Backwards compatibility has been an issue for Xbox fans since day 1. What games would be backwards compatible? How would it work? There were a lot of questions floating around. Well, we're here to help out, and hopefully ease any headaches that you might have gotten when trying to figure it out.

How it Works

The Xbox 360 is able to play old Xbox 1 games through emulation software available on the detachable 20Gb hard drive. If you bought the $399 premium version of the Xbox 360, there should be a hard drive attached. Emulation software basically just tricks your Xbox 360 into thinking its an Xbox 1, and makes games playable. There is more to this, but they are more technical - we don't want to give you another headache. However many games, due to the differences in the graphics processor in the Xbox 360 and the original Xbox, are not ready, or will be available for backwards compatibility play on the Xbox 360. Recenly, Microsoft has released a list of over 200 games that are ready for backwards compatibility at launch time. This list is specifically for launch-time games that will work 100% on the Xbox 360. There are plans for adding tons of other games at later dates. Here is that list:

The folks at Xbox® are working hard to add more of your favorite games to this list, so check back often for the latest updates.*

Note: A software emulator is required for each original Xbox game you play on your Xbox 360™ console. Please check back for more details as we approach the launch date.

• 4x4 EVO 2
• AirForce Delta Storm
• Aggressive Inline™
• Alias™
• Aliens versus Predator™ Extinction
• All-Star Baseball™ 2003
• All-Star Baseball™ 2005
• Amped®: Freestyle Snowboarding
• Amped® 2
• Aquaman: Battle of Atlantis
• Army Men®: Sarge's War™
• Atari® Anthology™
• ATV: Quad Power Racing 2™
• Bad Boys 2
• Big Mutha Truckers
• Baldur's Gate™: Dark Alliance™ II
• Barbarian
• Barbie™ Horse Adventures™ Wild Horse Rescue™
• Batman Begins™
• Battle Engine Aquila
• Battlestar Galactica™
• BLACK™
• BMX XXX™
• Brute Force™
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer™: Chaos Bleeds
• Burnout® 3: Takedown™
• Cabela's® Big Game Hunter™ 2005 Adventures
• Cabela’s® Dangerous Hunts™
• Cabela’s® Outdoor Adventures™ 06
• Cabela's® Deer Hunt™ 2005 Season
• Cabela's® Deer Hunt™ 2004 Season
• Call of Cthulhu®: Dark Corners of the Earth™
• Call of Duty™: Finest Hour™
• Casino
• Catwoman™
• Chicago Enforcer
• Circus Maximus
• Close Combat: First to Fight
• Colin McRae Rally 4
• Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers™
• Commandos 2: Men of Courage™
• Conflict: Desert Storm
• Constantine™
• Counter-Strike™
• Crash Twinsanity™
• Crash Nitro Kart™2
• Crimson Skies®: High Road to Revenge™
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon™
• Dark Angel
• Darkwatch™
• Dead or Alive® 3
• Dead to Rights®
• Deathrow
• Digimon® Rumble Arena® 2
• Dinotopia2
• DOOM 3®
• Drake™
• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
• Egg Mania™: Eggstreme Madness
• ESPN Major League Baseball
• ESPN MLS ExtraTime 2002
• Euro 2004
• F1 2001
• Fable®
• Fable®: The Lost Chapters™
• Fairly Odd Parents: Breakin' da Rules
• Fatal Frame™
• Fatal Frame™ II: Crimson Butterfly DIRECTOR'S CUT
• FIFA Soccer 2003
• FIFA Soccer 2004
• FIFA STREET
• Fight Night 2004
• FlatOut™
• Ford Mustang
• Ford vs. Chevy
• Forza Motorsport™
• Freaky Flyers
• Frogger Beyond™
• Futurama™
• Fuzion Frenzy®
• Gauntlet®: Seven Sorrows™
• Genma Onimusha
• Goblin Commander™: Unleash the Horde
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies™
• Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas™
• Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt.
• Grooverider: Slot Car Thunder
• Half-Life® 2
• Halo®
• Halo® 2
• Halo® 2 Multiplayer Map Pack
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire™
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone™
• He-Man: Defender of Grayskull
• Hitman: Contracts™
• House of the Dead 3
• IHRA Drag Racing Sportsman Edition
• IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005™
• IndyCar® Series 2005
• Intellivision Lives
• Jade Empire™3
• James Bond 007™: NightFire™
• Judge Dredd®: Dredd vs. Death™
• Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
• Kabuki™ Warriors
• Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
• kill.switch
• LEGO® Star Wars®
• LEGO® Star Wars™ II: The Original Trilogy
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events™
• Links® 2004
• LOONS—The Fight for Fame
• Magatama
• Manhunt
• Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX™ 2
• Max Payne
• Max Payne® 2
• Maximum Chase
• Medal of Honor European Assault™
• Medal of Honor™ Frontline
• Medal of Honor™ Rising Sun
• Mega Man® Anniversary Collection
• Metal Arms™: Glitch in the System
• MicroMachines
• Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing
• Minority Report
• MLB SlugFest 20-04
• Monster Garage™
• Mortal Kombat® Deception™
• MTV Music Generator™ 3
• MTX: Mototrax™
• Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit
• MX vs. ATV Unleashed
• MX World Tour™: Featuring Jamie Little
• Namco Museum™
• Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection
• NBA LIVE 2004
• Need For Speed™ Underground 2
• NFL Blitz 2002
• NFL Blitz 2003
• NFL Blitz 2004
• NHL® 2004
• NHL Hitz™ 2003
• Ninja Gaiden®
• Ninja Gaiden® Black
• Outlaw Golf 2
• Outlaw Tennis
• Outlaw Volleyball
• Over the Hedge™
• Pariah™
• Phantom Crash™
• Pinball Hall of Fame™
• Pitfall®: The Lost Expedition™
• Predator Concrete Jungle™
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time™
• Pro Evolution Soccer 5
• Pro Race Driver™
• Pump It Up™: Exceed
• Pure Pinball
• Puyo Pop Fever2
• Quantum Redshift®
• RalliSport Challenge
• Rayman Arena
• Raze's Hell™
• Red Dead Revolver
• Red Faction® II
• RedCard™ 2003
• Richard Burns Rally
• Robotech: Battlecry
• Rocky™ Legends
• Rogue Ops
• Rogue Trooper™
• Samurai Jack
• Samurai Warriors™
• Scooby Doo!™ Night of 100 Frights
• Scrapland
• SEGA GT™ 2002
• Serious Sam
• Shadow The Hedgehog™
• Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures
• ShellShock: Nam '67™
• Shincho Mahjong
• Sid Meier's Pirates!®
• Silent Hill® 4: The Room
• Smashing Drive
• Sneakers™ 5
• Sniper Elite
• Soccer Slam
• Sonic Heroes™
• Sonic Mega Collection™ Plus
• Spawn® Armageddon
• Speed Kings™
• Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy™
• Spider-Man™
• Splat Magazine Renegade Paintball
• SpongeBob SquarePants™: Battle for Bikini Bottom
• SpyHunter® 2
• SpyHunter:® Nowhere to Run™
• Spyro™ A Hero's Tail
• SSX 3
• Stake™
• Star Wars Battlefront™
• Star Wars Battlefront™ II
• Star Wars®: Episode III Revenge of the Sith™
• Star Wars® Jedi Knight®: Jedi Academy™
• Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™
• Star Wars® Knights of the Old Republic® II: The Sith Lords™
• State of Emergency
• Street Racing Syndicate™
• Stubbs the Zombie™ in Rebel without a Pulse™
• Super Bubble Pop
• Super Monkey Ball™ Deluxe
• SX Superstar™
• Taz Wanted
• Tecmo Classic Arcade
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™
• Test Drive®: Eve of Destruction
• Tetris Worlds™4
• The Great Escape
• The Hulk™
• The Incredible Hulk™: Ultimate Destruction
• The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
• The Legend of Spyro™: A New Beginning
• The Lord of the Rings™: The Return of the King™
• The Punisher™
• The Simpsons™ Hit and Run™
• The Simpsons™ Road Rage
• The Suffering
• The Terminator™ Dawn of Fate
• The Thing™
• Thief: Deadly Shadows™
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon™ 2
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon™: Island Thunder™
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® 2 Summit Strike
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® 3 Black Arrow™
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell®
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® Chaos Theory™
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® Pandora Tomorrow™
• Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater™ 4
• Tony Hawk's Underground 2
• Torino 2006™ Winter Olympics
• Tork™: Prehistoric Punk™
• Toxic Grind
• Trigger Man™
• True Crime: Streets of LA
• Ty The Tasmanian Tiger™
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger™ 2: Bush Rescue™
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger™ 3: Night of the Quinkan
• Urban Freestyle Soccer
• Vexx™
• Vietcong™: Purple Haze
• Volvo: Drive for Life
• World Soccer Winning Eleven 9
• World Series® Baseball 2K3
• Worms 4 Mayhem
• Worms™ Forts: Under Siege
• Wrath Unleashed™
• WWE™ Raw™ 2
• X2 Wolverine's Revenge
• XIII
• Yourself!Fitness™
• Zapper™

*This list of titles that have passed hand certification for compatibility with Xbox 360 is provided for informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. To ensure the highest quality gaming experience, in the event that an unforeseen technical issue is discovered after hand certification is completed, Microsoft® reserves the right to remove any game name from this list. Please check back often to see the most current list of games.

**Currently the North American version of this game is the only one supported as a backward compatible game on Xbox 360.

But Wait, theres more than meets the eye!

Although you (may) have the required hard drive, and an old game that is on the list above - you still need further requirements. That last requirement is an Xbox Live account, or at least access to the internet and a DVD/CD burner. The reason for this, is that you must download a small update to your Xbox 360. This download is necessary to tell your Xbox 360 that you have OldGameA and you are ready to play it on your Xbox 360.

If you have an Xbox Live account active on your Xbox 360, obtaining the required downloads for backwards compatible games should be a real breeze. Make sure that you are properly connected to your modem or network so that you can login to Xbox Live when the Xbox 360 is ready to download the files for your game. Put in the game you wish to play (remember, it must be on that list) - automatically, your Xbox 360 should recognize that you have put in a backwards compatible game, and will begin downloading the file. It is about 2.5 megabytes - so it shouldn't take longer than about 1 minute, depending on your network and connection situations. You will be able to play the game after a reboot of your Xbox 360.

If you do not have an Xbox Live account, getting backwards compatibility to work on your system is a bit tougher. This will require you to burn a CD or DVD with the files and burn it onto the Xbox 360. The required file is available from Xbox.com (simply right-click on this link and "Save-As" to download). Obviously you will need access to burning software, and a writeable DVD or CD.

Suppose you don't have access to either Xbox Live or a DVD/CD burner, come sometime in December (according to Xbox.com), you will be able to order a disk with the backwards compatibility files. There will be a nominal fee charged for this disc as well as shipping and handling fees. More information on this will be posted as soon as it is available.

Be sure to read the interview with Todd Holmdahl [Corporate Vice President of the Xbox Product Group] about Backwards Compatibility - over at Xbox.com.

To sum it all up, you need:

• An Xbox 360 hard drive
• Game listed above to play
• Either Xbox Live, or access to a DVD/CD burner

The games list will be updated, so don't be disappointed if your game is not listed above! Microsoft said they will continue to produce patches for backwards compatibility way beyond the launch of the Xbox 360, as long as the demand continues to show. We hope this guide has helped you, thanks for reading!

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