Original Xbox

[Cerys]

Might be getting one of these soon.  A friend of SNG is giving us his copy of Morrowind, and I want to be able to play it without any of the bugs that are possible with backwards-compatibility.  There's a place in town that is selling one second-hand with three games thrown in for free.  What games would you recommend?

[Hollow]

Splinter Cell...then you can soft-mod that sucker and it gets a million times better.

You need a memory card too...if I remember correctly.

On the games front...OUTRUN 2 has got to be one of my proper recommendations...then Breakdown.

[Obel]

Otogi and Otogi 2.

[madhair60]

Throw it inside a Bin

[Hollow]

Loved those two games.

Panzer Dragoon Orta...which is still one of the most beautiful games ever.

[Hollow]

Throw it inside a Bin

Bit harsh...an original xbox can be turned into a whole load of fun...emulators...xbmc...it's still a bargain media centre for those on a budget or those who just like being cheap.

[Big Jack McBastard]

If you've not played SSX Tricky or Amped 3 on the 360 then Amped 2 is pretty good if a bit bloody hard later on, I replaced the soundtrack with my 'best of' Faith No More collection.

Jedi Outcast and Academy were good and of course Kotor and II were the best things on it. The Suffering was grim.

It feels anachronistic now but I remember Path of Neo made me laugh, stringing together Arkham-style combos, walking up walls and smashing agents in the face with iron poles and watching them going end over end into their pals. I could piss about doing that for hours.

The Godfather, played like it's own GTA, cracking safes, knocking over shops, intimidating owners for protection money, taking over rackets, gambling and prostitution rings then moving up to warehouses and distribution hubs before tackling a rival families IN THEIR HOUSE VINNIE OH YES! One of the few games out there where you can garrotte a person in the street and let them go just  a hair before they die so they can fall to the floor, wheeze and splutter while you make like a psycho and stalk around them in your new fancy garotting hat. Came out fairly late in the life of the console and got ported to the 360/PS3, good game.

Despite the hype heaped upon it Timesplitters 2 (while varied) felt plotless and was just no fun without other people playing (it was also better on the PS2), it's a bit like Star Wars Battlefront in that everything in it is/was just a series of the usual deathmatch, CTF, KOTH etc bollocks and though it looks nice and runs well it gets old quick.

People raved about Psychonauts, never played it myself. Freedom Fighters was eeeh ok.

[HappyTree]

SSX Tricky, 3 and On Tour are wonderful (3 is exciting with its "event" atmosphere - especially on the half pipe, and On Tour lets you do a continuous run down the whole mountain for 20 minutes, wearing a pair of bat wings). As are Shenmue II and the two KotORs. And I'd add in Wallace and Gromit Project Zoo as probably the most fun platformer I've ever played. Were Rabbit was brilliant too.

Special shout out to Midtown Madness 3, the game I have most played to quivering death. I used to have dreams of going around the maps in every detail.

My original box has finally packed in and I'm going to get another one simply to allow me to continue to play the SSX games. One little-known game I love is Mashed. A kind of Micro Machines-esque racer. They updated it and it's compatible with the 360 but the original original was better, tbh.

I love my 360 but the arrival of the first Xbox was a real revelation to me. In fact I will just pop off now and see if I can find Project Zoo again.

edit: oh yes, you must play Psychonaughts. It's an experience every gamer should have. The game itself got a bit convoluted towards the end and I had to use a walkthrough, but you must experience it.

[Quote]

Outrun 2, that was amazing at the time. I'm sure it's still fun, if less graphically impressive than it once was.

Jet Set Radio Future too. I remember Black being really good at the time but it's probably very dated these days.

[Cerys]

You need a memory card too...if I remember correctly.

Does it not play with USB sticks?

edit: oh yes, you must play Psychonaughts. It's an experience every gamer should have. The game itself got a bit convoluted towards the end and I had to use a walkthrough, but you must experience it.

I think that may well have to happen.

[Consignia]

Does it not play with USB sticks?

Not if you want to soft mod it.

Soft modding Xboxes 10 years ago was an amazing thing to do, it was a really good media server and it had loads of emus on it. However, you can get most of functionality better from other devices, so unless you want to pir8 stuff (which you'll probably spend more time searching for on the web to find the copies than just getting job lots second hand), it's probably not worth bothering.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I second most of the above. Morrowind will keep you going forever really- just be aware that on the Xbox version there is a bug where you can't access training for Master Medium Armour. However, unlike Skyrim it has medium armour, and if you allow yourself to get hit on it enough, you'll level up anyway.

Absolutely loved Midtown Madness 3 on Xbox Live but thems days is over sonny.

Get Shenmue as well.

Panzer Dragoon Orta and Otogi are good shouts.

Ninja Gaiden is a bloody beast. The gameplay is still really smooth and exciting.

Get the first beautiful, wonderful Fable.

Armed & Dangerous if you want something with stupid British humour where weird stuff happens for no reason whatsoever.

Top Spin is the best tennis game I've played- still.

Oh and there's a game on it called 'Halo', you might want to look at getting that.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Soft modding Xboxes 10 years ago was an amazing thing to do, it was a really good media server and it had loads of emus on it.

[Cerys]

I should point out that my choice of games will initially be restricted to whatever second-hand Xbox titles they have.  I think.

[I.D. Smith]

Knights of the Old Republic! I played it and enjoyed, and I don't even like Star Wars.

EDIT - Ah, just noticed they've been mentioned already, above - for some reason the KOTOR abbreviation threw me, and I thought they were talking about something else.

[Quote]

Links 2004 was one of the best golf games ever. I think it was the last in the series too. I knew there was something I forgot to mention earlier ... agree about Top Spin too, that was excellent.

House of the Dead 3 was good too, although like most light gun games it wouldn't work with modern TV's.

[syntaxerror]

The Xbox version of Morrowind has appalling loading times and is foggy as hell. Still a good game though.

[Thursday]

I'd be tempted to wait until this mod is released on pc http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/01/12/skywind-video/

[Ron Maels Moustache]

The Xbox version of Morrowind has appalling loading times and is foggy as hell. Still a good game though.

I think it also has a pretty major bug where the game crashes if the save file gets too big.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I think it also has a pretty major bug where the game crashes if the save file gets too big.

I got really, reaally far into it in terms of game hours- wouldn't care to remember but let's say 'enough for most people', and used 6/7 saves interchangeably. Never had a problem.

PC is obviously preferable but playing it with the control pad gives you a certain ease and the acrobatics are more fun with an xbox controller than keyboard and mouse.

edit- just thought- if they have Game Of The Year Edition, or the latest possible version you can find, the bugs may be fixed.

[Mister Six]

Psychonauts.

(Do I have to justify that? Okay, it's charming, witty, beautifully constructed, crackling with imagination and a joy to behold. The final level is a shitter, but the rest of the game is glorious.)

[Cerys]

Heh - it turns out we already have Psychonauts on the 360.  I totally forgot.

[Mister Six]

Oh man, I didn't realise it got a 360 re-release. Did they jazz up the graphics (or at least the resolution)?

[madhair60]

You know what was shit?  Conker Live and Reloaded.  It was actually more censored than the N64 game.  And they ruined "Zombies".

God, the original Xbox is a fucking void.  You'd be better off with PS2 or even a Gamecube.  Original Xbox, I often forget it exists.  File under 3D0, CD-i, CD32 etc

[Benevolent Despot]

Fuzion Frenzy. Bill Gates' favourite game. That's true. A seal of quality.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

God, the original Xbox is a fucking void.

How you reach that conclusion is beyond me.

[madhair60]

How you reach that conclusion is beyond me.

There are no Xbox exclusives worth a fuck, is how.  Everything worth playing on it is better played on something else.

[checkoutgirl]

Splinter Cell is a great game. Get that. I have an original XBox gathering dust and insects in my parents shed. I wonder if it's worth digging out.

[checkoutgirl]

There are no Xbox exclusives worth a fuck, is how.  Everything worth playing on it is better played on something else.

The original XBox had superior graphics to its rival at the time, the Playstation 2. Also I remember the XBox having a decent controller and if you're on a budget I can imagine picking up job lots of old XBox games for a couple of quid.

Anyway you can hardly talk, you've got a Dreamcast.

[Consignia]

The Dreamcast was the best console ever made, and that's a scientific fact.