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Define "Old School"
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 7:04 pm
by Sudz1
Just wondering what everyone thought when someone uses the term "old school" as it relates to video games. Personally, I think old school is anything from the inception of video games and video game consoles up to either the NES or SNES era (16-bit). Anything from the 32-bit era forward is NOT old school IMHO. Then again I can see where someone who was maybe 7 or 8 when the 32-bit craze took off would consider anything from the N64 back to be old school simply because within the span of their lifetime it truly is. Thoughts?
Sudz
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 8:09 pm
by soporj1
I would tend to think that "old school" would mean games or a system that kids/teenagers are unfamiliar with (or would laugh at!).
If a kid/teenager would look at the game and say "wow, you're old", then that's old school!
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 8:40 pm
by Edward M
I consider any game released before Super Mario Bros(1985) to be old school. Super Mario Bros introduced a new style of gaming, that games still follow for the most part. Before that, most games were arcade style get the highest score (Space invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong) or long boring convoluted RPGs with little to no graphics (Ultima, Zork) There were a few games that broke the mold (Pitfall, Adventure) but none came close to matching the quality of Super Mario Bros or the awesomeness that followed. As a rule, I'm not a big fan of pre NES games. Maybe because I was born in 1986, so I have no nostalgia to them, but I just don't think they are as high of quality. I cant play a pac man or space invader game for much longer than 10 minutes without getting bored. I just don't understand the appeal of these games today. Anybody who claims that pre-Nes games are the best are just old cranky grampas. 
But maybe someone could change my mind if they could tell me some awesome games from that time period I might of missed.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 4th, 2007, 10:28 pm
by Steefrorth
No analog sticks! Simple concept, surprisingly, deep gameplay.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 5th, 2007, 2:30 am
by Paul Campbell
[QUOTE=Steefrorth]
No analog sticks! Simple concept, surprisingly, deep gameplay.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. The popularization of the analog stick seems like a good turning point in the evolution of gaming. Anything pre-analog stick.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 5th, 2007, 3:54 am
by bluemonkey1
It is completely dependant on the genre being discussed. Old school for real time strat titles is different to that for platformers. It's impossible to decide without looking at the context.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 5th, 2007, 5:30 am
by Alienblue
I agree with Ed M. that Old school, to me, is pre-Super Mario Bros/Nes. The games of the late 70's-early 80's defined what I personally call The Golden Age, simple point-driven maze and shooting games. Ah, bliss!
I can see where old school depends on your age, though. If you grew up with 16-bit then THAT would be classic/old school. It's the same thing as with music; for me early 80's is old school music, even though I RECALL stuff from the 70's and even heard stuff from the sixties, the 80' was "MY era"....that's what it breaks down to, YOUR era, whenerver YOU were young.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 5th, 2007, 8:59 am
by VideoGameCritic
I agree that the term "old school" is relative to some extent. I'm sure when Street Fighter 2 hit in 1991, a lot of gamers were referring to Pac-Man and Asteroids as old-school. You can never nail it down to a particular year.
But there are certain characteristics about older games that you really don't see anymore. For one thing - 2D graphics. Just about any game coming out today with 2D graphics will probably have an old-school quality. And then there's the concept of playing for score. I think Xbox Live has reintroduced this concept with its on-line arcade, with titles like Geometry Wars.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 5th, 2007, 1:20 pm
by Quill
Personally Old School is a totally relative term. Especially since it's a term that came out of music I believe. I could be wrong about that.
Anyways I think a better way to think about it is by the term 'classic' referring to the NES and all systems prior to it. I've heard the term Neo-classic thrown around to refer to the systems of the 16 bit era up until the PSone. Most of the writers and books I've come across seem to refer to those eras in those terms.
Old School is thrown around so much that's become a cliche.
Define "Old School"
Posted: March 5th, 2007, 1:47 pm
by JustLikeHeaven1
While it is relative, it still makes me shudder every time I hear someone refer to the Playstation 1 as old-school. I realize that many a young gamer grew up with the PS1 as their first system, but its not oldschool. That would be like me saying now that I like oldschool music from my childhood (Nirvana, Butthole Surfers, Silverchair). It just doesn't sound right and quite frankly it doesn't make sense.
I see the term applied to videogames much like it is in music. Games will continue to evolve, but people that truly appreciate it as a hobby will seek out the "old school" stuff, i.e. NES, SMS, Atari 2600, etc... In music you listen to whats popular when you grow up, only when you do fully appreciate it do you go back and find bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin and the likes.
To me old school is defined as the first of its kind. Its usually primative compared to what exists now, but its certainly not obsolete. That is what I think old school is.