Microsoft Arcade

Microsoft Arcade
Return of Arcade Anniversary Edition box art
Genres	Arcade game
Publishers	Microsoft Atari Namco
Platform of origin	Windows, Macintosh

Microsoft Arcade is a series of classic arcade game compilations.

The first compilation was released in 1993 on a single 1.44MB floppy for both Microsoft Windows 3.1 and the Apple Macintosh. It contained versions of the following arcade games by Atari:

Although the games were very similar to the original games in both appearance and gameplay, they were newly written versions, not ports of the original arcade game code. Each game allowed certain customizations not available in the original arcade game, i.e. the number of lives and bonus levels. The Microsoft Help files included with the games contained history of the development of the original arcade versions of the games.

Two follow up versions were released, including the arcade games from Namco. The first was Microsoft Return of Arcade, released in 1996. This compilation contains:

In 2000, to celebrate Pac-Man's 20th anniversary, Microsoft re-released Return of Arcade and added Ms. Pac-Man (as presented in Revenge of Arcade) to the roster of games. None of the other games from Revenge of Arcade were included. This updated package was called Microsoft Return of Arcade: Anniversary Edition.

The second follow-up, released in 1998, was called Microsoft Revenge of Arcade and contained:

Officially, both of these follow-ups required Windows 95 or later, though the demo for Return of Arcade is a 16-bit program that requires only WinG to run in Windows 3.1. This game will not work on 64-bit versions of windows.

Computer Gaming World in 1993 stated that Microsoft Arcade's adaptation of the five games was "nearly flawless". It favorably cited the many hints and strategies included in WinHelp files for the games, and the boss key. The magazine liked Battlezone the most out of the five games in Microsoft Arcade, but stated that "it's been done better since" by games like Spectre. Despite finding that the games were "made obsolete by technology", it predicted that Arcade would be very successful because of nostalgia, and wished that Microsoft would have updated the games with modern graphics and gameplay.