Is The 32-Bit Gaming Era The New Retro?

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Pixel' column discussing whether the early days of the PlayStation and Saturn are a newer, but nevertheless interesting stage of 'retro'. The author points out: "Moving to 3D brought a lot of challenges along with it, not the least of which involved graphics. The 32-bit generation differs greatly from its 16-bit predecessor in that a lot of 32-bit games' visuals have not aged well." But he nevertheless highlights the fact "there were so many vibrantly original games released for these machines, some obscure, some blockbusters... Motor Toon Grand Prix brought cartoonish designs to 3D life. King's Field put you in a truly non-linear, 3D dungeon. WipeOut married futuristic racing with high-caliber visual design. Panzer Dragoon gave flight to every kid's 'Neverending Story' fantasies." What were your favorite titles from the early days of 32-bit?

Nights!

[WiKKeSH]

Nights into Dreams!
Single-handedly sold the saturn to me.

Not just yet....

[Chester K]

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Pixel' column discussing whether the early days of the PlayStation and Saturn are a newer, but nevertheless interesting stage of 'retro'.

They're not retro yet if people still actually use them. I know people that still play games on their original PlayStation.

Give them another 10 years or so. Nothing picks up speed as being "retro" until the people who grew up with it get to the point where they have the capability of enabling their want for nostalgia.

Ground Breakers

[miyako]

Mario 64...ok so the Nintendo 64 wasn't 32bit, but is from the same era, and I think it has some of my favorite classics.
Mario 64 is still one of my favorite games of all time, and the graphics are still quite good, if primitive. This was really a revolutionary game, and I can't really even think of a game on any non-nintendo system even today that has quite re-created the formula.
Tekken - I've always prefered the tekken series over the virtua fighter series. These two titles though really brought the fighting game genre into it's own with 3D fighters.
Blood Omen - Legacy of Kain. While I did not care for the sequals, this remains one of my favorite games of all time. With lots of great voice acting this macabre adventure surpasses even a number of the zelda games in my mind.
Resident Evil - this game is like one of those 60's horror flicks, it was scarry at the time, but even now it's a lot of fun because while the graphics "special effects" are dated, it's great fun to go back and laugh at.
Final Fantasy VII - One of my all time favorite Final Fantasy games, the rich detailed pre-rendered backgrounds still look good today, and the storyline and gameplay still offer plenty of fun. I would love to see a sequal to this game, rather than that dreadful FF:X2.

New Retro

[jakek101]

People called 16-bit durring the late 32-bit era, I don't see why 32-bit wouldn't be retro now. It certainly will be when the next set of consoles come along.

Virtual Boy!

[Servo5678]

All this talk of 32-bit 3D games and not a single mention of Nintendo's Virtual Boy. Despite it's poor showing in the marketplace, it does have several classic games such as Wario Land and Jack Bros. And the system and its games are popular in eBay circles. Nintendo DS? I say bring on the Virtual Boy Advance!

Not Quite Long Enough

[Mupp252]

Am I the only person that belives that the 32-bit era never really got a chance to get off of the ground?

I mean the "16-bit era" (I use that term loosely since one could endlessly argue specs of the systems at the time.) had a solid amount of time to create very unique gameplay and push it boundaries wheras the 32-bit boom was merely a blink of an eye. The platforms were introduced, games were made and then new consoles took over.

In a way that whole time frame has kinda scarred me when trying to classify new classics on the 3 leading platforms. It's almost like game manufacturers are no longer concerned with pushing the limits of their hardware. They only feel threatened when a bigger and badder system is introduced.

Re:Not Quite Long Enough

[Incoherent07]

I think the generations themselves are blurring together, thanks to backwards compatibility. Console makers just want to have the shiniest widget on the market for penis-envy reasons... not just theirs, their customers'.

Re:Not just yet....

[Mekabyte]

That logic doesn't make sense. The GBA was emulated before it was released. PS1 and N64 were emulated (and yes, playable on then-current PCs) before PS2 and GC came out.