First announced at E3 this year, and with not much else said since then, OG Xbox backwards compatibility is finally going to come to Xbox One this week, as first reported by IGN. The initial list will include 13 games from Microsoft’s first console.
The 13 titles aren’t just targeting parity with their old releases, but will be enhanced on Xbox One, featuring 1080p resolutions, faster loading times and with faster and/or smoother frame rates.
And there won’t even be a long wait to play these games. Beginning tomorrow, October 24th, the following 13 OG Xbox titles will be playable on Xbox One:
- Black
- BloodRayne 2
- Crimson Skues: High Road to Revenge
- Dead to Rights
- Fuzion Frenzy
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- The King of Fighters Neowave
- Ninja Gaiden Black
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
- Psychonauts
- Red Faction II
- Sid Meier’s Pirates!
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Playing the games will work similarly to playing existing backwards compatible Xbox 360 games: if you own the disc pop it in; if you own it digitally, it will automatically show up for download. In both cases, an Xbox One version of the original title downloads to the current generation hardware. And all of the 13 games are available digitally for $9.99 each.
As revealed at E3, all titles that support system link still support it, including cross-generationally. Meaning that any model of Xbox One (X, S, or original), Xbox 360 or Original Xbox could connect together to play these 13 titles across system link. Online multiplayer, however, is impossible as their respective servers have long since been switched off.
While 13 is a good starting list, and there are undiscolsed plans to expand that list, the best place to suggest your own favourite is through Xbox Feedback, as with Xbox 360 backwards compatibility requests.