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Best/Underrated Original Xbox games that are not Backwards Compatible

Also - GAF Reccomendations-
Gunvalkyrie
Steel Battallion
Beyond good and Evil
Voodoo Vince
Enclave
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Total Overdose
Silent Hill 2
MK Shaolin Monks
Beat Down Fists of Vengeance
Otogi 1 and 2

I recently got an original big old xbox to play Stranger's Wrath again. (I think it's getting re-released, but it was $30 at goodwill, so I don't mind having another system around)

And I was trying to find lists of the best non-BC (or poorly emulated on 360) Xbox games, but nothing was coming up. (and the search function here seems to not work)

So this is what I can think of off the top of my head - any other recommendations?

192361-strangerswrathbox_large.jpg

Of course.

1039634-gb_super.png

Unplayable on 360 B/C and better than the PS2 version? Maybe?

star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii.436728.jpg


Both of these run like shit on 360 - and they're stellar games. I think I might go for the PC versions, though. Kotor 2 got a fan patch recently if I ever want to play that.
Same deal with Jade Empire, but then there's a PC version of that too.

box-l.jpg

Both of these are not Backwards Compatible. i might pick them up because I quite enjoyed Hell's Highway.

124.jpg

I dunno how much this is worth re-visiting, but I really enjoyed this game when I found it cheap back in 2005 or so.

808388-924208_69413_front_large.jpg

This is what those batman guys were doing before they made the 2009 GOTY. Good reviews, but I dunno how it aged.

And some others I've found-
61FYN0P7QRL._AA280_.jpg

10188.jpg
(the gamecube version has mario, luigi etc. but probably worse controls)
71j3IieLjML._SL500_AA280_.gif


Any other underrated games I've missed? I mostly got the xbox to fool around with hacking it for the downstairs tv, but it'd be nice to pick up some forgotten xbox 1 games.
 

Stop It

Perfectly able to grasp the inherent value of the fishing game.
Diablohead said:
PGR2 (and PGR1 if you like MSR on the Dreamcast, it's an enhanced port)
...that are NOT backwards compatible. (Aside from the garage bug, PGR 2 works fine on 360).

Anyway, Rallisport Challenge 2, nuff said.

Edit: I'm sure that picture wasn't there when I clicked this thread!

Burnout Revenge isn't BC, which is annoying, it made me buy the 360 version, which was rare as hell in the UK.
 
Stop It said:
...that are NOT backwards compatible. (Aside from the garage bug, PGR 2 works fine on 360).

Anyway, Rallisport Challenge 2, nuff said.
PGR2 was added to the BC list? I never knew! :eek: thought it was impossible like rallisport.
 
yeah I mostly wanted to focus on non BC games or ones that have crippling bugs, like Red Dead Revolver does.

Psychonauts kinda fits under that category - there's a lot of bugs in the 360 version. Same with mercenaries.
 

Oli

Registered User
SonOfABeep said:
yeah I mostly wanted to focus on non BC games or ones that have crippling bugs, like Red Dead Revolver does.

Psychonauts kinda fits under that category - there's a lot of bugs in the 360 version. Same with mercenaries.

Even the downloadable one from XBL?
 

Stop It

Perfectly able to grasp the inherent value of the fishing game.
Diablohead said:
PGR2 was added to the BC list? I never knew! :eek: thought it was impossible like rallisport.
Yep, both PGR 1 and 2 are BC compatible.
 

Vorador

Banned
andymcc said:
Otogi and Otogi 2, both are better than almost any game of the system too.

.

Also the ones in the OP. Stranger's Wrath being the most painful one since it's completely platform exclusive.
 

Teknoman

Member
Well at least Stranger is coming to the PC. Still not sure why MS couldnt just keep up BC updates.

EDIT: Jet Set Radio Future is BC.
 

Gyrian

Member
Teknoman said:
EDIT: Jet Set Radio Future is BC.

Well well. Thanks for the update, I didn't realize.
I kept up with the BC progress for a while, but didn't catch this one.

Still sad for Gunvalkyrie, I'm one of the maybe 5 people who care.
 

vireland

Member
Gyrian said:
Well well. Thanks for the update, I didn't realize.
I kept up with the BC progress for a while, but didn't catch this one.

Still sad for Gunvalkyrie, I'm one of the maybe 5 people who care.


Well JSRF *runs*, so I guess you could call it BC, but it's VERY glitchy compared to how it should run. The level with all the electrical towers is a MESS. BTW, this is another series that really needs a sequel. GREAT game.

And Stranger is my #1 vote for the most shocking BC omission. That game really did not get the love it deserves. If we can't have it running under BC mode, I'd love to see it fixed and re-released for XBLA. I'd be first in line to buy it again.
 

Loxley

Member
SonOfABeep said:
box-l.jpg

Both of these are not Backwards Compatible. i might pick them up because I quite enjoyed Hell's Highway.

Came here to post this. My second-favorite game of the last generation and easily one of the best WWII shooters ever made. Luckily I have all three BoH games on my PC, so while the lack of backwards compatibility for Road to Hill 30 and Bound in Blood is disheartening, I can still play'em, gotta love Steam :D
 
Jet Set Radio Future is backwards compatible but it suffers from crippling slowdown in a few places. I still played the game basically to completion (I think I got up to the final boss right before my cousin wanted it back).

Stranger's Wrath is slated to be getting a PC port soon, isn't it? Lorne Lanning announced some kind of Oddworld Box set a few months ago and specifically said he had people working on PC ports of Munch and Stranger exclusively for it.

Edit: Yup.
 
this thread reminds me, what happened to the oddworld games? they were supposed to be released on steam (the xbox ones too) as part of a special package.
any news about it?
 
For most games that are not BC on the 360 (or play badly) I have already switched to Steam (KOTOR 1, Beyond Good & Evil, PoP WW & TTT). But by far the saddest case is Panzer Dragon Orta. The PAL version crashes on the 360 after chapter 3. Such a beautiful game.
 
ArchAngel said:
Gun Valkyrie and Panzer Dragoon Orta (PAL)

Hate MS for the fucked up PDO :(

Awww, crap... what's wrong with PDO? I always wanted to pick that game up again, it's a freakin' classic like most of Sega's exclusives on the Xbox. Are the problems probably just for the PAL version and not the NTSC?
 

Swag

Member
Sega1991 said:
Jet Set Radio Future is backwards compatible but it suffers from crippling slowdown in a few places. I still played the game basically to completion (I think I got up to the final boss right before my cousin wanted it back

Would you recommend picking it up? I really enjoyed that game but don't want to have my memory spoiled by a buggy BC effort.
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
-Capcom vs. SNK 2
-Capcom Classic Collection 1 & 2
-Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (worth it for the original city + Crazy X)
-Enclave
-Mafia
-Timesplitters 2 & Future Perfect
-Total Overdose
-Xyanide

I also remember seeing that Silent Hill 2 has some pretty ridiculous texture problems, many textures loading in the wrong locations or not at all. Dunno if that's been fixed.
 
Sebulon3k said:
Would you recommend picking it up? I really enjoyed that game but don't want to have my memory spoiled by a buggy BC effort.

It's a bit aggravating, yeah, but it ultimately didn't ruin my enjoyment of the game. Most of the slowdown is localized to 99th Street, primarily in the plaza with the big dragon statue. If you're anywhere near that thing the game grinds down to anywhere between half and a quarter of its original speed. There are a few other areas that will briefly chug every now and then (especially if you use the spray can boost), but the only one that really sticks in my mind is 99th street because it is unavoidable and lasts for however long you're stuck in that area. I wanted to get video of the game slowing down like that, but I never got around to it. If I still had it, I'd do it right now.

The game is still very playable, though. But I guess the stand alone version is really hard to track down nowadays - the version on the Sega GT/JSRF double-pack apparently works but there's a trick to it (mash the button to load the game before a menu pops up, or something; I'm sure there's a guide online or something).
 

Brannon

Member
You know, you'd think there would be an Xbox emulator out there by now, unless there is some devious trick to making it work; if that happened, I'd buy up all the premium Xbox games from Gamestop.
 

Gyrian

Member
Shig said:

This one, too. Really enjoyed it, punishing as it was.
Orta, also. Sega really did bestow some love on the original Xbox.

Speevy said:
You really shouldn't wish GunValkyrie on anyone. It's mean.

If you don't have left, right stick dust on your hands after a session with this one, you're playing it wrong. Love it. :D
 

Speevy

Banned
Voodoo Vince is the real loser. There's no way anyone will ever get to play this again without the original hardware, and the developer is gone.
 

Kibs

Member
Beyond good and Evil
Not platform exclusive, but certainly one of the better games of that generation :(
 

Tain

Member
hey guys i hear Gunvalkyrie controls are shitty confirm/deny

Steel Battalion sounds like the greatest thing ever. It's not even the controller, either. It's a complicated mech game with a huge campaign and permadeath. I'll play it some day.
 

linkboy

Member
MVP 2005 (works, but runs like shit).

That game could be like NFL 2k5 (updated rosters every year) and it would be better then what 2k is crapping out every year.
 
Tain said:
hey guys i hear Gunvalkyrie controls are shitty confirm/deny
confirm

SB is awesome to the point that if you run your mech too fast and try to turn you will just fall over :lol it's very much a mech sim in terms of movement physics, trying to stop from a fast run will also make you wobble and probably crash into a building.
 
Brannon said:
You know, you'd think there would be an Xbox emulator out there by now, unless there is some devious trick to making it work; if that happened, I'd buy up all the premium Xbox games from Gamestop.

Somebody was working on one. The Xbox 1 has a lot of similarities with a PC, to the point that it runs off of a modified, Xbox-exclusive version of DirectX. But the thing is still apparently x86 at its heart, so there was a guy out there building an "emulator" that would supposedly convert an XBE (Xbox Executable) in to a regular old Windows EXE. He only ever got one game running on it (Turok Evolution) before he eventually gave up the project for one reason or another.

http://www.caustik.com/cxbx/

Looks like somebody's been working on it again as recently as November 2009.
 
Tain said:
hey guys i hear Gunvalkyrie controls are shitty confirm/deny

Deny. The controls are only shitty if you're not playing the game how it's designed to be played- it's a very unusual game. One thing that helps is to watch the demo clip that plays if you let the game sit at the title screen for a while- it shows what kind of play the designers had in mind.
 
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