With the reveal of today’s pre-order for the first consumer Gear VR, Oculus has launched the beta version of Arcade, the company’s first-party title currently featuring 21 classic arcade games from Sega, Midway, and Bandai Namco. Oculus Arcade beta is available on all Gear VR units old and new.
Announced at the end of September at Oculus’ developer conference, Oculus Arcade is a collection of classic arcade games that are playable on Samsung’s Gear VR headset (which was made in cooperation with Oculus). Requiring one of three currently supported gamepads (Samsung EI-GP20, Moga Pro, or SteelSeries Android), the game convincingly places you in front of arcade cabinets of years past.
Oculus Arcade is now available on all Gear VR phones and headsets, from the first release (Galaxy Note 4) to the current (Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge) and will be available on the first consumer version of Gear VR which launches later this month (compatible with Galaxy Note 5, S6 Plus, S6, and S6 Edge).
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The following 21 arcade titles are available, and we’re expecting to see more added down the road.
Bandai Namco
- Pacman (1980)
- Galaga (1981)
Midway
- APB (1987)
- Defender (1981)
- Joust (1982)
- Gauntlet (1985)
- Gauntlet II (1986)
- Rampage (1986)
- Root Beer Tapper (1983)
- Spy Hunter (1983)
Sega
- Altered Beast (1988)
- Golden Axe (1989)
- Phantasy Star II (1989)
- Shinobi III (1993)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)
- Sonic Spinball (1993)
- Streets of Rage (1991)
- Streets of Rage 2 (1992)
- Virtua Fighter 2 (1994)
- Ecco the Dolphin (1992)
Rather than charge for Oculus Arcade as a whole, the company has gone the in-app purchase route; each arcade title gives you 20 minutes of play time (total), and then asks you to pony up a few bucks to unlock the cabinet for good.
The machines are divided into different rooms for each publisher. There’s no locomotion between each, just point-and-click to teleport into the publisher’s room and then up to your desired machine. Each arcade cabinet has unique art on the top and sides. The shape of the cabinets is generic, but the buttons and nobs are designed to match the controls of each game and move in sync with input from your gamepad.
It’s easy to become absorbed in the games and forget you’re even in VR; the peripheral views of the controls and cabinet can at times seem frighteningly real.
No word yet on whether or not Oculus Arcade will support social play, but it does seem like something that would fit well with the setup.