Vintage or Classic

[Iron Chef Pontiff]

Is Atari Vintage or Classic? Also is Nintendo Vintage or Classic?

What is the difference between Vintage and Classic? How would you classify systems into those those groups or would you just use one of them?

[angrybrit]

anything about and above atari 2600 is classic. Below is vintage. That's how I see it. Pong wasn't that mainstream. Atari 2600 is mainstream.

[Nintendo Penguin]

8VintageGamer3 seems to have a problem with my website being called VintageGamer.net, scince it only deals with Nintendo.

 

I see it differently....

 

Websters defines vintage as: of old, recognized, and enduring interest or importance.

 

Now, Nintendo's gaming past would certainly meet that requirment... wether or not you like Nintendo.

[candiru]

And then there are those who would say it's not even classic.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...?t=9939&start=0

[Christophero Sly]

I thing the terms vintage and classic refer to different qualities of a collectable. Vintage implies length of existence, or age of a collectable. Classic implies enduring worth or significance. Therefore, I would consider the 2600 to be vintage and classic. While I consider the NES a classic, it is NOT vintage.

 

My two cents.

 

CS

[ubersaurus]

If you consider the colecovision vintage then the NES would be too...famicom was released in 83, so it is 20 year old technology. That has to count for something.

[sku_u]

IMHO anything you could still get at a store like Funcoland or Gamestop is not classic. NES is very much available at both these places.

[Chickybaby]

I buy atari stuff at electronics boutique, as well- one by me sells for just about every system made from commodore 64 to odyssey 2 and up.I bought my nomad there. (not saying all of it is inexpensive, but it's available)

[ubersaurus]

In that case after this summer NES, SNES and Genesis will be "classic" in your view.

 

Although if you ask me, they've been classic for a while. And I make no distinction between vintage and classic ;p

[Christophero Sly]

There has to be a distinction between vintage and classic. There are many things that are "instant classics" the moment they are released, just as there are many old things (vintage) that no one cares about that are not classics. That being said, I don't think in the world of home video consoles that being vintage should be a function of the consoles age. Rather, a console should be considered vintage based on whether it comes before or after a certain threshold. I think the year 1983 makes a good boundry for this distinction. Anything produced before Dec. 31, 1983 is vintage. Anything that came after is not. However, this dosen't mean that a vintage console is a classic, and a classic console doesn't have to be vintage. What makes a console a classic is a matter of opinion, and I don't think there can ever be agreement on that subject. IMO, If the famicon was released in Japan in 1983 then, perhaps, it is vintage in Japan. If the NES was released in the U.S. after 1983, then in the U.S., it is not vintage.

[Christophero Sly]

On more thought...

 

When will we be considering the 2600, INTV, O^2, etc., as antiques? In twenty years will the vintage threshold shift? Will what we now consider vintage, be considered antique?

[JerseyDevil]

Who cares? Play the games and have fun, thats what its all about.

[ubersaurus]

There has to be a distinction between vintage and classic.  There are many things that are "instant classics" the moment they are released, just as there are many old things (vintage) that no one cares about that are not classics.  That being said, I don't think in the world of home video consoles that being vintage should be a function of the consoles age. Rather, a console should be considered vintage based on whether it comes before or after a certain threshold.  I think the year 1983 makes a good boundry for this distinction.  Anything produced before Dec. 31, 1983 is vintage.  Anything that came after is not.  However, this dosen't mean that a vintage console is a classic, and a classic console doesn't have to be vintage.  What makes a console a classic is a matter of opinion, and I don't think there can ever be agreement on that subject.  IMO, If the famicon was released in Japan in 1983 then, perhaps, it is vintage in Japan.  If the NES was released in the U.S. after 1983, then in the U.S., it is not vintage.

 

So I hope your 1983 border moves up every year, else it's not gonna make sense in a few ;p

 

As far as electronics go though, I'd have to say that those old systems are already antiques. I'd say about 30 years would sound about right for an antique title.

[sku_u]

In that case after this summer NES, SNES and Genesis will be "classic" in your view.

 

The Funcoland by me still buys these games and sells games for all three of these systems and has no plans to stop in the near future, so...no.

 

Vintage, Classic, Retro, Antique and Collectable are all words used to describe the same thing: stuff that isn't new anymore. It doesn't really matter in the end who calls them what.

[christianscott]

those terms are lousy, neither really nails down what is being included in any agreeable way. how about we go with "golden age"?

 

seriously though, the best way to break it down is by generations or sometimes bits

 

1. pongs

2. channel f, astrocade, ody2, atari2600+5200, intv, coleco, studio 2, vectrex

3. NES, TG16, SMS, 7800

4. SNES, GEN, SegaCD, NeoGeo, 32x

5. 3do, PSX, SAT, N64

6. DC, PSX2, CUBE, Xbox

 

yeah that list looks about right

[MegaManFan]

those terms are lousy, neither really nails down what is being included in any agreeable way. how about we go with "golden age"?

 

seriously though, the best way to break it down is by generations or sometimes bits

 

1. pongs

2. channel f, astrocade, ody2, atari2600+5200, intv, coleco, studio 2, vectrex

3. NES, TG16, SMS, 7800

4. SNES, GEN, SegaCD, NeoGeo, 32x

5. 3do, PSX, SAT, N64

6. DC, PSX2, CUBE, Xbox

 

yeah that list looks about right

 

1-2 to me are retro. 3-4 to me are golden age. 5 is modern, 6 is new.

[Snider-man]

1. pongs  

2. channel f, astrocade, ody2, atari2600+5200, intv, coleco, studio 2, vectrex  

3. NES, TG16, SMS, 7800  

4. SNES, GEN, SegaCD, NeoGeo, 32x  

5. 3do, PSX, SAT, N64  

6. DC, PSX2, CUBE, Xbox

 

I think Chris nailed it pretty well. When you go by "bits," it breaks down nicely. I go by the following "classifications:"

 

1. Vintage

2. Classic

3. Neo-classic

4. NextGen or CD Era (I know the Sega CD is in the prior cat.)

5. Modern

[chrisbid]

i think there are three good classifications. i forget where i read them

 

Joystick era (everything up until 1984)

Joypad era (8 and 16 bit machines)

Analog era (Sega Saturn and beyond)

 

pretty easy to remember, i think terms like vintage, classic, retro etc. can all be interchanged