Microsoft Arcade

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Microsoft Arcade is a package of classic arcade games released in 1993 on a single 1.44MB floppy. Available for both Microsoft Windows 3.1 and the Apple Macintosh, it contains versions of Tempest, Battlezone, Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command. Although the games are 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 allows certain customizations not available in the original arcade game, i.e. the number of lives and bonus levels.

Two follow up versions were released. The first is Microsoft Return of Arcade, released in 1995 and containing Galaxian, Pac-Man, Pole Position, and Dig-Dug. The second follow-up, released in 1998, is called Microsoft Revenge of Arcade and contains Ms. Pac-Man, Mappy, Rally X, Xevious, and Motos. Both of these follow-ups require Windows 95 or later.

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, though. This updated package was called Microsoft Return of Arcade: 20th Anniversary Edition.

The original Microsoft Arcade was made obsolete starting in 1999, when Hasbro Interactive released two volumes of Atari Arcade Hits, which finally did contain ports of the original arcade code for all five games from the original Microsoft package. The first volume contains all of Microsoft Arcade's titles except Battlezone, which showed up in the second volume, released in 2000. Also in 2000, both volumes were released together in 2 CD set, under the name Atari's Greatest Hits. In 2001, Infogrames (who by then had bought Hasbro Interactive) re-released this package in a single CD, with a new box design and a new title - Atari Anniversary Edition. In 2003, Atari Interactive (as they were called by then) released Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! (also released in 2004 for Xbox and PlayStation 2 under the title Atari Anthology), featuring 18 Atari arcade titles, including all five games contained in the original Microsoft package, as well as 67 Atari 2600 titles.

Return of Arcade and Revenge of Arcade were both made obsolete (along with the Anniversary Edition of Return of Arcade) in 2005 with the PC release of Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection. All titles in both Microsoft packages combined, with the exception of Motos, showed up in this new collection.