There is no power greater than "X"

For many of us, the convenience of using emulators and ROMs has become so second nature that we tend to take emulation for granted. If emulation's sole purpose was to enjoy games, then we probably wouldn't even mention it. However, emulation has a whole myriad of purposes, and one that is incredibly important is preservation. Countless games, and even some systems, that would have completely faded out of time and into obscurity have been saved by the emulation scene. The fact that we have libraries consisting of every release on systems that are 20, 30, or 40 years old is a miracle of preservation. However, this wasn't the act of forward-thinking companies preserving their products. This was the act of emulation enthusiasts worldwide, digitizing their games, collaborating with others and working to preserve the history of this medium we hold so dear. This work continues even now - extending its efforts to lost prototypes of old systems and libraries of previous gen systems like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, within this bastion of preservation and history exists a void. While PlayStation 2 and Gamecube all have powerful emulators and the subsequent digital preservation of their vast libraries, as well as all the tertiary information that comes with; there exists no equivalent for the Microsoft XBOX.

It's on this note that this month at EP, we are all about the big black box from the folks who brought us Windows. So join us as we take a look at one of the most beloved, yet simultaneously misunderstood consoles ever to receive 'retro' status. When the XBOX was released almost 17 years ago, in November of 2001, it was the most powerful and innovative console to date. Delivering incredible lighting visuals, resolution of up to 1080i via component cables, as well as being the first system to include an internal Hard Drive. While this brought us features we take for granted now, such as no more memory cards, its inclusion allowed for other benefits as well. One, in particular, is called "Custom Soundtracks" where you could actually alter a game's soundtrack with your own music that you had ripped from CDs. At first glance, this might not sound too special. After all, we can stream things like Spotify and Pandora on our modern systems. However, the XBOX's method outright replaced the songs you chose and made them part of the game - rather than just playing music on top of it. Speaking of hardware the system was the first to come equipped with an Ethernet port. While it wasn't the first system to have online functionality, as even the Famicom had telecom capabilities after-all, it was the first to demand all users have a broadband connection. This gave a solid 'high speed' baseline that ensured online play would be of much higher quality than its predecessors as well as its competition on the PS2; which by comparison offered a free dial-up friendly service. Because of this structure, it was with hugely popular multiplayer games like Halo 2 and Counter-Strike that hardcore console-space online communities emerged during this generation. So the XBOX was an amazing piece of hardware, but what about games? What about the state of its emulation? Well, there are a number of reasons we haven't seen an XBOX emulator in full glory as of yet. Some of those reasons are related to the history of attempting to craft an emulator in LLE vs HLE, but rather than go on about the technical history there is another more mundane issue that has stood as an obstacle in its own right in terms of demand for the system. A common misconception is the idea that the XBOX is just a PC in a console's case and so all of its games were also on the PC. This idea is so prevalent that it's almost just 'common knowledge'. Well, after spending a great deal of time sifting through the entire XBOX library, we did the math and here's what we have found. Out of every game ever released for the XBOX, roughly 216 of them were never released on PS2 or Gamecube (not counting Japanese only releases). Of these 216 'console exclusives' only around 76 games were ported to the PC at or near the time of their original release. This leaves us with about 140 titles that are true exclusives to the system. The majority of these are even quality games, though there is admittedly what some would call shovel-ware in the list. That all being said, let's take a look at some of the great XBOX games that proved there was "no power greater than X".

BLiNX The Time Sweeper & BLiNX 2 - Masters of Time and Space

Year: 2002 & 2004 If you are looking for a mascot platformer, look no further than BLiNX the cat. In fact, for a short period of time in Japan BLiNX acted as the mascot for XBOX in their original marketing. While it's hard to imagine a world where BLiNX and not the Master Chief is the face of XBOX, you're missing out if you overlook these games. The story and premise behind these games is admittedly whacky, but the gameplay was incredibly innovative for the time. Allowing you control time to do things like rewind, fast forward, and even record yourself to make a sort of doppelganger in order to get through puzzles or distract enemies.

Jet Set Radio Future

Year: 2002 Jet Set Radio Future was the decisive sequel to the Dreamcast hit Jet Set Radio, called Jet "Grind" Radio in the US due to some trademark issues. The game is flashy and is dripping with as much style as a freshly painted wall of colorful graffiti. If you're not familiar, the game centers on a futuristic version of Tokyo where rollerblade gangs battle for turf by spraypainting over the other gangs' tags. You'll grind, skate, and spray your way through a variety of levels from sewers, to dystopian junkyards, to neon filled city streets - all to the beat of some of the most beloved music in video game soundtrack history. For those familiar with the original, this game brought some changes along with it. Admittedly the color pallet isn't as vibrant as it was in the first game, but it's still beautiful to see in motion. The most decisive change though was the graffiti system. In the first game, you'd be given a quick QTE like prompt on which way to rotate the left stick. While in this game, you simply hold R. This sped up gameplay significantly as you can now do things like grinding a long rail as you spray-paint the whole wall along-side it, instead of getting off, doing the mini-game, and then going back to the rail.

Steel Battalion

Year: 2002 Mech combat games have always been fairly popular. The idea of controlling a massive walking tank and blowing stuff up is certainly very appealing, so it's not hard to see one being successful. With Steel Battalion though, the developers wanted to do something unique to stand out with, and boy did they. Inspired by enthusiast computer setups for flight simulators, this game was designed to operate with its own special set of controls. In fact, with 3 pedals, 2 joysticks, and 40 buttons (yes 40) to this day it remains the most complex game controller ever on a home-console; delivering an incredibly unique and immersive experience. The original game was released in limited quantities, and the demand for more led to a re-release (the 2nd run controllers have blue buttons, rather than green) as well as an Xbox Live focused sequel titled "Line of Contact" which used the same controller. Lastly, there was an X360 game released for the Kinect, but like most Kinect games it was a great idea that was very poorly received.

Otogi: Myth of Demons & Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors

Year: 2003 & 2004

While PlayStation gamers were enjoying the likes of Devil May Cry on the PS2, owners of the XBOX had their own awesome fast-paced action title packed with demons. Otogi came out of seemingly nowhere amidst some other high-profile releases, and due to its heavy focus on Japanese mythology was overlooked by many.

In the game, you play as a resurrected warrior, crusading across Japan to rid the land of evil and the demons it has spawned. There's a balance between destruction and grace on display where you can destroy a great deal of the objects in your way, but the acrobatic and even aerial flow of combat that was popular at the time is heavily present as well. All of it is sure to stick with you once you've finished the game's 2 dozen levels.

If that's still not enough for you though, Otogi 2 was released the following year bringing better graphics, more destruction and even 6 different characters to choose from this time around, which adds some levels of replayability to the game.

We could make this list extensively over-long, but we encourage you to checkout the XBOX exclusive library for yourself. While there's currently no PCSX2 or Dolphin equivalent for the system - there exists a very large scene of Xbox fans who have tutorials on how to quickly and easily modify the system to play backups.