Summary
- The Xbox version of subscription service Antstream Arcade has added 27 games from Bandai Namco to its retro gaming catalog.
- Its latest expansion includes popular games like Galaga, Rally-X, Dig Dug, Splatterhouse, and three Pac-Man titles.
- Antstream Arcade currently offers over 1,300 retro games on Xbox consoles. It's priced at $29.99 annually or $79.99 for a lifetime membership.
Xbox subscription service Antstream Arcade has added 27 games from Bandai Namco to its retro gaming catalog. This development further extends Antstream Arcade's gigantic library of classic retro games on Microsoft's consoles.
Antstream Arcade is a streaming service for retro games offering both freemium and premium tiers, depending on the platform. It originally launched in 2019 following a successful Kickstarter campaign that saw it raise the equivalent of nearly $90,000 from 861 backers. Antstream Arcade has been available on Xbox since July 2023, when it first brought over 1,300 retro games to the last two generations of Microsoft's consoles.
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Less than a month after Antstream Arcade dropped 27 games, its library expanded to include another 27 titles. And while the outgoings from November were all Warner Bros. Properties, the December arrivals come from the Bandai Namco archives. Specifically, classics like Galaga, Rally-X, and Metro Cross can now be played via the service, as can the likes of Dig Dug and Splatterhouse. The latest Antstream Arcade expansion also includes three Pac-Man games: the 1980 original, Pac-Mania, and Super Pac-Man.
New Bandai Namco Games on Antstream Arcade in December 2023
- Baraduke
- Bosconian
- Dig Dug
- Dig Dug 2
- Dragon Spirit
- Galaga
- Galaga 88
- Gaplus
- Grobda
- Mappy
- Metro Cross
- Motos
- New Rally-X
- Pac and Pal
- Pac-Man
- Pac-Mania
- Phozon
- Rally-X
- Rolling Thunder
- Rompers
- Sky Kid
- Splatterhouse
- Super Pac-Man
- Super Xevious
- The Tower of Druaga
- Toy Pop
- Xevious
The arrival of Bandai Namco's catalog to Antstream Arcade was originally confirmed back when the service ended its partnership with Warner Bros. In November. On that occasion, the company revealed that around 70 more titles are also planned to be added to its streaming catalog in the near future, although it is currently unclear whether those arrivals will reach all of its target platforms. For example, this new wave of Bandai Namco content is exclusive to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, where Antstream Arcade is priced at $29.99 per year. Alternatively, Xbox console owners can also shell out $79.99 for a lifetime subscription.
Antstream Arcade is commemorating this expansion with a week's worth of global Bandai Namco Entertainment tournaments featuring the majority of the newly added titles. For reference, tournaments are a built-in feature of the platform that allows players to partake in casual eSports events combining retro games with online leaderboards. Enrolling in one such competition is as simple as clicking the large Tournament banner in the Xbox app.
The Xbox version of the service has already undergone several notable catalog expansions since its mid-2023 debut. Thanks to its never-ending content licensing efforts, Xbox gamers can nowadays even play a bunch of classic PS1 titles, on top of games for iconic systems such as the Atari 2600, Amiga, Game Boy, Genesis, MSX, and NES. Since Antstream Arcade has historically been adding new titles on a monthly basis, it likely won't be long before the streaming service announces yet another library expansion.