5 Classic Xbox 360 Games That Play Better Than Ever Through Backwards Compatibility

[@RetroMediaRoom]

CORRECTION: Fallout New Vegas doesn't have the resolution and graphical detail upgrades that I mentioned, I confused that with the upgrades Fallout 3 recieved from its Xbox One X upgrades, so for Vegas it is the 60fps boost mode at native 720p (which fooled me because I thought it looked pretty sharp) and the screen tearing is eliminated which is very nice. Yes it's still the best way to play on consoles, but I wanted to correct my statement. Sorry about that, I really try to be as accurate as possible.

[@FrogThumb]

Don’t beat yourself up over it! Mistakes happen and it doesn’t affect the video’s high quality! :)

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Thank you! 🙏 Honesty, integrity, and NOT being an AI riddled clickbait channel is what I'm striving for.

[@PlasticSorcererTheOriginal]

​@RetroMediaRoom there is one extra benefit, 16x Anisotrop filtering.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Oh right that's worth mentioning, yes it's natively 720p, but it still looks a bit better with that automatic feature that is enabled for most backwards compatible games so they're always going to somewhat sharper even without native upgrades.

[@PlasticSorcererTheOriginal]

@RetroMediaRoom it should be on by default for all 360 as well as Xbone games running through a Series X. The games without it are usually some 360 games that got the full 4K treatment. Ones without it from the top of my head that didn't seem to get an AF boost were: Oblivion, Witcher 2 (IIRC) and Halo 3 (according to DF video on Halo 3 through back compat vs Master Cheif Collection).

[@Ronsilk-pu5hr]

Xbox backwards compatibility does not get the praise that it deserves. I play lots of them on my Series X

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Absolutely right, that's why I've been wanting to make these videos, I absolutely love it 😀

[@flouserschird]

I’m trying to buy up as many as I can. They’re going to go up in price soon but a lot of these are still dirty cheap.

[@ViperGTS737]

I played Condemned for the first time on the Series X, such a lovely and atmospheric game I wish they make another sequel, the sound is really good with a headset

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Awesome! I need to play it with my headset 😀

[@freddiegreen6491]

Condemned criminal originals is my favorite horror game of all time! Feel like a new one with todays technology would be insane

[@RetroMediaRoom]

A 3rd title would be very cool! 😀

[@warehousedave7937]

360 actually had over 250 games that were physically exclusive to the console if you dont count PC versions. Exclusives were a very strong point for the console.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Sure, more so referring to the current state of Xbox by appreciating the good old days.

[@nathanchambers985]

How many of those 250 games were top rated triple A titles? Most of them were shovel ware.

[@warehousedave7937]

@@nathanchambers985 exactly 27 of them were top rated triple A titles, 18 of them were top rated double A titles, 22 of them were above average rated double A titles, 26 of them were above average rated single A titles. And an addition 16 of them were above average but not top rated AAA titles.

[@warehousedave7937]

@@nathanchambers985 also an interesting phenomenon with 7th gen games generally is that modern reviews and ratings given by users are MUCH higher on certain games than they received back in 2006-2013. This proves that many games were simply way ahead of their time and could not be appreciated until many years had passed. A few examples are Operation Darkness, Ninja Blade, Deadly Premonition, Darkest of Days, Lost Dimension, Fatal Inertia. These games are much more appreciated now. Only a bonehead would judge by outdated review scores.

[@ezioauditoredafirenze5453]

​@@nathanchambers985So are you really saying that only AAA games are good? There are plenty of AA games that are great games. Just one good example from last year: RoboCop: Rogue City.

[@josuecervantes1757]

I remember being way too young when I first saw condemned at my cousins house. Game still looks great after all these years. It was impressive back then when I first saw it and still is. Can’t wait to finally play it.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

It's really great, you'll have a good time!

[@NathanCorrado-yn2yx]

Mx vs Atv Supercrods AC2 Gears of war 2 Mw2 Cod 4 mw I wish fall of cybertron was still available one of my all time favorites as a kid for sure

[@RetroMediaRoom]

All sorts of good titles 👌

[@MeltWithU]

Condemned is still one of the best psychological horror/detective games ever made. Games today still haven’t matched its atmosphere and gameplay. When you can hear an enemy walking around you, but can’t see them because it’s so dark and then you hear them pull a conduit pipe off the wall and see the sparks and know they are coming at you with it… it’s incredible. And still to this day, I can’t think of one game that has matched. It’s AI, other than FEAR. The fact that enemies can find and use weapons in the environment, brings an entirely new level to the gameplay. Still one of my favorite games to this day and I wish Sega would pull it out of the archives and either remake it or have somebody else do so, introduce an entirely new generation to it and then make a new game. I also wish FEAR would get a remake and then a new game.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Absolutely! Even in my gameplay footage you see me catching a guy attempting to pull a circuit rod off the wall and I stopped him with the taser, the level of detail is awesome!

[@juanchovl]

I got my Series X back in December. Have played Assassin's Creed (AC1 reg 360 era titles), but in terms of exclusives, a friend gave me his copies of Deadly Premonition and Lost Odyssey. Deadly Premonition is a sort of paranormal crime solving game, heavily inspired by the Twin Peaks TV series. Lost Odyssey it's like xbox's own Final Fantasy game. I haven't played it yet, but it has fantastic reviews and the composer is Nobuo Uematsu, famous from Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger.

[@tylerelli6565]

Xbox 360 is one of my favorite consoles. I still remember those early cod 2 ads from 2005 and the feeling that the 360 was going to be something special. In 2008 all my friends had Xbox 360s and one of them got a ps3 and I remember how crappy the games looked compared to the 360 version.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Agreed, as much as I love the PS3, it had a tendency to struggle with 3rd party games compared to the 360, simply because it was tricky to develop for while 360 was Windows based, similar to the PS1 versus the Sega Saturn.

[@stigee]

Great list! I haven't played max Payne 2 or the MGS game. But I played and loved the first three. Enslaved is such a hidden gem. Sad it didn't get the press and marketing and the ending was a cliff hanger. I'm actually playing new vegas now and am loving it. A little dated, obviously but I see why it's celebrated

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Oh man Max Payne 2 is an absolute classic, I highly recommend it 😀

[@RokushoHasashi]

I played Condemned Criminal Origins a long time ago. It's a great horror game, and I will definitely be getting this game. I recently just bought Medal Gear Rising Revengeance a month ago on Ebay for $20 and bought the DLC on the Xbox Marketplace afterward. It's a fun game. I bought I bought Max Payne 3 [CIB] for X360 almost 3 years ago from Facebook Marketplace in a 4 game bundle for $45 [$11.25 for each game]. I own Max Payne 1 & 2 as well, and I'm looking forward to Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake! RIP James McCaffrey 😢🙏🏽💔

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yeah RIP, he was a legend 😥

[@RokushoHasashi]

He definitely is a legend ❤️

[@MrKingSob]

Idea for a video is setup tour. The TV you use, systems you have etc. As someone just getting in to building a gaming room im looking for ideas. And for ways to hook things up

[@teedotfoster]

Max Payne 3 is one of the best games ever made. It still looks amazing and the gunplay is great. You will die a lot tho lol

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Oh man you ain't kidding, I died a lot just capturing the gameplay 😅

[@susanna8612]

I think Max Payne 1 and 2 are better

[@lolcat]

dragon age origins is great too

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yep, I have it and need to play it.

[@jonathangrigg2728]

I’m at the part of your video where you got to New Vegas and you say it has better draw distances and better resolution. That’s not true at all, it’s still native 720p, draw distance is the exact same. It has FPS Boost to hit 60fps. That is all. When you mention Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, you mention Shinji Mikami and Platinum doing a phenomenal job. He left Platinum 3 years before they made Metal Gear Metal Gear Rising, and Hideki Kamiya is the creator of Bayonetta, and he also had nothing to do with MGR:R, no where to be seen in the credits of Platinum employees that worked on MGR:R.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Okay New Vegas was my bad, I just took a look back and mixed up in my mind the carried over Xbox One X upgrades they did to Fallout 3 that are lacking for Vegas, you are correct and I'll make a note about it, they fixed the screen tearing and did the framerate boost to 60fps in it's original native 720p and that's pretty much it graphically. With Platinum Games I didn't do a super detailed timeline research into them for this so I should have just mentioned the fact that they were founded by Mikami and clearly his legacy and influence remained. While not created by the EXACT director of Bayonetta, Atsushi Inaba was the producer of Metal Gear Rising and was also producer of Bayonetta 2 and worked on Devil May Cry 2001 so I'm not exactly way off by mentioning those other games, all in all I was just trying to draw a picture of what Platinum Games has done as a team and Metal Gear Rising fits right along with what you would expect as a quality action game the likes of DMC and Bayonetta, which some members of the devs are connected to.

[@jonathangrigg2728]

@@RetroMediaRoom it’s all good. Love your content

[@RetroMediaRoom]

I always like to correct the record so much appreciated 🤝

[@flouserschird]

Some of these games don’t work on PC anymore so this is literally the best way to play them. Xbox Series X is a great console for retro games.

[@buggerlugz6753]

If you could play 360 games directly off the Disc then yes it would be "better". Unfortunately this isn't the case in 2024.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yeah an internet connection is required unfortunately.

[@susanna8612]

​​​​​@@RetroMediaRoomwhat? Internet connection is not required to play xbox360 games in Series X or any other xbox games if u have the disc or the game is downloaded to your hardrive . Where u even get this assumption that internet is required? Yes if u want newest updates then u need to connect to internet sometimes but over all for single players games u dont need internet access. I have played many xbox 360 games and other games offline with my Series console. Only time when u need internet is if u download your digitally bought game or wanna play multiplaying games online or want updates.

[@susanna8612]

Why u have to download the games nowdays to the hard drive is simply because your newer console optimise them to run and run even better in your new gen console and this current generation games are too big to be able to run straight from CD, thats why downloading is required. But internet is not required to play xbox games, as long as your console is market as your home console, u can play any single player games offline.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

@@susanna8612 All I'm saying is it requires the internet to get the fullest and latest updates to games in general, it depends on the game too so there are a lot of variables that you'll run into without an internet connection. Point is it's not like how I'm able to play Xbox games on my OG Xbox which has zero internet connection and virtually nothing is lacking outside of multiplayer or the occasional DLC, at the very least you're going to be missing out on many features and versions of these games without it on current hardware.

[@susanna8612]

@@RetroMediaRoom yes but those OG xbox games you cant get any updates. Over all updates just makes the games better so they are not really bad thing. In xbox360 there was updates too allready, so its not a this gen thing exclusively. But yes, I understand your over all point. Times has changed.

[@nicholasbullock1709]

It’s frustrating that Xbox does a lot right on the technical side, but completely screws the pooch on the business side.

[@bigmac371]

It’ll play even better on a pc too!

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Oh yeah that's the absolute premium way to play more often than not with a decent rig. My channel is focused on console gaming so that's why I usually don't get into the PC side of things much.

[@bigmac371]

@@RetroMediaRoomI see, since these games are older you don’t need a beefy GPU. MGR holds a special place above other games Forsure !

[@13Carrey1]

DAMN I love the Intro of ur channel! :)

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Thanks! 😃

[@RetroMediaRoom]

For what it's worth, it's my original music and I also have a Playlist of music videos that I've produced and edited with my songs and some of my brothers.

[@13Carrey1]

@@RetroMediaRoom that is cool but i also love the retro 80s vibe intro i tried this in a similar way but yeah :)

[@apex0824]

I replayed Condemned last year after maybe a decade or so. It was one of my favorite 360 launch titles. Had a blast replaying it. Just have to say that Rosa looks like a man...

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yeah those character models are a bit rough Lol

[@jUAN.T]

Hitman Contracts on xbox series s|x is king

[@mattakadanja]

Good choices.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Thanks! More to come 😀

[@greatestever4773]

ninja gaiden 2 bro

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yep I've got it 👍

[@Frozenduckling]

I can’t play fallout 3 or new Vegas on my Xbox 360. It freezes every 10 minutes and the loading screens are very long. But on the Xbox series x they load quick and don’t freeze. When fallout freezes on the Xbox 360 I have to plug the cord out of the wall just to turn the Xbox 360 off.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yeah that's EXACTLY why I wanted to showcase these because they're so much more playable on new hardware 😃

[@ezioauditoredafirenze5453]

I'm missing that Condemned from these but it's on my list. New games coming next week again. This week I got: Aliens vs Predator steelbook version (Xbox 360) Vagrant Story (PS1) Crash Bash (PS1) Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 (PS3) Dragon's Dogma (PS3) Syndicate (PS3 and Xbox 360) Generation Zero (Xbox One) Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (Xbox 360) Remember Me (Xbox 360) Wipeout HD Pulse (PS3) Batman: Arkham Origins (Xbox 360) The Saboteur (PS3) It's fun to collect games and game consoles but there's only limited amount of space for them. 🙄 What games have you got lately folks?

[@RetroMediaRoom]

That's an awesome list! 👍

[@13Carrey1]

@@RetroMediaRoom I have to say that Condemed is indexed here in Germany and the selling is forbidden because of the inhuman and cruel depiction of violence as well as the glorification of vigilante justice and the use of violence in the game like they said here.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Wow that's wild 😳

[@deusvlad2.083]

Lollipop chainsaw doesn't play better on series X than it did on xbox360 too.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

I can't speak to that yet, I own it but haven't played it.

[@deusvlad2.083]

@@RetroMediaRoom I have, the new one won't have the licensed music in it, licensed outfits, and the graphics a bit darker shaded, but ruined some scenes in the classic, which actually looked better than the repop.

[@cameronleehorace]

Is fallout better on xbox series x than it is on PC?

[@RetroMediaRoom]

If you have a capable rig no, especially if you're into mods.

[@cameronleehorace]

@@RetroMediaRoom I do not usually use mods but my PC is good enough, I have the xbox as modern games struggle on it. But things like Skyrim and games up to about 2019 work great

[@RetroMediaRoom]

@@cameronleehorace then I'd say it'll probably play more than fine, mind you I'm very limited in my modern PC gaming repertoire, more so I played PC games growing up in the 90s.

[@cameronleehorace]

@@RetroMediaRoom My PC crashes so much now actually. I rarely use it and it sucks how tech from just 5 years ago becomes unusable. Probably after all I might use the xbox for backward compatibility

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yeah that's why I stick with consoles 99% of the time, things just work with less hassle.

[@Fafnir2000]

Noo Max payne 3 and enslaved didnt got any 4k 60 fps updates, i know because i owe them.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

I didn't say they did, they're just inherently a bit sharper and with more stable 30fps, I literally said they didn't receive any special upgrades of new bells and whistles.

[@emeraldweapon7]

Someone tell me why fallout Vegas never works on PC

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yeah hopefully someone has some insight because that's outside of my knowledge.

[@Hughesburner]

I put 90hrs into it on steam deck a few months ago with maybe 5 crashes. I have maybe 2-3hrs in windows steam with no issues. The crashes are to desktop with only one real gamebreaking glitch. I think more of these were in the first 10-15hrs.

[@Wierie_]

It can work but needs mod patches and stability mods. Stuff like tick fix, 4gb patcher etc. I heard the gog version runs the best out of the box if i’m not mistaken.

[@Wierie_]

Follow the viva la vegas modding guide for the best way to play new vegas stability wise.

[@newleaf8269]

Xbox series X 😂😂😂

[@RetroMediaRoom]

Yep I love it 😀

[@deusvlad2.083]

No wonder why Capcom suck now, they lost the original developers of capcom that are now called platinum games. Which means platinum games last job they worked on something before Nier Automata. back and before in 2017 which means even as far back as before bayonetta Capcom mind you haven't been good for years now.

[@RetroMediaRoom]

I don't know, Resident Evil has been very good lately, but yes some of their legacy devs have done some better Capcom style games over at Platinum throughout time.

[@jasonwilliams5046]

@jasonwilliams5046 0 seconds ago Alan Wake Assassins Creed Binary Domain Darksiders Dead space 2 Fable Far Cry 3 FEAR FF XIII Lightning Returns Medal of Honor Airborne Mirrors Edge Gears of War 3

[@voidofhope6259]

FEAR remains one of the best games I’ve ever played. Darksiders also another sick ass game. Farcry 2 and 3 to me are and will remain the best of that series. My dad used to love watching me chainsaw shit to death in Gears…good times. Medal Of Honor and I go way back to the very beginning. Got the first one at EB Games at a mall in 5th grade. You can’t go wrong really with any MOH games from Ps1 or 2