Out of seemingly nowhere, Antstream and Xbox launched a limited and reskinned version of Antstream Arcade in Game Pass yesterday (20 May 2025). The reworked frontend for Antstream’s retro game streaming service is officially called Game Pass Retro Classics and is designed primarily to showcase the often overlooked retro libraries of Xbox Studios’ many subsidiaries. The first drop includes 60 games, most of which come from Activision’s foundational Atari 2600 lineup along with a solid batch of Imagic Atari 2600 titles. Surprisingly, the collection also features a number of Sierra Online point-and-click adventures and older PC games like the strategy classic Caesar II, which may be a random but welcome addition.
Just a few days into its availability on Xbox Game Pass, initial leaderboard numbers for the challenges already dwarf Antstream’s previous attach rate, which had been seen as a success on its own. This looks like a clear win for both Xbox and Antstream.
Retro Currency
Just like the original Antstream platform, Game Pass Retro Classics includes challenges and tournaments where you can compete in exchange for on-platform currency. You earn points by winning challenges and climbing the leaderboards. Daily login bonuses also keep the coin flow steady. While the currency system on Antstream Arcade was a nudge toward its paid subscription tier, it feels a bit aimless here.
Virtual Keyboard Deadlock
If we focus on the PC DOS selection, there’s a generous offering of games that rely on both mouse and keyboard controls. For example, the original Police Quest is included — and no, it’s not even point-and-click. It uses Sierra’s early text parser system. Antstream’s emulation maps the mouse to the left thumbstick, and clicking the right stick brings up a virtual keyboard.
Unfortunately, this system completely breaks down in a scene with Chief Whipplestick. Entering his office before starting your shift and after the briefing triggers a speech box where he loudly reminds you to go do your duty. The only way to exit the room is by typing “open door” at the command line. The virtual keyboard moves too slowly to finish the input before it resets when a yet another speech box pops up. Clicking the dialogue box to close it also wipes your typed input, creating an endless loop of Whipplestick yelling and you failed to type a simple command. So far, I haven’t found a way out of it. As the Xbox is keyboard compatible, this shouldn’t have been an issue and other games would benefit immensely for keyboard support. A feature we would love Antstream to finally tackle on both portals.
Tiny Files, complicated delivery
Otherwise, controls feel snappy and responsive as long as your internet connection is up to par. Just like with Antstream Arcade, this new service uses game streaming. While server stability has improved dramatically since Antstream’s early Xbox days – which suffered from frame drops and dithering during peak hours – I still find the business logic behind streaming these games a bit strange. Why spin up a full peer-to-peer connection, handshake protocols and all, just to load a sub-kilobyte Atari 2600 ROM? It feels like overkill, and I still can’t quite figure out why it topped the priority list.
The Future of Retro on Xbox
With 60 games available at launch, both Xbox and Antstream have promised that the Retro Classics library will eventually exceed 100 titles. It feels like this initiative grew out of initial talks to bring the Activision Atari library to Antstream Arcade before pivoting into a Game Pass feature and once it was greenlit, it was ready to go. Though, now we have this platform dedicated to Xbox’s licensing umbrella, the potential is huge. Classic Blizzard titles, Activision’s PS1-era back catalog and of course Microsoft’s own library of PC games are all in the mix. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Midtown Madness resurface this way.
Xbox Game Pass Retro Classics is available now.
The complete list of game currently on Game Pass Retro Classics
| Game title | Platform |
|---|---|
| Activision prototype #1 | Atari 2600 |
| Atlantis | Atari 2600 |
| Atlantis II | Atari 2600 |
| Barnstorming | Atari 2600 |
| Baseball | Atari 2600 |
| Beamrider | Atari 2600 |
| Bloody Human Freeway | Atari 2600 |
| Boxing | Atari 2600 |
| Bridge | Atari 2600 |
| Caesar II | DOS |
| Checkers | Atari 2600 |
| Chopper Command | Atari 2600 |
| Commando | Atari 2600 |
| Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood | DOS |
| Cosmic Ark | Atari 2600 |
| Crackpots | Atari 2600 |
| Decathlon | Atari 2600 |
| Demon Attack | Atari 2600 |
| Dolphin | Atari 2600 |
| Dragster | Atari 2600 |
| Enduro | Atari 2600 |
| Fathom | Atari 2600 |
| Fire Fighter | Atari 2600 |
| Fishing Derby | Atari 2600 |
| Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist | DOS |
| Freeway | Atari 2600 |
| Frostbite | Atari 2600 |
| Grand Prix | Atari 2600 |
| H.E.R.O. | Atari 2600 |
| Kaboom! | Atari 2600 |
| Laser Blast | Atari 2600 |
| MechWarrior | SNES |
| MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat | PlayStation |
| Megamania | Atari 2600 |
| Pitfall II: Lost Caverns | Atari 2600 |
| Pitfall! | Atari 2600 |
| Police Quest 1 | Amiga |
| Pressure Cooker | Atari 2600 |
| Quest for Glory 1 | DOS |
| Riddles of the Sphinx | Atari 2600 |
| River Raid | Atari 2600 |
| River Raid II | Atari 2600 |
| Robot Tank | Atari 2600 |
| Sky Jinks | Atari 2600 |
| Space Quest 2 | Amiga |
| Space Quest 6 | DOS |
| Space Treat Deluxe | Atari 2600 |
| Spider Fighter | Atari 2600 |
| Star Voyager | Atari 2600 |
| Tennis | Atari 2600 |
| The Adventures of Willy Beamish | Amiga |
| The Adventures of Willy Beamish | SEGA CD |
| The Dagger of Amon Ra | DOS |
| Thwocker | Atari 2600 |
| Title Match Pro Wrestling | Atari 2600 |
| Torin’s Passage | DOS |
| Trick Shot | Atari 2600 |
| Vault Assault | Atari 2600 |
| Venetian Blinds | Atari 2600 |
| Zork I | DOS |
| Zork Zero | DOS |
