The original Xbox is Microsoft’s entry into the traditional video game console space. The Xbox effectively replaced Sega in the Triple Threat match with Nintendo and Sony. This console is literally a PC with a Pentium III processor and an Nvidia GPU. Still, the console is not that easy to emulate even if it has seemingly x86 parts. The Intel and Nvidia parts are custom-made, and the console’s architecture is not documented.
It is considered the most powerful console of that generation. Surprisingly, the original Xbox had an inactive emulation scene, only to be revived recently. There are many reasons behind this, and just like all emulators, an emulator needs a very active development team to progress. Interest may not be that huge due to fewer games, and because of the fact that Xbox games made their way to PC.
Table of Contents
1. Xemu
xemu is the only original Xbox emulator that is worth anybody’s time. Everything else is either abandoned and barely working or has minuscule compatibility. Xemu is a free and open-source Xbox emulator that is performant and stable. It can run on Windows, Linux, or macOS machines.
Xemu is based on the now-dead emulator XQEMU. Xemu emulates the Xbox hardware itself as it is low-level. Because it is a full-system emulator, you will need specific images for the emulator to run like the MCPX Boot ROM Image, Flash ROM Image (commonly known as BIOS), and a Hard Disk Image. These are proprietary files, so you need to have your own Xbox and rip these off from it.
As of this writing, there are 78% playable Xbox games on xemu. Playable games include the G.O.A.T. action game, Ninja Gaiden Black; the game that made FPS a viable genre on video game consoles, Halo: Combat Evolved; and the well-loved dynamic RPG, Fable. It also runs the Jet Set Radio Future, a game yet to get ported to any other video game platform.
There are 32 games that run perfectly on this emulator namely: Alien Hominid, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, Kabuki Warriors, WHACKED!, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens versus Predator: Extinction, the demo disc collection, XBOX-ism Winter 2002, Plum Plumb 2, Phantom Crash, Petit Copter, the original Star Wars Battlefront, BMX XXX, Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue, Bloodrayne, Blowout, Chessmaster, Future Tactics: The Uprising, High Rollers Casino, LOONS: The Fight for Fame, NFL 2K2, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, Neighbours from Hell, Psyvariar 2: Extend Edition, Puyo Puyo Fever, Roger Lemerre: La Sélection des Champions 2003, Still Life, Super Bubble Pop, Tecmo Classic Arcade, Total Club Manager 2004, Triple Play 2002, Umezawa Yukari no Igo Seminar, and Virtual Pool Tournament Edition.
There are five games that do not run at all in this emulator, and interestingly they are all sports / physical activity reduced into video game form. They are ESPN NFL Football, Greg Hasting’s Tournament Paint Ball, NFL Fever 2004, Pro Fishing Challenge, and Wrestlemania 21.
Unfortunately, there are 162 games that “start” in xemu and may not play past the initial levels. The Madden games belong to this category so does the NCAA Football series. Other well-received games in this group include Psychonauts, Phantasy Star Online, Samurai Shodown, Half-Life, and Jade Empire. The 22 games that only boot up include Black, Def Jam Fight for NY, and Steel Battalion.
xemu has basic features like gamepad support, save states, and render scaling. You can also play multiplayer with System Link with other machines running the emulator and even the real deal Xbox, through LAN or over the internet.
Pros
- Accurate
- Lots of playable games
- In active and rapid-fire development
Cons
- Needs BIOS, ROM image, and HDD image
Download from the Official Website (All Platforms)
2. Cxbx-Reloaded
Cxbx-Reloaded is not just an Xbox emulator and in turn, Sega Chichiro emulator. So, what is the Sega Chichiro? The Chihiro is a Sega and Microsoft arcade machine based on the Xbox home video game console. It uses the same hardware as the original Xbox the Pentium III CPU and the NVIDIA graphics card. The only difference between the Sega Chichiro and the Xbox is the GD-ROM media, a more significant amount of RAM, and the revision of the chipset.
Back at Cxbx-Reloaded, this emulator, as of this writing, only runs 16% of the Xbox’s library. The good thing is that this emulator is currently in active development and for the foreseeable future, compatibility and stability should improve.
Pros
- Accurate
- In active and rapid-fire development
Cons
- Small number of compatible games
Download from the Official Website (All Platforms)
3. Fission
Fission is the official internally developed original Xbox and Xbox 360 emulator for both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. At first, this patch-based emulator was meant to run Xbox 360 games only, but due to the rising demand and probably the rise of revitalized interest in free and open-source emulators, Microsoft decided to add in the original Xbox in Fission.
Unfortunately, this emulator only runs 42 original Xbox games. This is expected as Microsoft has to deal with externally licensed games to evade legal repercussions.
Fission is unique in the sense that it uses the original physical Xbox games as “evidence” that you own them and download a version of it to your console. You need to keep being online for DRM purposes. There is also an advantage with this method as the emulated games that are downloaded have several enhancements like improved graphics, better performance in terms of frame rates, and increased resolutions.
Pros
- Active
- Good feature set
Cons
- Very low amount of compatible games
View on Amazon (Xbox Series S)
View on Amazon (Xbox Series X)
4. Fusion
Fusion is the internally developed emulator by Microsoft for the Xbox 360. It is not in active development and is effectively dead since the Xbox 360 is technically a retro console. While it is an official emulator, it only runs less than half of the original Xbox games on the Xbox 360 platform (476 out of 998 games). Still, way better in terms of game compatibility as compared to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S’ Fission.
Pros
- Accurate
- Good number of compatible
Cons
- Needs an Xbox 360
- Dead
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