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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Microsoft is now doing the Nintendo thing: Xbox Retro Classics.

And thank God!

One of my big fears when Xbox acquired Bethesda and Activision was that they were just going to sit on their extensive, decades-long catalogue of classics -- just let everything rot. But looking at what they're offering, I'm genuinely excited.

To me, the most attention-grabbing thing is access to Activision's 2600 games. I'm talking Demon Attack, Kaboom!, and Pitfall! And then you have games from Sierra too. And MechWarrior is definitely a standout too.

Looks like they're partnering with Antstream to provide this. That service has been around for quite a few years, and it's pretty stable.

If this is just the beginning, Xbox might finally become the retro powerhouse it was always capable of being.

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/play/games/retro-classics/9MTVJ3HHTQGS

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

I hope it's not like Nintendo where they say lots of the retro games are "free" but then say Oh, BTW you have to pay for an online subscription to play the "free" games.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Nintendo's verbage

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

AFAIK it's tied to GamePass.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah it’s a pure GamePass thing, you will never own these games, only rent the option to play them for a flat monthly rate that will keep increasing as the shareholder demands rise.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

I checked this out but its too retro for me. When I think of great Retro games, my mind goes to the SNES and '90s arcade games. These Atari games are rough to play.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I’m quite different from you.

I grew up with an Atari 2600. Then I went Commodore, SEGA, PC, Mac, and PlayStation.

I never owned a Nintendo home console till the GameCube.

When I think “16-bit”, I think Genesis. I guess PC also counts, though EGA/VGA has a vastly different aesthetic.

this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
20 points (88.5% liked)

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