Being a retro gamer over the past few decades has been a wild ride. We’ve gone from an obscure sub-section of a hugely popular hobby to a brief mainstream cash-grab by major companies cashing in on nostalgia, to weathering a bundle of scandals and scams surrounding game grading and price gouging, to pretty much be back where we started as a niche sub-section of a multi-billion-pound industry. Well, after hanging on to one of my top hobbies for so long, it’s now time to see if Antstream Arcade can help to make my love of the game even stronger, or if it’ll be left by the wayside like so much of my childhood.
If you enjoy this review, feel free to check out some of our other retro-themed reviews, such as our look at Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered.
What Is Antstream Arcade?
If you’re not already familiar with Antstream Arcade, then you should know that it is a premium subscription service that allows users to stream retro games from a variety of different platforms all in one place. It also allows you to do this across various different devices, from your phone, tablet, or laptop, all the way up to your current-gen video game systems. You can buy annual, monthly, or even lifetime subscriptions, depending on your system and how long you plan on playing for.
The service is constantly updated with new games, including some pretty big licenses. Some of their most recent acquisitions include the license for a bunch of classic Disney games, such as Goof Troop and Aladdin, with the latter featuring both the SNES and Mega Drive versions on the platform. You also gain access to a bunch of extras, such as online tournaments, extra challenges, and an achievement/reward system where you can earn gems, which also act as your entry fee for the various tournaments.
To Game, or Not to Game?
The main thing I wanted to be able to do with Antstream Arcade was to play some classic games on the go without having to mess around with emulators or even without installing much, if I could help it. Antstream worked pretty well for this in the end. It’s pretty easy to launch the app and boot a game, meaning you can decide you want to play Hogs of War or something and have the game up and running in seconds. You can also use save states to keep your progress, so if you’re playing in tiny chunks, you can drop in and out with ease, which is a great format to play a lot of these types of games.
If you’ve ever enjoyed an arcade game but found that it didn’t hold your attention, then being able to pick it up, play a few levels, and then drop back out again is a boon. With save states, you can actually reach the end of some of these games that you wouldn’t otherwise have seen, and that could present many gamers with their first time seeing these ending screens. Admittedly, that’s mostly because the games are designed to be at least a little bit unfair to make you keep putting money in to play, but still, it’s nice to be able to play around that fact these days.
Challenged
One of the major attractions of Antstream, outside of the retro games in general, is the inclusion of Challenges and Tournament events. Each day, there are new challenges added to various games where you have to compete in a modified version of a classic game to achieve something specific. These can vary from no-lives runs, where you have to achieve as much as possible without dying, time attacks, boss rushes, and even some collect-a-thon challenges.
These challenges are a great way of keeping you coming back for more. I don’t think I’ve played Pac-Man beyond a single death before now, but with a “how much can you do on one life” challenge backing me up, I kept returning for a solid hour to try and beat my high score. Honestly, it’s the main draw of the service for me now, getting to try and get better at games I’ve either been playing for years or never managed to get that into before.
Tournament Arc
Another great feature of Antstream Arcade is the inclusion of tournaments. Every so often, a new tournament will start where you have to compete with loads of other players to be the best at a certain activity. Occasionally, this will be in a traditional multiplayer game, like Fatal Fury, and may have you facing off against other actual players, but often times it’s a simple challenge, like having to score points in Zool without dying.
Obviously, these tournaments will only appeal to certain players, and even then, it’ll have to be a game that you’re already into or at least a genre you play often. Personally, I found that there was a good variety of tournaments on offer, and if you don’t like one, you can always wait a day or so until a new one rolls around instead. While they didn’t have me as hooked as the general challenges did, these were still a fun time every so often.
Performance
The real killer with any streaming service comes down to performance, and Antstream Arcade is no exception. Luckily, it has pretty good performance across the board. On my phone or laptop, I rarely had major trouble with losing frames or lag, although I did have the ‘low signal’ warning light pop on for a few seconds here or there.
In terms of game performance, I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Most of the games that I had already tried on other platforms played as well, if not better, than they did when I played them elsewhere, though your own mileage may vary somewhat. There’s a chance that a hardcore graphics enthusiast will find a few minor niggles or issues here or there, but at least to a semi-casual retro gamer, these are great versions of these games.
A Future for Antstream?
Personally, I love what Antstream is doing for retro gaming. For a decent price, you can play some classic titles from gaming history wherever you like, and with save states and mapping features, you can be sure of having the best possible experience. That said, the future of this service will definitely depend on getting some more gaming licenses, more than anything else it can offer.
I’d love to see some more obscure titles, like Thunder Hoop, or even some sequels to the more popular games, like Puzzle Bobble, appear on the service soon, and personally, it would be great to get a section where you can actually view games by the platform they came on rather than having to search or use the pre-defined category selections in the search bar.
The Verdict
Antstream Arcade is a must-have service for any retro gamer who finds themselves wondering how best to fill those tiny moments of freedom throughout an average day. It provides a great pick-up-and-play feeling with plenty of games across loads of genres to choose from, with plenty more being added over time. While it is missing one or two features to make it truly excellent, such as better categories and search functions, Antstream Arcade provides an easy and quick retro gaming fix across a huge variety of platforms, all for a decent price to boot.
Developer: Antstream Ltd.
Publisher: Antstream Ltd.
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 6th September 2024
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Anstream Arcade was provided by the publisher.
