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The way that Nirvana is classic is that you could say that the Nevermind album is a classic alt rock album. But Nirvana will always be Alternative Rock. Classic Rock is not rock music that is old enough to be "classic," it's a period of time that is mostly the 70's (with some 60s and 80s overlap maybe). If I put on a streaming station called Classic Rock, I expect to hear The Eagle, 38 Special, etc. If I put on an Alternative Rock station, I expect to hear Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc.

Should the same logic be applied to video games? Is it fair to call anything 10+ years old, or two generations back, retro? The Gamecube is retro gaming? The 360 will soon be retro?

Ziggy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2024 8:59 am The way that Nirvana is classic is that you could say that the Nevermind album is a classic alt rock album. But Nirvana will always be Alternative Rock. Classic Rock is not rock music that is old enough to be "classic," it's a period of time that is mostly the 70's (with some 60s and 80s overlap maybe). If I put on a streaming station called Classic Rock, I expect to hear The Eagle, 38 Special, etc. If I put on an Alternative Rock station, I expect to hear Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc.

Should the same logic be applied to video games? Is it fair to call anything 10+ years old, or two generations back, retro? The Gamecube is retro gaming? The 360 will soon be retro?

Well, surely you mean classic gaming, not retro.

For me, the Dreamcast can never be lumped with the 2600, the differences are just too insurmountable. The Saturn/PS1/N64 era is a transitional era, but everything afterwards is modern. You might be able to divide the modern era into more groupings, but gamewise, the Dreamcast and PS2 are just so much closer to e.g. the PS4 and Xbox 1 than they are to e.g. the NES or ColecoVision.

I say "retro" because that's what the world at large seems to call it. But yeah, I'm thinking along the same lines as you. Dreamcast, PS2, GCN and Xbox are definitely the first generation of modern consoles. Calling them "retro" just seems crazy. Surely the Dreamcast and 2600 aren't under the same era label.

Where did that 10+ year rule come from? As in, any console over 10 years old is now retro. I think it might have been adopted from the old pirating rule. When ROM sites and the like use to be OK hosting anything older than 10 years, thinking that would make it less likely to be sued (this was before old titles were available to purchase through digital services). People applied that logic to calling games/systems "retro." Clearly that doesn't work because the Xbox One was released 10 years ago.

And I think a lot of it has to do with when "retro gaming" started to blow up on the Web, the scene was filled with 80's and 90's kids. So anything that we gamed on preceding our adult lives we tend to think of as "retro." So I can see how, with that mindset, one might think of the Dreamcast as retro. But now that this group of people that were in their 20's and 30's are now moving into their 30's and 40's (or older!) these labels make even less sense. And now that PS3/360/Wii kids are now in their 20's, they will have to come up with their own label for their old games. LOL, I'm tired and rambling.

pierrot wrote: ↑Wed Nov 27, 2024 2:09 am Edit: Just a follow-up thought that I am also very aware of the fact that when the Xbox 360 released, the Sega Genesis (my first console) wasn't even as old as the 360 is today--. (16 years vs 19 years.) It doesn't help me feel less ancient, it just gives me the perspective to realize that 19 years ago a lot of people in their mid 30s would have looked at me side-eyed if I was talking about my nostalgia for the Genesis.

Yeah, that's crazy. Back in the mid 00's we started to call 80's and 90's gaming old, classic, retro, whatever. They weren't even that old. The PS3/360/Wii generation is older now than the 8 and 16-bit generations were back then.

I picked up Tengai Makyou II Manjimaru for the PC Engine recently, and while testing it out last night I was totally blown away by the production values on it. It's friggin' unreal, and I've been a little obsessed with it this afternoon. It's literally almost feature-length animation levels of production from an '8-bit' game that released in 1992. Looking up some of the background on it makes it make a little more sense, though. I've known for some time that it was one of Masuda Shouji's games; I've played Linda Cube before, which is absolutely excellent, and he was the writer/designer on that. He also did Ore-Shika, which I've been meaning to play for a long time.

Anyway, the opening narration for Manjimaru is done by Kishida Kyouko, who's a legendary actress; Then you have Joe Hisaishi doing the soundtrack (which sounds amazing). Not only was Masuda writing and directing, but fuggin' Hiroi Ouji (Sakura Taisen series director/producer) was the game designer! I'm pretty convinced at this moment that Manjimaru must be an absolutely incredible game. Apparently there's some stuff in it that left lifelong trauma on kids at the time, even!

I kind of want to play it immediately, but I was sort of in the middle of Dragon Quest VII, and I also have Tengai Makyou Ziria, which I'd kind of like to play first, even though it doesn't look anywhere near as impressive (but was partly directed by Hiroi Ouji, with music from Sakamoto Ryuichi).

Just going to finish off this post by leaving the commercial for the PS2/GC remake of Tengai Makyou II here (warning, it's extra weird):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_mfI6N4Qq4

Quick question for any fans of the GBA. I'm curious about purchasing a GBA system with a backlit screen mod. I've seen some also modded with a USB-C battery pack and others with the standard AA battery pack.

I was wondering if anyone has experience with using a GBA with the USB-C mod? Is it worth going that route? Or do you still prefer the standard AA batteries? Appreciate any input on this!

I have one modded with a battery pack although it is mini-usb I think, rather than usb-c. I think it was worth it, it’s way more convenient than batteries. I’m sure in the very long run there could be issues with the battery needing replaced, and to do the mod you have to cut away the AA battery connections so it is hard to reverse, but I figure by the time it’s an issue a newer and better option will likely be available anyway

Since I worry about such things, I would only do the mod if I myself was able to replace that battery once it no longer charges. I would also question the quality of the battery pack the modder is using. Was it the cheapest one from Ali Express that lies about it's mAh rating? For me, I don't mind using AA batteries. Including rechargeable ones.

Appreciate both your opinions, AJ and Ziggy. Good to hear both of your perspectives on it.

I'm not knowledgable when it comes to modding or too handy. Possibly having to work on it down the line is something to be considered.

A local game store has a backlit GBA with the standard AA battery pack, so I might lean towards going that route.

Are there reliable, compact AA charging circuits you could install in the unit so that you could use rechargeable AA batteries but have them charge in the unit itself?

I'm not about to crack open my AA/AAA charger to see, but I bet one could made be small enough. But I don't think there's a ready-made PCB like there is for the lithium batteries.

edit: I just Googled NiMH battery charging PCB and it looks like it does exist. Just for whatever reason the lithium batteries seem to be more popular with modders. My guess is because of mAh and current output, without looking up the specs to compare.

But if using NiMH AA batteries, why bother modding the GBA? It's only slightly less convenient to pull the AA's out and put them in a wall charger.