Looking back at the Original Xbox

[RodimusPrime]

Just dragged mine out to sort out some games for it.

Looking back, this really was a machine that got overlooked completely because of the juggernaut that was the PS2.

It really does have an abundance of superb console exclusive titles that were unavailable elsewhere. I have decided to start picking up all the top exclusives for the machine.

I have already in my collecdtion

Knights of the old republic 1 and 2
Jade Empire
Crimson skies
Crazy taxi 3
Toe jam and earl 3
Project gotham racing
Project gotham racing 2
Rallisport challenge
rallisport challenge 2
Panzer dragoon orta
Blinx
Voodoo vince
Star wars republic commando
Halo
Halo 2
Elder scrolls III morrowind
Fable
Forza
Jet set Radio Future
Gun Valkryie

any other recommendations.

[General Opulence]

Never got overlooked by people who wanted a better technical system with better online support! Still have my Xbox, even soldered a mod myself for it, cant imagine trying it now!
Great machine.
You missed off Fuzion Frenzy, great 4 player party game!

[aztecca]

I have already in my collecdtion

Knights of the old republic 1 and 2
Jade Empire
Crimson skies
Crazy taxi 3
Toe jam and earl 3
Project gotham racing
Project gotham racing 2
Rallisport challenge
rallisport challenge 2
Panzer dragoon orta
Blinx
Voodoo vince
Star wars republic commando
Halo
Halo 2
Elder scrolls III morrowind
Fable
Forza
Jet set Radio Future
Gun Valkryie

any other recommendations.

If its exclusives that your after you could also get.

Kung fu chaos
Stubbz the zombie
Ninja gaiden black
Loons the fight for fame
Metal wolf chaos (ntsc only but an awesome game check out a youtube video)

Also if you have the room try getting Steel battalion with its massive controller.

[theantmeister]

Just a quick note of caution - if you want to keep enjoying your Xbox, do this, like, right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cdR8Ryn4wE

MS placed a nice ticking time-bomb in each and every (pre revision 1.6) Xbox.

[AceGrace]

Is the crystal xbox 1.6?

Funnily enough I had mine out at the weekend. It is softmodded with a 320gb hdd in it. I installed CoinOps Massive and HyperVision.

The kids were playing on it most of the weekend.


I've also just bought a green one from CEX. Waiting for it to be delivered. It has been a week now. Trying to find out whether UPS have mislaid it or CEX haven't actually handed it over to them. Grrrr

[theantmeister]

If you've softmodded it, there's a good chance it isn't. There's a good rundown of the revisions here.

Ugh, I've taken to pronouncing UPS "Oops". Good luck!

[Sephiroth81]

Its a decent console, and made much better for its modding scene. Love running MAME, Amiga and C64 games on this beast.

The actual Xbox games library itself is ok, its obviously good for the multiplatform ports, but was lacking perhaps in decent exclusives (many ended up as superior PC games). Crazy Taxi 3 is also not particularly good - much preferred the Dreamcast original games, even if they slapped in those modes in CT3.

But take away the modding aspect of the console, and I would place it 3rd in that generation for overall exclusive game library : 1. PS2 2.Gamecube 3. Xbox 4. Dreamcast

[General Opulence]

For me it was 1) DC 2) Xbox 3) PS2 4) GC

The Xbox continued where the DC started, some great Sega ports and new versions, Panzer, Shenmue 2, JSRF etc , Project Gotham was an untouchable racing series, and of course Halo, yes it got ported a long time after, but the point is it was on Xbox first and console exclusive.

If you wanted decent online broadband gaming on a console the Xbox was the only place to get it, Ghost Recon, Moto GP, Midtown Madness, PGR etc

Updated and enhanced ports of other gen games, Monkey Ball, Burnout, GTA series etc all better on Xbox.

I could go on, but the point is the Xbox is more than just exclusives, it was imo the best all round console of that generation.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

The actual Xbox games library itself is ok, its obviously good for the multiplatform ports, but was lacking perhaps in decent exclusives (many ended up as superior PC games). Crazy Taxi 3 is also not particularly good - much preferred the Dreamcast original games, even if they slapped in those modes in CT3.

It's got plenty of great exclusives. I agree that Crazy Taxi 3 isn't as good though.

[samhain81]

The actual Xbox games library itself is ok, its obviously good for the multiplatform ports, but was lacking perhaps in decent exclusives (many ended up as superior PC games). Crazy Taxi 3 is also not particularly good - much preferred the Dreamcast original games, even if they slapped in those modes in CT3.

It's got plenty of great exclusives. I agree that Crazy Taxi 3 isn't as good though.

I remember buying CT3 for the xbox around its release, and being appalled by the horrendous framerate. See, even as a 16 year old boy I knew how much a difference framerate meant to a game. Going from Crazy Taxi DC to Crazy Taxi on Xbox, the difference was immense. Although, I must admit, I enjoyed the night stages on CT3.

[Sephiroth81]

Updated and enhanced ports of other gen games, Monkey Ball, Burnout, GTA series etc all better on Xbox.

I could go on, but the point is the Xbox is more than just exclusives, it was imo the best all round console of that generation.

Monkey Ball was better on the Gamecube (and better suited to the cube controllers analogue stick). Burnout is a tough call, and although GTA was graphically enhanced (although not drastically), many prefer using the PS2 control pad for these games over the Xbox pad.

I don't doubt that its a great system, even though I placed it third. Its just the PS2 had such an enormous library of games, it was always going to win.....plus it had full backwards compatibility with PS1 games meaning the overall choice of games on the PS2 is staggering.

It's got plenty of great exclusives. I agree that Crazy Taxi 3 isn't as good though.

I remember seeing the top 25 xbox games feature in a recent issue, but most of these games were multiplatform or at least on PC.

Panzer Dragoon Orta and Forza 1 are great, Outrun 2 is pretty cool as well (although of course this is kind of available on the PS2 in its 2006 guise), and the PGR games are fun...but it does lack the depth of the PS2 exclusives library. This is due to the enormous userbase of the PS2 and developers were clearly throwing their might into that console....especially japanese developers. Perhaps more full blown explosives could be listed beyond the ones already named here....always useful to know them!

[samhain81]

It didn't always have the best ports of multi platform games. I seem to recall quite clearly one port that was quite shocking on the xbox; Turok Evolution. The xbox version had massive slowdown and drops in framerate, where the gamecube version ran at a silky smooth uninterrupted 60fps. And it not's like the xbox version even looked better visually, so what gives...I don't know

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

22 of the top 25 games were only available to play on Xbox and not PS2 or GameCube.
10 of those also appeared on PC.
in general it largely (but not always) had the best multformat versions too.

Xbox is a great retro console and the only thing that annoys me about its inclusion in the mag is the inability to take nice screenshots.

[The Laird]

I got a crystal Xbox a couple of years back and a ton of games really cheap from CeX. Not really played on it a lot though outside of OutRun 2. Will probably get it modded for MAME at some point.

[Sephiroth81]

22 of the top 25 games were only available to play on Xbox and not PS2 or GameCube.
10 of those also appeared on PC.
in general it largely (but not always) had the best multformat versions too.

Xbox is a great retro console and the only thing that annoys me about its inclusion in the mag is the inability to take nice screenshots.

I just had a quick re-read of the list, and somewhat stand corrected! I still think in terms of exclusives, the PS2 had a richer and deeper choice. I tend to go for the Xbox version on the multiplatformers though.

I got a crystal Xbox a couple of years back and a ton of games really cheap from CeX. Not really played on it a lot though outside of OutRun 2. Will probably get it modded for MAME at some point.

Definitely worth doing that. Although i find on my version of MAME, many of the roms i have on there come up with "missing files" when I try to load them up.