I know I don't fit in the mould of the typical Retrobike user, being by default gravity-oriented, but here's my take.
If I was on a budget, I'd probably go with whatever Trek or Specialized have as a good value offer, except the Demo which is a sketchy bike and mostly hype. These two are so big that they pretty much can't afford making crap bikes, since it would hurt their reputation and subsequently the rest of their offering too much. Remember the Pitch? That's exactly my favourite take on a bike: all performance, no nonsense, it was a better bike than the more expensive Enduro, because it had simple RockShox suspension, not overkill "dedicated" items made by Fox and that actually only suit the garbage can. How do I know? I have a '08 Enduro with that awful fork and two of my friends have Pitches. Guess what rides better! Other excellent bikes for the buck: Session 8 (you can upgrade it as you use it), Scratch, Slash, Fuel EX, SX Trail. Oh, and of course, I'd always buy alloy, never carbon. Because the bikes have the same geometry and ride as good as the expensive models, cost way less and I don't care about a few extra grams
If money was no object, I'd probably spoil myself with something from Intense, Santa Cruz, Yeti or Orange, even though the first ones don't appeal to me as much as they used to. You know, carbon, Far East production, the usual chatter...
You might notice there are no hardtails on this list and the reason is simple: I have enough quality hardtails already and I can ride them anytime. A good full-suspension is a different story though. Bear in mind that I don't dislike newer hardtails, I'm just not in the market for them.
Form follows function!
Cheers good people!
Mx