What is 'Old School' to you?

#1 I think it's the way that the games are created. Writing a game in assembly is not an easy feat. I think following that would be the gameplay, and then the graphics.

Different people consider different games "oldschool". Some people may consider E.T. for atari old school, others may see sonic the hedgehog oldschool.

I'm sure with newly developed tech in 10 years, mmorpg players will refer to EQ and WoW as oldschool. "Wow, remember when we had to type to talk and click to swing a sword, how could people play like that?" "Yeah and headsets, I mean, computers still sat on tables and had wires."

#2 This is a good question, I was thinking about this the other day..

If you make a 2D sideways scrolling shooter, even if it's the most fun ever, it'll be old school because of hte gameplay and maybe the graphics.

Diablo is old school hack & slash rpg, isometric 3D graphics, simple click & go AI..

Sonic the Hedgehog, Old School, but fun.

One day, HalfLife2 will be an Old School Physics based puzzle shooter. (but you won't be able to play it 'cos of steam)

I think anything which uses superceded techniques to achieve the gameplay or graphics may be old school... as soon as the advanced techniques become mainstream.

Any 3D adventure like Myst using pre-rendered images would be old school as you can make just as nice imagary using real time graphics now...

Abe's Oddesey is Old school but it was once revolutionary...
Doom is Old School but again, once top dog. 2.5D world, 2D sprites and gameplay, Buttons, Lifts and Keys.
Command & Conquor, Old School RTS. Topdown, 2D.. overtaken with 3D.

Being Old School isn't a bad thing though, They have a sense of innocence and nostalgia not found in modern games.

my 2p and without too much thought.

#3 When you add the song "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock as the background music.

#4 Hmm all good points... (even the song "it takes two")

Ok I am talking about the old school RPGs like "Bards Tale" "Ultima" "Dungeon Master" "Might and Magic 1-5" "Dark Heart of Uukrul" "The Magic Candle" etc

I still load these RPGs up from time to time and they are still a blast. I started a list why I think they are ( I dont want to post it since it might 'taint' people opinions and I am looking for fresh input.)

So I apologize for the bad language use.

#5 I used to have to hide my pong console because my grandmother said "it would blow up the tv".
So she worked at hospital at night. Soon as she split we busted out the pong.

About as old school as you can get.

#6 That's Old School..

Is Tetris Old School? The game play has never changed or been bettered... Or has the Genre moved on?

#7 Proving Grounds...mmm, those were the days.

I guess Old School really depends on how old you are and when you got your start. My first gaming experience was the original Adventure back in the late 70s. Scott Adams' adventures were awesome. Then came the Apple ][, coin-op games like Space Invaders, and some real old school stuff.

To me, Old School is about fun game play using presentation tools that were rudimentary. Text, simple graphics. Old School games were great because they were fun, not because they looked great. They looked about as great as they could for the time, but the games were fun. Imagination was a key ingredient.

Another important point is that it was a time when those games were relatively new, so there was a real novelty about them. Hard to recapture that.

I played the free game "Doukutsu Monogatari" (Cave Story) a little while ago and it rocked. Very Old School, really well done. I encourage everyone to check it out (just Google it).

#8 .....That's a really good question, I'd say anything at least further than ten years back(maybe more), i don't hear people referring to anything more recent than the last ten years as being old school. Depending on ur perspective, this could be 15, 20 or 30 years(if u've been playing since the original pong maybe...?)

@ Jason, No, i don't think tetris can ever be bettered, simply because it's so simple and addictive, and is still making money to this day.

#9 For me anything prior to 1996 voodoo graphics and Apocalypse 3D cards is pretty much old school. But for me it isn't gameplay that makes something old school but the look and feel of the game. The actual gameplay and ideas themselves are as valid today as they were then.

#10 "I think anything which uses superceded techniques to achieve the gameplay or graphics may be old school... as soon as the advanced techniques become mainstream."

im in agreement with this assessment here. the older beat'em ups like final fight and double dragon have had their gameplay replaced with games with 3d graphics which use z-targeting and rotatable camera viewpoints. if someone developed a game similar to final fight using updated graphics with the same kind of gameplay, I'd still consider it old school though. capcom's 2d fighters and snk's metal slug games are examples of games id consider old school even though theyre relatively new.

#11 I think Old school is anything that has had it's gameplay/graphics cycled out to new technology, then it goes through a phase where it's just an "old game" like say.. black and white. Then after people remember why it was fun, even though there are sequels and such out, then I would consider it old school.

Star Craft is one of those games either just hitting old school, or on it's way

#12 Old School for ME is prior to the prior to the Windows 95 / Playstation Revolution of 1995.

Which is kinda sad, because I remember those "newfangled" games like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.

Of course, I also remember when Pac-Man was hot, and Ultima IV was a revolutionary new RPG.

#13 Yeah, I remember when I lived in Egypt and went on holiday in Skiathos. Was totaly blown away by the space invaders coffee table in the lobby. Think that must have been the first electonic game I ever saw thanks to being cooped up in Egypt in the late 70's.