Wii and PS3 Are Now Officially Considered Retro Consoles by Japan’s Game Center CX

If being reminded that the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii launched 20 years ago wasn’t enough to make you feel old, Japan’s long-running gaming show Game Center CX is now officially treating both systems as retro consoles.

The show recently asked its viewers whether games released for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 should now qualify as retro titles, and the response was overwhelmingly in favor.

In the first poll, more than 14,000 people cast their votes, with 71% agreeing that Wii and PS3 games should be considered retro.

A second poll attracted almost 17,000 votes and produced an even stronger result, with 80% voting in favor of giving the two consoles retro status.

Wii and PS3 Are Already 20 Years Old

It might not feel like it, but both consoles originally arrived in 2006.

Sony launched the PlayStation 3 in Japan on November 11, 2006, while Nintendo released the Wii in Japan on December 2 of the same year. That means both systems are celebrating their 20th anniversaries in 2026.

For comparison, when many gamers were playing the PS3 and Wii during the late 2000s, consoles such as the original PlayStation and Super Nintendo were already commonly associated with retro gaming.

Now the same generational shift is happening again.

Game Center CX Can Now Feature Wii and PS3 Games

The result isn’t just a debate over terminology. Following the polls, Game Center CX will now consider games from the Wii and PlayStation 3 for its retro gaming episodes.

That opens up a massive new library of games for the show to explore.

The PS3 generation gave us games such as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance: Fall of Man and inFAMOUS, while the Wii became home to titles including Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Mario Kart Wii.

For players who grew up with these consoles, describing those games as “retro” might still sound strange. However, with two decades now separating us from the launch of the hardware, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to argue that they’re still modern systems.

What Actually Makes a Console Retro?

There has never been a universally accepted cutoff for when a gaming system becomes retro.

Some players base it on age, while others associate the term with particular generations of hardware or major technological shifts. The Wii and PS3 also complicate the debate because their games can still look and feel relatively modern compared with the dramatic visual differences between earlier console generations.

However, a 20-year benchmark makes a fairly strong case.

For younger gamers today, the Wii and PS3 occupy roughly the same historical position that consoles from the late 1980s and early 1990s did for players growing up during the 2000s.

And if that realization makes you feel ancient, you’re probably not alone.

With Game Center CX now opening the door to Wii and PS3 titles, the seventh generation of consoles has taken another significant step from relatively recent gaming history into the retro era.

Do you consider the PS3 and Wii retro consoles, or does 2006 still feel far too recent?

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