In February, Apple Arcade is getting the nostalgic "Retrocade" for Apple Vision Pro, allowing players to walk around, play classic arcade titles, and inspect cabinets in VR.

Apple Arcade adds more games to its catalog each month, but sometimes it turns into a history lesson. For February, it will be an opportunity for gamers to relive some of the best arcade games from the 1980's.

Retrocade from Resolution Games will be added to Apple Arcade on February 5. As the name implies, it's an app that aims to give the arcade experience to a modern audience, by including a selection of classic titles to play.

The app could be attractive for retro gaming fans who were intrigued by the emulator changes to the App Store in 2024, but didn't want to go through the effort of tracking down and adding ROMs. Here, there are major games from back in the day, licensed and playable with minimal effort needed from the user.

The list of arcade games in Retrocade include:

  • Asteroids
  • Bubble Bobble
  • Breakout
  • Centipede
  • Galaga
  • Pac-Man
  • Space Invaders

The games are presented on iPhone and iPad in a similar way to how they were originally released, but with modern features. That includes unlockable achievements, global leaderboards, and Bluetooth controller support.

Apple Vision Pro users will be able to have more of an arcade experience, by seeing the arcade machines in physical space. They can check out the artwork from the cabinets, as well as play the games from the arcade machine's display, mimicking the experience without the neon glow and sticky carpets.

All of these titles aren't from the dawn of arcade gaming, but they're pretty close having released in the '80s for the most part. They're also clearly running in emulation.

The M2 or M5 processors are excellent at emulation, running relatively modern titles fairly easily. It's not clear if there will be expansions to the title, as licensing can be fraught, but we hope there will be.

Retrocade is expected to be available under Apple Arcade from February 5. Apple Arcade costs $6.99 per month, and is also included under the Apple One subscription, starting from $19.95 per month.