First game streaming service for iPhone brings hundreds of licensed retro games

Antstream, which is now available on several platforms such as Xbox, Windows, Android and Amazon devices, has a catalog of more than 1,300 retro games that can be played on demand, including Missile Command, Sam and Max hit the road, AsteroidsIt is Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

There are now several excellent retro game emulators available for Apple mobile devices, including Delta, RetroArch and PPSSPP, which focuses on the PlayStation Portable. The challenge with these emulators is that they don’t include any games. They rely on ROMs, digital copies of classic video games, which face complicated legal issues when it comes to using and purchasing them.

Antstream features a library of legally licensed retro titles that’s similar to the Evercade line of gaming consoles, so users don’t have to visit the dark corners of the web to get their own.

There is hundreds of titles from old platforms like the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Commodore Amiga, but you’ll only find 28 games from the Atari 2600, five from the Game Boy, two from the original PlayStation and 42 from the Super Nintendo. So even with over 1,300 games offered by the Antstream service, you might have to do a little digging to find something you actually want to play.

As much as we liked it Super Star Wars trilogy on the SNES, that might not be enough to justify the price of an Antstream subscription. For a limited time after launching on the App Store on June 27, subscriptions will be discounted to $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year, which is only slightly cheaper than the standard U.S. $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year that Antstream normally charges.