Xbox Is Now Home To Tons Of Retro Games
Retro gaming, especially home platforms such as Amiga, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum—you know, those platforms that really make you feel old—is still pretty much alive. In fact, one could say that retro gaming is booming, as more than 1,400 retro gaming titles made their way to the Xbox ecosystem, a courtesy of Antstream Arcade and Phil Spencer, which we’ll refer to as Xbox Retro Games.
To be entirely honest, retro games are amazing, and we strongly recommend them to modern gamers, or at least to those complaining about how modern games are difficult—really, have you tried the original 1986 The Legend of Zelda?
Well, to be honest, most retro games are fairly obscure, but as Kotaku pointed out, there are some heavy hitters on the Xbox Retro Games list, such as the original versions of Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, Rampage, Gauntlet, and many other prominent titles from an era characterized by over-the-top silhouettes, teased perms, saturated colors, and puffed shoulders.
[O]ne could say that retro gaming is booming, as more than 1,400 retro gaming titles made their way to the Xbox ecosystem, a courtesy of Antstream Arcade and Phil Spencer, which we’ll refer to as Xbox Retro Games.
The Xbox Retro Games are available via Antstream Arcade’s app, accessible on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, posing an exciting addition to already fantastic services such as Xbox Game Pass and less exciting and perhaps unfairly judged Xbox Game Pass Core.
However, while exciting for all the retro gamers out there, which admittedly have other, more affordable options than retro gaming on an Xbox Series X|S console, there are some drawbacks associated with the new retro game offering.
For example, not all 1,400 titles are great, as we said before. But then again, who is to say which title is great and which isn’t, as those things typically come down to user preference? Furthermore, those are retro games, and if you’re not explicitly a fan of retro gaming, Xbox Retro Games might not have plenty to offer.
While Antstream Arcade thought of adding achievement-type medals tied to many games on the platform, we can imagine a number of modern gamers getting frustrated at the fact that keymapping isn’t really possible.
[T]here are some heavy hitters on the Xbox Retro Games list, such as the original versions of Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, Rampage, Gauntlet, and many other prominent titles from an era characterized by over-the-top silhouettes, teased perms, saturated colors, and puffed shoulders.
The latter is a massive point of contention among retrogamers themselves, particularly among those who emulate games. While owning a collection of retro controllers belonging to different individual consoles and arcades is great, most of those can’t really connect and work on the PC, let alone an Xbox Series X|S console—at least not without an adapter, compared to which the Holy Grail (an actual relic) is more readily available.
That means that controller options are typically limited to third-party offerings, which are pricey and potentially incompatible with the Xbox Retro games.
To be entirely honest, retro games are amazing, and we strongly recommend them to modern gamers, or at least to those complaining about how modern games are difficult—really, have you tried the original 1986 The Legend of Zelda?
Perhaps the best approach to playing Xbox Retro Games is to connect the keyboard and mouse (mid- and high-range wireless options) to your Xbox console, which Microsoft made really straightforward in recent years. This can alleviate some of the pain points associated with key mapping. Well, at least now we understand why Microsoft banned emulators from their Xbox ecosystem, and despite its shortcomings, the Antstream Arcade and its vast offering are bound to make retro gamers happy.
