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OG Xbox Appreciation and Lack of Emulation Thread of the big black box of doom

Borman

Member
What's this from?

Its a green duke from my collection. Two were included with the Launch Team systems and the Partner Systems, of which there are a few hundred each (at least, dont believe the 60 number online). They may have also been included in a select number of debug kits early on.

Speaking of Dukes, can anyone direct me to a place where I can buy replacement analog sticks for one?

I havent seen any. Push comes to shove I think that the S type sticks work on it.
 

Havoc2049

Member
How's this? It's the only mainline CT I never played.

If you're a Crazy Taxi fan, then Crazy Taxi 3 is a must own. It includes three maps, an awesome and expanded West Coast map from Crazy Taxi, the Small Apple from Crazy Taxi 2 and a new map in Glitter Oasis (Las Vegas). There are also some new gameplay elements, new challenges and improved graphics. The only downside is that there is some slowdown in Glitter Oasis. The new expanded West Coast map is awesome and worth the price of admission on its own.
 
If you're a Crazy Taxi fan, then Crazy Taxi 3 is a must own. It includes three maps, an awesome and expanded West Coast map from Crazy Taxi, the Small Apple from Crazy Taxi 2 and a new map in Glitter Oasis (Las Vegas). There are also some new gameplay elements, new challenges and improved graphics. The only downside is that there is some slowdown in Glitter Oasis. The new expanded West Coast map is awesome and worth the price of admission on its own.

Thanks, sounds like a need to pick it up, lol.
 

Borman

Member
How about Enter the Matrix? Quite a looker with 720p and 1080i support (Although the framebuffer captures are a bit darker than normal gameplay)!

snap011.jpg

snap014.jpg

snap018.jpg
 

Borman

Member
Quite a few widescreen games suffer from "Oh, lets not replace the interface with a proper 16:9 version, let's stretch it!" That doesn't help anything.
 

koopas

Member
I was looking to pick up Conker due to this thread. Man has that game skyrocketed in price! Factory sealed for ~$200 noohoo thank you. ..
 

HTupolev

Member
Quite a few widescreen games suffer from "Oh, lets not replace the interface with a proper 16:9 version, let's stretch it!" That doesn't help anything.
Yep, you even sometimes had stretched reticles in shooters.

HUD scaling is something developers do shockingly badly all the time even today, though. A lot of people think Halo 4's FoV in split-screen is bad because the reticle isn't scaled down with the image (in reality, 2-player split-screen gives you a ~100-degree FoV).
 

bender

What time is it?
Just purchased Phantom Dust thanks to this thread. I don't even own an Xbox anymore. What am I doing?
 

Elija2

Member
I don't recall ever having a problem with the Duke controller when I was younger. I kinda want to get my hands on one again just to remember how they feel. One thing that the Duke did better than the S controller is the black and white button placement. I still don't know why those buttons were shaped and positioned differently than the regular face buttons, especially when looking at that alpha kit controller where it seems like the six buttons went together perfectly. Obviously they were going for the Genesis/Saturn six-button layout, but I wonder why they changed it.
 

bender

What time is it?
I don't recall ever having a problem with the Duke controller when I was younger. I kinda want to get my hands on one again just to remember how they feel. One thing that the Duke did better than the S controller is the black and white button placement. I still don't know why those buttons were shaped and positioned differently than the regular face buttons, especially when looking at that alpha kit controller where it seems like the six buttons went together perfectly. Obviously they were going for the Genesis/Saturn six-button layout, but I wonder why they changed it.

I wonder if there was/is a patent on that layout. Or maybe they just wanted to be different. The duke is still my preferred method for playing Halo.
 

Borman

Member
I always questions whether it was a deterrent from making developers use all 6 as primary buttons. I feel as though they wanted most primary functions to be more easily found, really highlighting how those two buttons were secondary to the rest. Or they were just crazy, I dont know.
 

HTupolev

Member
One thing that the Duke did better than the S controller is the black and white button placement.
The S B/W placement is a little weird, though depending on how I feel on a given day I really like it. The buttons, B/W, and thumbstick are all in a tight triangle, and the B/W feels naturally accessible from both of the other placements.

For some intents and purposes, you can comfortably hit the white button without leaving the thumbstick, feels glorious.
 
I was quite poor at the time of Gen6, but I enjoyed thoroughly reading about the Xbox in magazines and dreaming about owning one.

Reading this thread reminds me of reading all the reviews for the games listed and its making me realize that I want to collect all this stuff.

Can someone tell me whats a good price for a working used OG Xbox? There is a small Videogame shop around my house that im sure sells them and just want to make sure im not getting ripped off.

Would love to start collecting and playing OG Xbox.

Also, can someone make a list of games worth owning? I know this is completely subjective but I would like to know what the best EXCLUSIVE non-sport games are.

This is my preliminary list from going through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games:

Conker: Live and Reloaded
Blinx
Blinx 2
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Dino Crisis 3 (game probably sucks but its exlusive)
GunValkyrie
Jet Set Radio Future
Ninja Gaiden Black
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantom Dust
Steel Batallion
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (Its on PC but not easy to find)
OutRun 2
Shenmue 2


Games I do not want for reasons below:
Halos (Have them on PC, would only consider if the Xbox versions are superior)
Any game that has better version on PC like Counter Strike, Battlefront, GTA.
PGR 1 and 2 (probably wont enjoy since I have and love 3 and 4)
No sports game please


Please add or remove stuff from my list as needed, thanks :)
 

Fox Mulder

Member
I was looking to pick up Conker due to this thread. Man has that game skyrocketed in price! Factory sealed for ~$200 noohoo thank you. ..

I don't get the appeal of collecting sealed, but Conker is around $30 regularly. It was selling for more a bit ago as people people turned to it as a second option behind the n64 version.
 
Youd like this then:
5LH13nl.jpg
Wow, that thing looks amazing! A transparent green original-style Xbox controller... wish I had one. Really cool stuff.

Its a green duke from my collection. Two were included with the Launch Team systems and the Partner Systems, of which there are a few hundred each (at least, dont believe the 60 number online). They may have also been included in a select number of debug kits early on.
It's too bad that it's so rare, they should have sold that in stores too... it would be great to actually be able to get one of those.
 
I have a transparent green controller S, but I like the original controller better, and that one's only available in black. :(

As for that prototype, yeah, looks like the exact same thing, but with a different jewel.
 
Well, big pickup off of BST came in today. Thanks wibblewozzer, you rock!
Aquaman was a freebie.

7yrLBay.jpg

Also, can someone make a list of games worth owning? I know this is completely subjective but I would like to know what the best EXCLUSIVE non-sport games are.

This is my preliminary list from going through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_games:

Conker: Live and Reloaded
Blinx
Blinx 2
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Dino Crisis 3 (game probably sucks but its exlusive)
GunValkyrie
Jet Set Radio Future
Ninja Gaiden Black
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantom Dust
Steel Batallion
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (Its on PC but not easy to find)
OutRun 2
Shenmue 2
Crimson Sea Haven't played it yet, just came in with the above.
Grabbed By the Ghoulies it's Rare, will let you know how it is.
Otogi 1 and 2 Still looking for these. Sega character action. Seems sweet.
Armed and Dangerous is supposed to be pretty good, will be playing soon
Breakdown Another one I am looking forward to.
 

koopas

Member
I stell need to play that Metal Wolf Chaos.
Can anyone confirm if that's region free? I seem to remember either saving the president or playing asthe president wirh either outcome being fine by me lol.

Region free OG Xbox games were recent news to me. I just picked up Blinx 2 (JPN) and it runs flawlessly on both my OG and 360.
 

Tain

Member
Just... don't expect a masterpiece with Metal Wolf Chaos. It's playable, but a bit dull outside of the premise.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Even the prototype Duke (the Dakota) was nicer than the retail

Outside of the jewel, it looks the same?

As for the person that said "well if you mod your box, you don't need to worry about emulation."

For the sake of preserving titles on the X-box, people need to get on emulation. If all those X-box hardware dies, then Phantom Dust/et. al. die with it.
 

ramuh

Member
I enjoyed the crap out of the OG XBOX. A few titles stick out to me for this system. SWTOR 1 and 2, Kingdom Under Fire:Crusaders, Phantom Dust, Jade Empire Indigo Prophecy, Halo 2, and a game called Cold Fear. I know some of these games work on the 360 as well.
 

ramuh

Member
Cold Fear is 720p as well I just found that out today (one of the better looking 'box titles imo)

Ya is was a pretty game for it's time. I also can't believe I didn't add one of favs to my list of XBOX favorites. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
 
Outside of the jewel, it looks the same?

As for the person that said "well if you mod your box, you don't need to worry about emulation."

For the sake of preserving titles on the X-box, people need to get on emulation. If all those X-box hardware dies, then Phantom Dust/et. al. die with it.

Yeah, emulation is the key to keeping these games preserved. Just the thought that some Xbox 360 stuff is somewhat lost to time (no longer available on live) makes me sad. Xbox at least seems to have everything safely backed up at least. Still, an EMU would be amazing.

Just started on OutRun2. Holy crap that game is a BLAST. There just aren't many great actual ARCADE racers like this anymore. Game looks great, plays great, and has a great soundtrack. Haven't played Coast 2 Coast yet, what makes that one so much worse that OR2?
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
GTA's still look good on the system. It's amazing what Rockstar did on the system with that shit grain-filter the PS2 version had removed in the options menu.

Shame they didn't take those graphic enhancements and port them into the PC version.
 
Original Xbox was so fucking cool. When my friend got one and Halo, even despite owning a PS2 and a lot of awesome games at the time, I still felt like I was missing out.
 

Katori

Member
The Xbox is a powerhouse. I hope my kids can play some of the classics one day, emulation or otherwise. Just recently picked up Splinter Cell and did the soft mod--best choice I ever made.

Didn't the Xbox have the best version of THPS2?

Yeah, emulation is the key to keeping these games preserved. Just the thought that some Xbox 360 stuff is somewhat lost to time (no longer available on live) makes me sad. Xbox at least seems to have everything safely backed up at least. Still, an EMU would be amazing.
No Xbox 360 stuff has been lost. AFAIK it has all been preserved.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Didn't the Xbox have the best version of THPS2?

Best version of 2, arguably. 2x takes all the courses from THPS 1 and 2 and throws them into one game, along with like 5 new courses or something like that. I can't remember if they tweaked the mechanics at all (if they did, it was nothing major), but yeah, the Xbox has the most content and the best graphics.

It also has the best version of THPS 3 (better than the PC version, even). Not sure about 4, but it's likely the same.
 
Best version of 2, arguably. 2x takes all the courses from THPS 1 and 2 and throws them into one game, along with like 5 new courses or something like that. I can't remember if they tweaked the mechanics at all (if they did, it was nothing major), but yeah, the Xbox has the most content and the best graphics.

It also has the best version of THPS 3 (better than the PC version, even). Not sure about 4, but it's likely the same.

2X also was the first game to have both male and female CAS, IIRC.

edit: guess not, THPS3 on PS2 predated 2X by a few weeks.
 
I guess this is the new list then:

Tony Hawk 3 (better than PC version it seems, so must own)
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Blinx
Blinx 2
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Dino Crisis 3 (game probably sucks but its exlusive)
GunValkyrie
Jet Set Radio Future
Ninja Gaiden Black
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantom Dust
Steel Batallion
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (Its on PC but not easy to find)
OutRun 2
Shenmue 2
Crimson Sea
Grabbed By the Ghoulies
Otogi 1 and 2
Armed and Dangerous
Breakdown Another
Spikeout

Anyone wants to add something? its time to raid Kijiji, local shops, etc :D
 

tipoo

Banned
From what I understand, it's because of the lack of any well known leaked documentations to work from as well as the fact emulating an x86 within an x86 architecture is apparently far harder than it seems.

Interesting, and surprising. Emulating the PowerPC GC/Wii works very well. And the GC wasn't *that* far behind it in power.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I guess this is the new list then:

Tony Hawk 3 (better than PC version it seems, so must own)
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Blinx
Blinx 2
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Dino Crisis 3 (game probably sucks but its exlusive)
GunValkyrie
Jet Set Radio Future
Ninja Gaiden Black
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Phantom Dust
Steel Batallion
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (Its on PC but not easy to find)
OutRun 2
Shenmue 2
Crimson Sea
Grabbed By the Ghoulies
Otogi 1 and 2
Armed and Dangerous
Breakdown Another
Spikeout

Anyone wants to add something? its time to raid Kijiji, local shops, etc :D

I'd add Genma Onimusha to the list. Best version of the best Onimusha. I absolutely fucking adore that game.


I'm kinda wondering if I should give Crimson Sea a second chance. I got it when it first came out and played a bit of it, but never really got into it...
 

Borman

Member
Yeah, emulation is the key to keeping these games preserved. Just the thought that some Xbox 360 stuff is somewhat lost to time (no longer available on live) makes me sad. Xbox at least seems to have everything safely backed up at least. Still, an EMU would be amazing.

Just started on OutRun2. Holy crap that game is a BLAST. There just aren't many great actual ARCADE racers like this anymore. Game looks great, plays great, and has a great soundtrack. Haven't played Coast 2 Coast yet, what makes that one so much worse that OR2?

C2C is fine, it just doesnt have some of the extra stuff I think, like the SCUD Race track.

No Xbox 360 stuff has been lost. AFAIK it has all been preserved.

The XBLA stuff is a bit hit or miss. There may be a private archive out there still, but publicly there are a lot of holes missing in content, especially stuff that appeared on XBLA by mistake like Crimson Dragon :p
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
C2C is fine, it just doesnt have some of the extra stuff I think, like the SCUD Race track.

The tracks that were based on Daytona USA are all gone. The bigger issue for me, though, is that the Challenge mode in Outrun 2 kicks the shit out of Coast 2 Coast's err... Coast 2 Coast mode. The challenges in Outrun 2 are far more interesting, and are considerably more challenging, especially early on. They're fun, bite-sized chunks of Outrun 2 gameplay where Coast 2 Coast is insistent on making you play through much longer, kinda boring stretches. And maybe it's just the PC version, but Coast 2 Coast just feels really ghetto in terms of presentation... it's still a great game, but it has some serious drawbacks.

Point is, Outrun 2 is easily the better game, as far as I'm concerned. But you should probably have both.
 

Sulik2

Member
Man that list of games in the OP. Xbox had by far the best exclusives of that gen. I loved mine. Orta was garbage though.
 
Man that list of games in the OP. Xbox had by far the best exclusives of that gen. I loved mine.

Glad to hear it, Xbox was really a damn fine system with some unique...

Orta was garbage though.

You shut your mouth!!! Are you just not a fan of shooters? Because Orta is pretty much the greatest rail shooter ever made, by a LOT.
 
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