- Quest 2
- Quest 3
AGE of Joy (VR Arcade Gallery)
A retro arcade gallery recreated in 6DoF VR, standalone on Meta Quest. Walk through themed rooms full of cabinets, take a coin from your wrist, drop it in the slot and play classic arcade games through a built-in libretro MAME core on the cabinet's screen. Cabinets come from the community; bring your own ROMs.
- TrackingYes, 6DoF
- Motion controlsYes, Pick up coins and insert them into cabinets by hand
- RenderingYes, 6DoF 3D arcade hall; games shown on cabinet screens (not stereo)
- Smooth Locomotion
- Joystick Turning
- Roomscale
- Roomscale
- Quest 2
- Quest 3
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Verification
Not tested
Step-by-Step Installation Guide
Install on Quest, in the card above, is the one-click USB install. These steps are the manual path (SideQuest or ADB).
Overview
AGE of Joy by curif is a recreation of a late-20th-century arcade in VR (open source, GPL-3.0). You spawn in the lobby of a gallery with many rooms (some generic, some themed, new ones with each release), walk up to a cabinet, insert a coin and play. The games run through a libretro MAME 2003 core and are shown on the cabinet's screen inside the 3D hall: the hall and cabinets are full 6DoF VR, the games themselves are not rendered in stereo. NPC visitors hang around and play too, so sometimes you have to wait your turn.
[!NOTE] No cabinets or ROMs are included. Cabinets are downloaded (or built) separately from the community (AGE of Joy Discord); you need your own MAME-compatible ROMs. The v0.5.0 builds are release candidates and the APK is large (about 1.4 GB).
Prerequisites
- Meta Quest 2 or newer with Developer Mode enabled.
- SideQuest or Android ADB (
platform-tools). - Your own MAME-compatible ROMs.
Step-by-Step Installation
- Download
AgeOfJoy.apk(v0.5.0-rc30) from the official GitHub Releases. Alternatives: itch.io or SideQuest app 11839 (lists the older 0.4.0). - Install the APK via SideQuest or
adb install -r AgeOfJoy.apk. - Launch AGE of Joy from Unknown Sources at least once: this creates the folders it needs.
- Get cabinets from the community (AGE of Joy Discord) and install them (with your ROMs) following the official guide: How to get and deploy cabinet assets. The game deploys them in the gallery automatically.
Controls
- Simulation Mode (walking the gallery): primary joystick moves forward/sideways, secondary joystick rotates.
- Insert a coin: look at your left wrist, pick up the coin with your right hand (hold the right grip) and put it in the cabinet's coin slot. If a compatible ROM is present, the game starts; a new coin appears on your wrist (infinite coins).
- Emulation Mode (playing a cabinet): the controllers become the cabinet controls, generally primary joystick to move, B to shoot, A for other actions (varies by game). You can't walk while playing.
- Exit a game: grip the left controller and wait a few seconds to return to Simulation Mode.
Full details: the Players Guide.
A cabinet does nothing when you insert a coin: the matching ROM is missing or not compatible with the MAME 2003 core; check the cabinet's ROM requirements where you got it. Games boot through their power-on sequence the first time; AGE of Joy saves the state after initialization to skip it next time, but this depends on the game. Help, cabinets and community rooms: the AGE of Joy Discord (https://discord.gg/b83ykCM9Xp) and r/arcadeVR.
Requirements SummaryStandalone VR
Join the developer community for installation troubleshooting, high-resolution HD mod packs, and multiplayer sessions.