Remember the Xbox Live Arcade era? This was a time when indie games and smaller downloadable games were all bundled under the "Live Arcade" moniker (instead of the "ID@Xbox" moniker they're given today), and although it started prior to the release of the Xbox 360, it's the period between 2005 and 2013 that's often remembered most fondly.
This was Xbox's first major venture into digital download territory, and it ended up working a treat, gifting us with some amazing titles that we're still playing today thanks to backwards compatibility on Xbox One, Series X and Series S.
As an example, here's just a very small sample of classic Xbox Live Arcade games:
- A Kingdom for Keflings
- Alan Wake's American Nightmare
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Castle Crashers
- Feeding Frenzy 2
- Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
- Hydrophobia
- Limbo
- Minecraft
- Resident Evil 4
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
- The Secret of Monkey Island
- The Simpsons Arcade Game
- State of Decay
- Trials HD
- Telltale's The Walking Dead - Season One
- Uno
When Xbox Live Arcade finished in 2013, more than 600 games had been released throughout its lifespan. Its closure coincided with the release of the Xbox One, with the ID@Xbox program announced during the August of that year.
So, if you were around during that time, what memories do you have of Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360 specifically? Got any favourite games you want to tell us about? Let us know down in the comments section below.
Comments 36
Beyond Good and Evil is the first thing that comes to mind as my favourite.
Bastion, Dust An Elysian Tail, Super Meat Boy, Braid, and the Dishwasher games (which I still lament never became backwards compatible)
TMNT: The Arcade Game, TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, The Simpsons Arcade Game, X-Men Arcade Game, Eets
Oh, XBLA, where have you gone? In an age where Xbox is “leading” the field in game preservation, where are all my favourites?!
Castle Crashers was my favourite definitely. Though I loved the surprise of Doom back in 2006. XBLA wednesdays were so exciting.
For me it would have to be Geometry Wars. Even to this day I still boot it up for a game or two.
Bangers, each and every one.
Definitely weird to not see Battleblock Theater being included in the list, because i would definitely go for that!
Trials HD
1 VS. 100
Costume Quest
Outrun Online Arcade
Turtles In Time Re Shelled
Uno Rush
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix
Worms
Deadlight
Trials HD
Castle Crashers
Super Meat Boy
Splosion Man
1 vs 100
TellTale Walking Dead Season 1
Scott Pilgrim
Castle Crashers, and Outpost Koloki X for sure. Never got around to The Maw but I own it.
Not sure if these were arcade or not, but Castlevania SOTN, Crystal Defenders (loved this, but it was not easy in later levels), Monkey Island 1&2….
I also spent a huge amount of time on Hardwood Spades.
Braid. I still love that game and it was a nice surprise to found it again on my Series X collection.
Hexic HD, Castle Crashers, Dead Rising 2 Case Zero and West, DOOM, Doritos Crash Course, Marble Blast Ultra, N+, and Penny Arcade Adventures (1 and 2) are definitely my favorites.
@HarmanSmith that was awesome wasn’t it? I booted my Series X and saw I had access to all my old 360 titles again and about crapped. I’ve spent far more time playing my 360/Arcade titles all over again than anything current gen, or even from XB1 lol.
Bastion, Shadow Complex, Castle Crashers and Monday Night Combat, for as much as I prefer playing solo, I loved that game.
@Dm9982 Yes it was! I had a X360 and then I switched to a PS4. I thought my old games were gone with the new generation (XB1).
So it was a great to see Braid, Limbo, Hydrophobia, Beyond Good and Evil, Plants vs. Zombies and Outland right there!
Oppfff definitely Bastion, Doritos Crash Course & Harm’s Way.
i can't for the life of me remember the title of the game, but it was made by Sega, and was basically a top-down shooter where you were in a truck/tank hybrid, and the game was basically a wink at the 80's GI Joe era. it was a great game, but damn if i can remember what it was called lol. i also loved Bastion, Castle Crashers and the Dishwasher...
@Chaudy no one appreciates how good Deadlight was lol
@HarmanSmith same here! I loved my 360, and was a bit disappointed with XB1 so switched to Ps4/Pro. Def a happy surprise with SX on all my old titles, including the XB1 games I never got around to, and moreover with the 360 stuff. All that alone was worth the Series X IMO, and it’s got a fast interface this time around to boot, sweet!
Still miss the Blade dashboard thou, so svelte
Aegis Wing…The Maw….Shadow Complex…Uno
Geometry Wars was a lot of fun on 360 and was my first XBLA purchase.
@GeekSleeves The fact that TMNT Turtles/Time from xbox 360 arcade was delisted and was not part of the soon to be released collection was a huge disappointment. I actually still have the demo on my 360 hdd. lol
Geometry Wars is an all time classic, but I love The Simpsons Arcade, such a shame they never ported that over to Xbox One/Series.
@PushButtons I refuse to give up my 360 for the delisted games installed on there, unavailable on any console since
Have to say Walking Dead. Lee's tale was absolutely heart wrenching, his relationship with the wee girl was brilliant. And his ending has never been bettered. He still casts a large shadow over the game right up to the final chapter. Brilliant game.
I think that Minecraft game might go somewhere.
The Simpsons Arcade without a doubt. One reason I still have my 360.
We need Sega to bring back titles like Afterburner Climax and Outrun 2006: Coast2Coast for the XBOX BC program. Please make it happen, guys!
Beat em ups like Scott Pilgrim, the turtles games, X-men and Simpsons are some of my favs (especially castle crashes!!!)
@Freakservo totally with you on twisted pixel stuff. And I’m so glad someone else remembers Deathspank! I’m so bummed only one is BC. I loved that trilogy!
Also costume quest for sure. Play them nearly every Halloween!
OutRun Online Arcade.
My favorite was a game called Quarrel. It was like Risk mixed with Scrabble.
It's a real shame I can't play it on new consoles.
You know what was an XBLA Release and is BackCompat... Portal: Still Alive, just went back and 200g/200g that on my XsX the other day 👍
Also I loved Shadow Complex as a HUGE Metroid fan, the one game I was truly upset to loose when I was trading in my 360 for a PS3 for the billionth time (back in High School, still no steady income and more flippant than ever, but always been a PlayStation guy) was SO HAPPY when it got Remastered on PS4 (also Xbone/PC etc.) and that they did Patch it to work on PS5 (was one of the 10 games that wouldn't work at all for some reason, that and like 1 other game I owned and they both got fixed via a Patch thank god)
Hell Yeah Curse of the Dead Rabbit and Raskulls were hidden gems
@Broosh marble blast ultra holy cow what a great game! Enjoyed the heck outta that one!!
@joey302 Yes! I especially spent a lot of time passing the controller between friends as we competed for the best completion times.
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