Retro arcade streaming platform Antstream has announced that it has added five games from the cult classic PlayStation-era Net Yaroze initiative to its game catalog.
If you're not familiar with Net Yaroze, it was essentially an early way of allowing bedroom developers to create games for the original PlayStation without needing to utilize "expensive and complex development kits", as a press release notes.
Those who were interested in Net Yaroze would have to pay a fee in order to receive a special PlayStation console, alongside software designed to help them realize their game creation dreams. They'd also gain access to technical help from Sony and a community of fellow Net Yaroze developers.
As an accompanying Antstream press release notes, these games weren't released commercially, and many of them are now considered to be lost since they haven't been made available in any shape or form since the late 90s.
Now, however, the streaming service has added five Net Yaroze games to its library, and Antstream CEO Steve Cottam says the service will "continue working with these fantastic creators and developers to continue to bring new titles to the Antstream platform", so more may well be on the way.
Here are the five Net Yaroze games that have been made available on Antstream.
- Time Slip (puzzle-platformer in which you must manipulate time to clear stages)
- Pushy IIb (block-pushing puzzler)
- Bouncer 2 (brick-breaking arcade-style game with "difficult physics-based challenges")
- Adventure Game (exploration-heavy action RPG with dungeons, puzzles, and monsters to fight)
- Arena (fast-paced mech shooter with a focus on multiplayer)
The Net Yaroze initiative is far from the only element of old-school gaming to be threatened by the march of time.
In recent years, enthusiastic fans have intervened to preserve the likes of a prototype of DS game Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, the Disney MMO Toowntown Online, and even the word game Wordle (following on from its purchase by the New York Times).
