the same as, indie gaming, the hobby of playing games that are not published by any conventional publisher.
Games
Among the most popular retro games are those produced around the 1980s, and include games for the
Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
,
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January, 1982. Volume production started sometime in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595...
,
MSXMSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi. Despite Microsoft's involvement, MSX-based machines were seldom seen in the...
, ZX81.
ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82, the machine was launched as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the...
,
Amstrad CPCThe Amstrad CPC is a series of 8 bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-'80s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself, especially in the UK and the rest of...
, and the
Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , China, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines, it was released as the , commonly abbreviated as the...
. Arcade games are also popular, especially early games by
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
,
Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
,
AtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Infogrames Entertainment SA ....
, and Williams Electronics. Games in this era were frequently attributed to individual programmers, and many retro gamers seek out games by particular developers, such as
Eugene JarvisEugene Peyton Jarvis is a game designer and programmer, producing pinball machines for Atari and video games for Williams Electronics. Most notable amongst his works are the seminal arcade video games Defender and Robotron: 2084 in the early 1980s, and the Cruis'n series of driving games for...
,
Dave TheurerDavid Theurer is a game designer. In 1980, he created Missile Command, considered one of the great classic video games from the Golden age of arcade games. Another pioneering achievement, also in 1980, was Tempest. Theurer also designed I, Robot, the first commercial video game with filled 3-D...
,
Jeff MinterJeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...
, Tony Crowther, and
Andrew BraybrookAndrew Braybrook is a programmer who helped pioneer computer games. He created games such as Paradroid, Gribbly's Day Out, Uridium and Morpheus. He also programmed the Commodore Amiga conversion of the arcade game Rainbow Islands....
. Some games are played on the original hardware; others are played through
emulationAn emulator in computer sciences duplicates the functions of one system using a different system, so that the second system behaves like the first system...
, and in some cases entirely new versions of the games are written (so-called "retro remakes").
As well as playing games, a subculture of retrogaming has grown up around the music in retro games. Since older hardware did not have the facility to play music CDs or sampled music, the music in many retro games had to be synthesised on the fly by the game hardware; writing music for these platforms therefore became a hybrid of traditional music composition and programming. One of the most popular genres is
SIDThe MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID was the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
music, music written to be synthesised by the
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January, 1982. Volume production started sometime in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595...
. As with programming, attribution to individual composers is commonplace and more easily assigned; popular composers include
Rob HubbardRob Hubbard is a music composer best known for his composition of computer game theme music, especially for microcomputers of the 1980s such as the Commodore 64...
,
Martin GalwayMartin Galway is one of the best known composers of music for the Commodore 64 sound chip, the SID soundchip, and for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...
and
Chris HülsbeckChris Hülsbeck is a game music composer from Germany.He has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Star Wars: Rebel Strike for Nintendo GameCube. Many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana Sisters...
.
Various compilations of retro games have been published for modern
video game consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s in recent years. Examples include compilations of retro games by
Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
,
TaitoThe is a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix.Taito Trading Company was established by a Russian Jewish businessman named Michael Kogan. Taito also imports and distributes American coin-op video games in Japan, as well as their own...
,
MidwayMidway Games, Inc. is an American corporation in bankruptcy as of 2009. Founded as an amusement game manufacturer, it was a video game publisher and developer from 1973 to 2009. Midway published and developed titles such as Mortal Kombat, Ms...
,
Capcomis a leading international developer and publisher of video games headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1979 as Japan Capsule Computers, a company devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines...
, and
Namco, is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. The company is most famous for creating Pac-Man, the best-selling arcade game in history...
. Retrogame compilations for the
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
and
XboxThe Xbox is a video game console produced by Microsoft. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Nintendo's GameCube...
usually feature 10 to 30 games each. In addition, "plug-and-play" units (simple systems that look like a
game controllerA game controller is an input device used to control a video game. A controller is typically connected to a video game console or a personal computer. A game controller can be a keyboard, mouse, gamepad, joystick, paddle, or any other device designed for gaming that can receive input...
and feature built-in games) released in North America have featured retrogames by
Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts is an international developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible...
, Sega,
AtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Infogrames Entertainment SA ....
, and several other game publishers. Moreover, illegal (unlicensed) "plug-and-play" systems featuring retro games for the
NESNes may refer to:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...
have made their way to shops all over the world from
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
in recent years. The British based company
Alten8Alten8 Limited is a British video game developer and publisher, with offices in Luton. It produces both licensed retro games and current format video games...
has in the recent past licensed nearly 600 retro games (such as the first ever isometric 3D game Ant Attack, and also what are recognized as the first ever commercial games by Scott Adams), and is now starting to release these on formats such as
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
,
GBAThe Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color...
, and
WiiThe is a home video game console released by Nintendo. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of both...
, with legally licensed emulators for machines such as the Commodore 64 and Amiga computers. Console makers now allow players to purchase retro games though online services such as the
Virtual ConsoleA virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
,
Xbox Live ArcadeXbox Live Arcade is a term used to refer to a type of video game available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for Xbox 360...
and the
PlayStation StoreThe PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
. The Sega Mega Drive Handheld which contains 20 Sega Mega Drive games, was also recently released.
Modern retro
In the wake of increasing nostalgia and the success of retro-compilations in the sixth and seventh generations of consoles, retrogaming has become a motif in modern games, as well. Modern Retro games will impose limitations on color palette, resolution, and memory well below the actual limits of the hardware in order to mimic the look of older hardware. These may be based on a general concept of retro, as with
Cave Story, or an attempt to imitate a specific piece of hardware (as with
La Mulana and its
MSXMSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi. Despite Microsoft's involvement, MSX-based machines were seldom seen in the...
color palette).
Modern retrogaming began to gain traction thanks in part to the independent gaming scene, where the short development time was attractive and commercial viability was not a concern. More recently major publishers have started to embrace modern retro with releases like
Mega Man 9is a platform game developed by Capcom and Inti Creates. It is the ninth game in the original Mega Man series, and the first series release since the 1997 game Mega Man 8. The game was published by Capcom in 2008 on the PlayStation Network, WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade. Mega Man 9 continues Mega...
(an attempt to ape NES hardware),
Retro Game Challengeis a Nintendo DS game developed by indieszero and published by Namco Bandai Games based on the television series Retro Game Master. Shinya Arino himself gave much input into the game creation process. The game was released on 15 November 2007 in Japan, and in North America from Xseed Games on 10...
(a compilation of new games on faux-NES hardware, and Sega's
Fantasy Zone II remake, which actually used emulated System 16 hardware running on
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
to create a 16-bit reimagining of the 8-bit original.
Modern retro may sometimes be more broadly applied to games that feature retro-style designs with more modern graphics, like
Pac-Man: Championship Edition or
Space Invaders ExtremeSpace Invaders Extreme is a re-vamped incarnation of the classic arcade game Space Invaders. The DS and PSP versions were released to mark the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders which saw its original arcade release in...
.
See also
- Retrocomputing
Retrocomputing is the use of early computer hardware and software today. Retrocomputing is usually classed as a hobby and recreation rather than a practical application of technology; enthusiasts often collect rare and valuable hardware and software for nostalgia purposes...
- Abandonware
Abandonware is a term used to describe computer software that is no longer sold or supported, or whose copyright ownership may be unclear for various reasons...
- Atari Flashback
The Atari Flashback and Atari Flashback 2 are dedicated video game consoles marketed by Atari Inc. in 2004 and 2005. They are preprogrammed with classic Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 console games from the 1970s and 1980s built in, and do not use ROM cartridges.Both systems are powered by an AC adapter...
(plug-and-play system)
- C64 Direct-to-TV
The C64 Direct-to-TV, called C64DTV for short, is a single-chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer, contained in a joystick with 30 built-in games. The design is similar to the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game...
- Capcom Classics Collection
Capcom Classics Collection is a compilation of arcade games released by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on September 27, 2005. It was developed by Digital Eclipse Software . A second volume, Capcom Classics Collection Vol...
(compilation)
- Console emulator
- History of video game consoles (third generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the third generation began in 1983 with the Japanese release of the Family Computer . Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was at the end of this generation that home consoles were first labeled by their "bits"...
- History of video game consoles (fourth generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation began on October 30, 1987 with the Japanese release of Nippon Electric Company's PC Engine...
- MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines;...
(arcade emulation)
- Midway Arcade Treasures
Midway Arcade Treasures is a collection of 24 arcade games developed by Digital Eclipse and released by Midway for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC....
(compilation)
- Namco Museum
Namco Museum refers to the series of video game compilations released by Namco for various 32-bit and above consoles, containing releases of their games from the 1980s...
(compilation)
- Power Player Super Joy III
The Power Player Super Joy III consoles are a line of unauthorized handheld Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom clones manufactured by NRTRADE that are sold in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia...
- Virtual Console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
External links