Antstream Arcade is a retro gaming focused cloud gaming service that offers video games from several different gaming platforms. With Antstream Arcade’s library always changing and the platform having a mission of video game preservation, I want to go over some game platforms that it would be great to see Antstream add or extend support for.
What Platforms are Currently Supported by Antstream Arcade?
Antstream Aracde currently offers games from eighteen different legacy gaming platforms. We have listed all the current systems you can play by using Antstream Arcade:
- Arcade
- Atari 2600
- Atari 5200
- Atari 7800
- Atari Lynx
- Atari 8-Bit Computers
- Amiga
- Amstrad
- DOS
- C64
- Game Boy
- Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
- MSX
- MSX 2
- NES
- SNES
- PlayStation
- ZX Spectrum
As you can see, that is an extremely strong lineup of classic gaming platforms, but there are some notable exceptions which could potentially be added to Antstream Arcade in the future. Let’s go over what these systems are and how likely I think it is that they will appear on Antstream Arcade in the future.
Game Console Number One: Atari Jaguar
Right now the first console we are going to discuss is a bit of a controversial one, but it makes sense when you factor in Atari’s stake in Antstream Arcade and their ownership of a majority of the Jaguar’s library and emulator. The Atari Jaguar is known as one of the worst-selling game consoles of all time. It is also the first “64-bit” console which encouraged gamers to “do the math”. Now, as previously mentioned, Atari has a stake in Antstream – the storied gaming brand owns 10% of the service. Atari-owned developer Digital Eclipse also developed the perfect Atari Jaguar emulator which Antstream can presumably get the rights to.
As for the game library on the Atari Jaguar? It’s a mixed bag to say the least. From the library of games that I know could plausibly come to the Antstream Arcade platform, I would personally be interested in seeing Cybermorph, Atari Karts and Bubsy In Fractured Furry Tales. The Atari Jaguar is a game platform which doesn’t get much love; so, hopefully, Antstream will add support for this legendary platform sometime in the future.
Game Console Number Two: Intellivision:
The second console on our list is one from the dawn of video game consoles in the late 1970s, the Intellivision. This game console went up against the Atari 2600, and whilst it hasn’t got as notable a library as the Atari 2600, the system does still have quite an interesting game library. Now, we have to note the controller for Intellivision will make it hard for some games to be emulated on modern hardware, but it doesn’t make the games impossible to run on a platform like Antstream.
We have to take a look at two game publishers when we talk about Intellivision’s library. The first one is Intellivision which owns games like Star Strike, B-17 Bomber and Buzz Bombers. The second publisher is BBG Entertainment which already licenses the Boulder Dash games to Antstream and owns the Intellivision games Shark! Shark! and Astrosmash. Now the likelihood of any Intellivision games coming to Antstream Arcade remains unknown, especially since there is no pre-existing relationship between Intellivision and Antstream. We will have to wait and see what the future holds.
Game Console Number Three: PC Engine/TurboGrafix-16:
The third console we are going to go over is technically a pair of consoles. This console is the PC Engine, which was known as the TurboGrafix-16 In the United States. This system was released in the late 1980s to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the newly released Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A bulk of the games that were published on this system were from Konami and Hudson Soft (which was later absorbed into Konami).
The likelihood of these publishers who developed games for the PC Engine/TurboGrafix-16 releasing games on Antstream does seem unlikely, except for Telenet Japan who also published games as Renovation Products. Telenet’s assets were bought out by a game publisher called Edia who has since released several of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games on Antstream. So, the chance they’d release some of the TurboGrafix/PC Engine games remains likely.
Final Thoughts:
Antstream Arcade offers a large library of games from a range of different platforms. As time goes on, I hope we can see Antstream add support for the consoles listed in this article among others. With there being more and more interest in retro gaming, Antstream is primed to benefit when more developers and publishers realize they are sitting on a classic gaming gold mine. Antstream Arcade is already one of my preferred gaming platforms, and I hope in future they will continue to add support for more legacy game consoles.
What do you think? What retro game console do you want Antstream Arcade to add support for? Let us know on social media.
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