It’s time to put on your VR headset and travel back in time – as we check out the best retro Meta Quest VR Games!
Since launching as the Oculus Quest 2 back in 2020, the Meta Quest has undergone a name change and countless improvements to its software and firmware capabilities.
As a completely wireless and standalone virtual reality headset, it may not be the most technologically capable VR device – but it’s most certainly the most immediately accessible and cost-effective way to get involved in virtual reality gaming.
The software library is continually growing and improving too, with a wide range of games and genres being represented in its selection of downloadable experiences.
Here at Retro Dodo, we’re naturally interested in retro-style games – especially as, being on the Meta Quest 2, they feel as if they’re getting much more than just a lick of paint; in virtual reality, they feel like entirely new experiences!
Which are the best though?
Come with us, as we check out the best retro Meta Quest VR Games!
Table of Contents
1. Resident Evil 4 (2021)
Capcom’s Resident Evil series has had its ups and downs, but this fourth entry in the series – despite perhaps heralding the start of a more action-oriented middle trilogy that is regarded as a low point overall – has always been seen as one of the best.
Resident Evil 4 was originally a GameCube exclusive, but of course has now been on countless consoles.
Despite its wide availability on numerous consoles across several generations, no one foresaw its appearance on VR!
However, just like games such as Myst and Rez Infinite before it, Resident Evil 4 is such a perfect fit for virtual reality that it almost feels as if it was designed for it in the first place!
Despite the series being famously third person (at least until Resident Evil 7 & 8), the action in Resident Evil 4’s VR understandably shifts to a first-person viewpoint.
Importantly, it’s not a reduced version of the original game at all, as is the case with so many ports or adaptations that make their way to VR.
It’s an incredible game from start to finish – not for nothing does this feature on our list of frightening PS2 zombie games and GameCube horror classics lists, as well as several more – and one that many other VR developers can learn from if they’re intending to bring existing games to the format.
Without a doubt, Resident Evil 4 is our pick for the very top of our best retro Meta Quest VR games list!
2. Rez Infinite (2020)
Here we are with yet another Tetsuya Mizuguchi masterpiece.
Though that word – masterpiece – can often be bandied around a little too often by overhyped fans and reviewers, it’s entirely apt as a descriptor for Rez, which first debuted on the Dreamcast back in 2001.
A retro-futurist flight into a cyberspace that had previously only existed in the minds of mid-80s writers such as William Gibson, Rez was a deceptively simple, mostly on-rails shooter that layered on sound, colour and detail onto its stages as you progressed through them towards each boss.
It blew minds back in 2001 – mine included; it’s never been the same since – and somehow, despite being over 20 years old, has continued to feel completely timeless.
It hasn’t aged a day.
As a VR game – with one specific stage created for virtual reality: Area X – it feels as if it was always intended to be played this way.
Again, it’s a credit to the timeless design of this utterly classic game – which still feels like an underrated, unappreciated hidden gem; one that we’ve included on our list of underappreciated PS2 games – that it’s remained feeling relevant and current to this day.
Rez Infinite would have easily taken the top spot on our best retro Meta Quest VR games list – if it wasn’t for one very recent title that’s snatched the crown away from it!
3. Tetris Effect Connected (2020)
Is it hyperbole to say that Tetris forever changed the world of gaming?
Certainly, in its form as a bundled game with the original Game Boy, Tetris became an undeniable phenomenon.
Though there were a number of limitations when it came to the first Game Boy’s green-on-green screen, Tetris was the perfect choice to showcase the hardware.
Not reliant on colour or – to a certain extent – high clarity, having the line-clearing puzzle action of Tetris in portable form was near essential for gamers in the early 90s.
Though many, many sequels and variants on the original formula have been released, very few have come close to capturing the magic of the basic version that appeared on the Game Boy.
That is, until Tetsuya Mizuguchi got his hands on Tetris.
We told you that you hadn’t heard the last of Mizuguchi on the best retro Meta Quest VR games list!
With his expertise in immersive, all-consuming rhythm action titles, Mizuguchi was the perfect fit for bringing Tetris up to date in what is undoubtedly the best entry in the series for years (check it out on our list of blockbuster Tetris titles!).
Featuring a stunning, uplifting electronic soundtrack and incredibly captivating audiovisual effects, Tetris Effect Connected is an unmissable experience, no matter what platform you play it on.
Though available in non-VR form on traditional consoles, the VR version is utterly beyond compare – and is as good an excuse to get hold of a virtual reality headset as there has ever been!
4. Walkabout Mini Golf (2020)
Though the very game of mini golf (or Crazy Golf, as we often refer to it as in the UK!) can be considered a bit of a retro pastime, Walkabout Mini Golf itself isn’t based on any specific retro game.
However, there are two DLC packs which really make Walkabout Mini Golf a hole-in-one for retro enthusiasts – more on that shortly!
First things first, Walkabout Mini Golf is a straightforward, pick-up-and-play rendition of, yes, mini golf.
It’s incredibly accessible and the ‘walkabout’ part of the title comes from the fact that you really are free to explore the wonderfully multi-levelled, beautifully created courses at your leisure.
Part of the joy in doing so is to search for lost golf balls – there’s one on every single hole featured in the game’s courses.
In fact, there are nearly 200 unique balls to find, collect and use – just in the base game!
It’s an incredibly addictive game that feels like a relaxing, leisurely-paced adventure.
Hands down one of our favourite games on the Meta Quest 2, Walkabout Mini Golf is made even better with its clever DLC courses!
5. Myst (2020)
A first-person adventure through a beautifully designed world, the first game in the Myst series arrived in 1993 to much critical and commercial acclaim – and was seen as an unmissable game, that was at least partially responsible for raising the adoption of CD-ROM drives in the 90s.
This VR remake keeps the atmospheric, relaxed ambience of the original – but feels even more immersive, thanks to the medium of virtual reality.
It also demonstrates just how timeless and brilliant the original Myst was.
Three decades later, it’s clear that Myst is a masterpiece of audiovisual and mechanical design.
The game remains the same as it was before in VR – though in-game actors appearing via FMV have been replaced with CG-animated characters and of course, the visuals are definitely spruced up in comparison to the original Myst’s mostly-static scenes.
If you’re too familiar with the original Myst, there’s also the option to randomise puzzle solutions too – to ensure you can’t simply breeze right through the game using your previous knowledge!
6. Pixel Ripped 1995 (2020)
Though not based on a specific retro game, the Pixel Ripped titles – Pixel Ripped 1989 and Pixel Ripped 1995 – are both stuffed to the brim with incredible 80s and 90s video game homages.
This second game in the series is, naturally, set in 1995 – and features numerous games-within-the-game as your character explores console games and arcade machines in the ‘real’ world.
Though the ‘real’ world outside of the video games is a bit jarring, the copyright-avoiding recreations of old games are anything but – and it’s absolutely glorious to play them as part of Pixel Ripped’s overarching narrative.
Pixel Ripped 1995 recreates 16-bit and early 32-bit games wonderfully – and it’s worth noting that the prequel, Pixel Ripped 1989 (which features homages of mostly 8-bit games) is also available as DLC too!
7. Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash! (2021)
Dreamcast rhythm action title Space Channel 5 was criminally underrated and underappreciated when it first appeared, way back in 1999.
Despite this, it did receive a sequel and ports to other consoles (and the PC too), but it’s never really reached the audience it deserves.
Which makes it all the more surprising – and welcome – that it’s made the jump to VR, with the hilariously in-character title of Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funk News Flash!
Series creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi will become a very familiar name as you read through this list – and for good reason.
Space Channel 5 was always a gloriously retro-futuristic slice of pop art camp – and that funky, bubblegum feel is all present and correct in this superb VR adaptation.
It’s a genuinely lovely nostalgia trip for players of the original games – and a welcome second sequel that we never thought we’d see too!
8. Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey (2020)
There’s no question that the arcade title Puzzle Bobble is retro, given that the first entry in the colourful bubble-popping puzzler series first emerged in 1994!
A spin-off of the iconic arcade title Bubble Bobble, Puzzle Bobble was an original take on gem-matching puzzle games – and one that’s been copied an awful lot ever since.
Players fire coloured bubbles, one at a time, at clusters of other bubbles hanging from the top of the screen. Match enough bubbles together by colour and they drop, with spectacular combos possible if you can hit a chain of bubbles holding others up.
In Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey, the cute dinosaur protagonists of the series – Bub and Bob – are on holiday and popping spectacular 3D clusters of bubbles.
It’s another neat twist on a familiar formula, with gorgeous tropical backdrops and a satisfyingly tactile, immersive feel.
9. Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs (2019)
From one mobile classic to another – it felt like Angry Birds had invaded just about everywhere and everything for a few years, even belatedly getting a pair of animated movies; albeit long after the craze over the mobile games had subsided.
Originally released in 2009 for iOS and Maemo (the name of the smartphone OS from Nokia – which again shows that yes, Angry Birds is definitely a retro game at this point!), Angry Birds saw the titular avians taking on the bad piggies.
Firing birds of different size, shape and ability at the pigs to destroy their structures was immensely satisfying and immediately accessible; the slingshot’s touchscreen-based firing and the physical reactions the birds caused were incredibly compelling.
Much like Fruit Ninja VR, Angry Birds: Isle of Pigs doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel and takes an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to placing the birds and their porcine enemies in VR.
Pigs must be knocked from ever-elaborate structures in order to complete a stage; as in the original, the fewer the shots needed to rid the stage of every pig – and the more destruction caused in the process – the more points are scored and the better your chance of getting the coveted three stars for each stage.
In VR, the structures can be approached from several angles, with the choice of position as to where to fire from being just as important as the strength and angle of the shot when you make it.
It’s drenched in that familiar Angry Birds charm and full of character – plus, seeing structures toppling and pigs going flying in 3D makes it feel refreshingly new again.
It might be simple and short-lived, but this is a great VR adaptation of an iconic mobile game!
10. Fruit Ninja VR (2019)
One of the earliest iOS mega hits that it seemed everyone was playing when it first released in 2010, Fruit Ninja is not only a perfect game to make use of intuitive touchscreen controls, but it’s also ideal for VR too!
Firstly though, if you’re questioning whether or not Fruit Ninja can be classed as retro – well, prepare to feel old.
Fruit Ninja was first released thirteen years ago and came out on iPhone and iPod Touch.
You read that right: iPod. It definitely feels like we’re already at the stage where dedicated MP3 players are retro, right?
In Fruit Ninja, players slice fruit that’s thrown in front of them, with combos possible by swiping through multiple fruits at the same time. Bombs also make an appearance and can end the game if swiped!
Given that Fruit Ninja takes place in first person and involves physically swiping to cut fruit, the translation into VR is pretty seamless and feels incredibly immersive.
It is an awful lot more physical than just swiping fruit with your fingers on a touchscreen, however – given that you’ll be required to wave both your hands around in order to slice through various colourful fruits!
With three modes on offer – Arcade, Classic and Zen; the latter offering a bomb-free and more casual way to play – Fruit Ninja VR updates a modern, casual gaming classic in a fun and immersive way.
