OG Xbox Backward Compatibility Coming To Xbox One Tuesday With 13 Titles And Key Enhancements
Microsoft has already seen great success with making Xbox 360 titles backward compatible with the Xbox One. The effort to bring original Xbox titles to the console will officially go live Tuesday, October 24 with 13 titles, all of which feature key enhancements.
A handful of OG Xbox games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic began showing up in the Xbox Games on Demand Marketplace this morning. These aren’t playable yet but will be as soon as Microsoft flips the switch to add support for the older titles Tuesday morning. Those who still have the original disc for the games listed below will be able to play them by simply inserting the disc into the Xbox One.
The fact these Xbox titles are showing up as Games on Demand titles suggest Microsoft is using the Xbox 360 backward compatibility setup as a bridge for Xbox One support. This suggests Microsoft will be curating the list of titles to bring forward to the current console generation based on the existing list of backward compatible games for the Xbox 360.
That existing list numbers 560 games but can be pared down further by removing all NFL, NHL, FIFA, MLB, NBA, and college sports titles due to licensing. Additionally, many superhero games and titles that make heavy use of licensed soundtracks will be difficult to bring forward for non-technical reasons, as Xbox platform lead Bill Stillwell told IGN.
That still puts the list of potential Xbox games that feasibly can be made backward compatible with the Xbox One well over 300. Microsoft did an excellent job of selecting the first 13, with a broad range of genres and a number of well-loved classics like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Ninja Gaiden Black, Fusion Frenzy, and Psychonauts.
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Ninja Gaiden Black
- Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
- Fuzion Frenzy
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Psychonauts
- Dead to Rights
- Black
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- Sid Meier’s Pirates!
- Red Faction II
- BloodRayne 2
- The King of Fighters Neowave
The emulation on the Xbox One will enhance all Xbox games to 1080p resolutions with smoother framerates and faster loading times. Titles that can support widescreen, like Ninja Gaiden Black, will be able to do so.
While there is plenty of good news in the backward compatibility announcement, there is also some bad news. Local multiplayer and system link/LAN multiplayer will be supported in games where it was originally supported, even between the different console generations. Unfortunately, online multiplayer will not be supported because the servers for titles like Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge no longer exist, and there are no indications at the moment Microsoft will bring them back.
[Featured Image by Xbox]
