A longstanding problem in the gaming sphere has been preserving older games and keeping them available. A shocking number of titles have been lost to time, or are simply unplayable via a legal avenue for various reasons. And so, Antstream Arcade comes to Xbox at a good time.
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The easiest way to explain Antstream Arcade is that it’s Netflix but for retro games. The service gives you a portal to an eye-watering 1,300 retro and classic titles. You get access to titles from 80s, 90s, and 00s.
Antstream Arcade carries titles from some 19 different platforms, including; NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game boy, C64, Atari 2600. There’s even a selection of arcade cabinets.
Future Retro Additions
Antstream Arcade is also adding PlayStation 1 titles. 40 Winks and Loaded are touted as being the first to on the service with more on the way.
To review every game on the service would take more time than both you and I have. So I dipped my toe into a wide selection, like Metal Slug, Bubble Bobble, Operation Wolf, Space Invaders, Smash TV and Joust. Each runs extremely well and loads even faster. The games also controlled well on the Xbox gamepad.
It would be nice if you could remap the layout for a few titles. However, this is understandable given the volume of titles on show.
Beyond the mass of titles, Antstream have added in a few top level features that help give a modern touch to these classics. You can now save any of the games you want with each game having three slots.
Retro Community Experience
There is also cross-play between the Xbox and PC versions. And this really comes into its own with Antstream Arcade’s challenges. Every game features a few pre-set challenges for you to take on and test your skills against the community.
There are also weekly tournaments to take part in too, which depending on your placement you can bag yourself some gems. Gems are the in-service currency you use to buy into challenges and tournaments.
It’s worth noting is that these gems are just an in-game feature and are not based around microtransactions.
PC Engine
There are a few changes to the service from its PC counterpart. The first being there are two versions you can buy.
There is now a base level option for £29.99/€29.99 which will grant you access to everything for 12 months with an option to re-subscribe. The second option is a lifetime pass for £79.99/€79.99 and this this gives you everything forever.
It’s worth noting that there doesn’t seem to be a way to link your PC account with your Xbox one at the moment. You’ll need two different accounts from the looks of it.
Antstream Arcade is one hell of a service that gives you access to more games than you could ever want and that list is growing by the week. If you’re a player of a certain age there is an outstanding walk down nostalgia lane to be found here, whereas youngsters are in for a real history lesson.