How to Play Original Xbox Games on Xbox One
Breathe new life into your old Xbox games by playing them on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S console with the backwards compatibility functionality.
The Xbox One console is fast becoming one of the best consoles to own and it’s all because of Microsoft’s continued support of backwards compatibility. Thanks to the back compat program, the games players were experiencing back in 2001 aren’t left to collect dust on shelves, but can be replayed on modern technology. While not all original Xbox games can currently be played on an Xbox One, the list of compatible games is constantly growing. Playing an original Xbox game on an Xbox One is a simple process, even if you don’t have the old discs lying around.
How to Play Original Xbox Games on Xbox One
As of October 2017, any Xbox One console now has the functionality to play certain original Xbox games. In order to get these games to play on your Xbox One console, you must either own the original disc or purchase a digital copy of the game. That’s right, if you have the Xbox game sitting someone in storage, go and get it because it will work in your Xbox One.
- Turn on Xbox One and sign in to your account
- Ensure you are connected to Xbox Live
- Put your original Xbox game (must be an available title)
- Xbox One will begin downloading necessary content
- Launch the game from the Home screen or from My Games & Apps
Switch on your Xbox One and connected to Xbox Live. Part of playing original Xbox games on your Xbox One is ensuring that the console can connect to the internet in order to download the necessary patch to play the game.
Insert the Xbox game, making sure it is one of the titles on the original Xbox compatibility list. Your Xbox One will begin installing the game and downloading any necessary patches. If you were not connected to Xbox Live when you put in the disc, you will receive an error code informing you something went wrong. Check your connection and then try again.
Once the game has finished installing, you will be able to launch it from the Home screen or from My Games & Apps.
How to Play Digital Original Xbox Games on Xbox One
Not everyone had the foresight to hold onto their original Xbox games in case Microsoft allowed backward compatibility. If you got rid of your old games, don’t worry, you won’t need to shell out high fees for a used copy, you can purchase a digital version of the original Xbox game and play it on your Xbox One console.
Purchasing an original Xbox game is as easy as navigating to the Store on your Xbox One, typing the game you want into the search box, and then selecting it from the games that appear. As with owning the physical disc, you will need to ensure the game you want is included in the list of available backward compatible titles.
With the game purchased, the download and installation process will begin, and when that’s finished, you will be able to play your brand new, old-school, original Xbox game on your Xbox One thanks to backwards compatibility!
That’s really all there is to it. Original Xbox games work on all versions of the console, but the Xbox One and Xbox One S run the games at 4-times the resolution while the Xbox One X can play them at 16-times the resolution. This makes those old original Xbox games really pop on the Xbox One! Make sure to keep it locked to Shacknews as we help you with all the technical stuff, like downloading 4K visuals for your games on Xbox One X.
