So, What's the Deal with Backwards Compatibility?

[bretthorror]

I've read that the BC on this system is really choppy and not so good, so I was wondering if any games run properly/is it worth me buying original Xbox games to play on it? I just ordered a 360 the other day and was thinking of buying some older titles. I hear Halo and Halo 2 run fine, but it seems as though most every game has a problem. I was excited to be able to play Ninja Gaiden Black, but I read it barely even runs. Is this exaggeration or is it just best I don't buy Xbox games for it?

[Hyper_Eye]

Most of the BC games play very well. I have had very few problems. There is a bug here and there and they are notes on the BC page at XBox.com. Some games worth picking up for BC that run great: Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Doom 3, Fatal Frame and Fatal Frame2. I have played a lot of my XBox library on 360 and have had a good experience.

[Atari5200]

same here, no problems with Backward compatibility, Star Wars KOTOR worked fine as well as The Suffering, and Halo 1 worked just fine too.

[MCHufnagel]

I've had a few problems with BC, but for the most part it works fine. I have around 30 Xbox games and here is what I have found.

 

Fable is a bit choppy/slow, not too much but it is there. The Tecmo collection doesn't work at all. I've been to another site and their forums have confirmed it, yet it's still on the BC list. I've played a Medal Of Honor game (forgot which one) and multi-player doesn't work. But I think that has been confirmed by MS. I also have read that Silent Hill 2 runs a bit choppy, but I haven't played it yet on my X360.

[Jess Ragan]

Yeah, Tecmo Arcade Classics was (unofficially) taken off the backward compatibility list. It's kind of a bummer, but that collection wasn't all that great anyway... Tecmo's games weren't especially entertaining back when the company was known as Tehkan.

 

Anyway, I haven't had too many problems with original Xbox games on the Xbox 360. Psychonauts looks better on the original system, but Burnout 3 and Namco 50th Anniversary both play beautifully.

Edited October 22, 2007 by Jess Ragan

[FastRobPlus]

Here's a good tip I got from someone in MGS:

If the game is choppy or does not work, temporarily set your Xbox 360's video output to 480p (or 480i if its a choice). A very small numbers of games are having trouble upscaling.

 

This will allow Techmo to run, at least until they get the root issue fixed.

[Atariboy]

I haven't been as impressed with BC so far. Nothing I've played has been 100% right except for one of the Scooby Doo games, everything else has had noticeable issues. Makes me glad my Xbox is still hooked up. I only test it out of curiousity when a game I like is added to the list, so it doesn't bother me at all.

[bretthorror]

Anyone have any first hand confirmation on how the Ninja Gaiden games run?

[Atariboy]

No, but they seem to have a reputation as some of the best running original Xbox games in BC mode, and seem to benefit a lot from being upscaled. I've seen some impressive screenshots of them at the AVS forums being ran on 360s.

[bretthorror]

Heh, I'll be playing my 360 on a standard def TV anyways.

[Lord Helmet]

The only problem I have had is that some of the games I'd like to play are not supported (Tron!) and that a couple of the games aren't in widescreen anymore, thought that problem might be the settings. KOTOR is one I can't play in widescreen...but after looking, I don't think the game actually supports it, so I must have had the screen stretched on my old XBox.

Edited October 23, 2007 by Lord Helmet

[+HammR25]

I've only got one original Xbox game and it works fine. The game is Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. The only problem I have is being forced to turn off the music every time I play the game.

Edited October 23, 2007 by HammR25

[Hyper_Eye]

The only problem I have had is that some of the games I'd like to play are not supported (Tron!) and that a couple of the games aren't in widescreen anymore, thought that problem might be the settings. KOTOR is one I can't play in widescreen...but after looking, I don't think the game actually supports it, so I must have had the screen stretched on my old XBox.

 

A lot of games on XBox were simply stretched. Not many actually had true widescreen. If you are playing a game using BC that was widescreen on XBox but not on 360 then change your resolution to 480p while you play the game and it should be widescreen.

[Atariboy]

Really?

 

I've seen a lot of them that support wide screen that do it by cutting off the top and bottom of the image so they don't have to show more of the on screen action (Anamorphic its called I think, or something like that), but I've not seen any yet that stretch things beyond maybe the HUD for some games (Didn't one of the Halo's do that?).

[Hyper_Eye]

Really?

 

I've seen a lot of them that support wide screen that do it by cutting off the top and bottom of the image so they don't have to show more of the on screen action (Anamorphic its called I think, or something like that), but I've not seen any yet that stretch things beyond maybe the HUD for some games (Didn't one of the Halo's do that?).

 

The first Halo was not true Widescreen but the second one was. Most of the time I pop in an XBox game and I have to switch to 480p to get widescreen. For the ones that did have true widescreen they look really good upscaled to 720p.

[Atariboy]

Yeah, it was Halo 2 I'm thinking of. Halo isn't a widescreen title unless you stretch it on your tv to fill the screen, which will distort things.

 

However, I've never seen that effect on games that officially support widescreen.

[ManShowBoy]

Keep the old Xbox is all im saying. Out of all the next gen systems , 360's BC sucks the most.

Edited October 25, 2007 by ManShowBoy

[Jess Ragan]

THAT'S subject to debate. If you've got a first model Playstation 3, you're all set, but if it's any newer than that, the backward compatibility sucks out loud... IF you get any at all!