Retrogaming

Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the playing or collecting of older personal computer, console, and arcade video games. Usually based upon systems that are obsolete or discontinued, these games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations. Participants in the hobby are sometimes known as retrogamers in the United Kingdom, while the terms "classic gamers" or "old school gamers" are more prevalent in the United States. Similarly, the games are known as retrogames, classic games, or old school games. Retrogaming is often linked to indie gaming, which involves current games, though unconventionally published. Additionally, the term could apply to a newer game, but with features similar to those of older games, such as an "retro RPG" which features turn-based combat and an isometric camera perspective.

Games

Retro style

Retro style is style that is consciously derivative or imitative of trends, music, modes, fashions, or attitudes of the recent past, typically 15–50 years old.

Definition

The term rétro has been in use since the 1970s to describe on the one hand new artifacts that self-consciously refer to particular modes, motifs, techniques, and materials of the past. But on the other hand, some people (incorrectly) use the term to categorise styles that have been created in the past. Retro style refers to new things that display characteristics of the past. It is mostly the recent past that retro seeks to recapitulate, focusing on the products, fashions and artistic styles produced since the Industrial Revolution, of Modernity. The word "retro" derives from the Latin prefix retro, meaning backwards, or in past times.

In France, the word rétro, an abbreviation for rétrospectif gained cultural currency with reevaluations of Charles de Gaulle and France’s role in World War II. The French mode rétro of the 1970s reappraised in film and novels the conduct of French civilians during the Nazi occupation. The term rétro was soon applied to nostalgic French fashions that recalled the same period.

Sonic R

Sonic R (ソニックＲ, Sonikku Āru) is a racing video game developed by Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows. The game was released in North America on November 18, 1997, in Japan on December 4, Europe and Australia on December 11. It was re-released for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube as part of the Sonic Gems Collection.

Sonic R is the third Sonic racing game and the last of two Sonic games to be co-developed by Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team. In the game, players can take control of one of ten Sonic series characters and participate in races on various Sonic-themed race tracks. The game's story focuses the characters' efforts to win a series of races and prevent Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds and enslaving the world.

Sonic R was praised by critics for its visuals, but was also criticised for its poor game controls and short length. Sonic R is the only original Sonic game to be released on the Sega Saturn, due to Sonic 3D Blast being ported from the Genesis and Sonic Jam being a compilation of the first four Sonic games.