They say all good things eventually come to an end, and that’s exactly what’s happening with the Xbox Backwards Compatible program.
Announced via the Xbox Wire blog, Microsoft will end what can be viewed as an exciting chapter of the Xbox One console. What started four years ago to deliver past Xbox titles to a new generation of gamers will be over once the final games have been released.
It’s actually bittersweet as I would have never imagined a company would go as far as Microsoft did to deliver past titles and make them compatible with a new generation of gaming consoles. Spanning over 600 games, no one can doubt what Microsoft managed to pull. Other companies thought it would be a waste of time, that older games would be something no one wanted to play.
Yet, it was very successful. Bringing older titles, enhancing many of them while allowing others to be enjoyed all over again. I’m quite sad this has come to an end, though I always wondered how long it would go on for. Now I know, as do the rest of us.
With the program’s closure, here is one last hurrah to what is the Xbox Backwards Compatible program. And it includes some titles that I know people have been waiting on, including the original Skate, from Electronic Arts and Capcom’s Asure’s Wrath. Sadly, this also means that titles that many of us were looking forward to will never get the chance to shine again. No Outrun 2, no Jet Set Radio Future, Ridge Racer 6, or perhaps some best arcade racing games of all time, Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4.
For those wondering what this means in the future, Xbox Scarlett, Microsoft planned accordingly. Every game that was updated via the BC program will also function on Scarlett. As part of the driving force, preserving these games for the current and future generation of consoles.
Final Original Xbox titles:
- Armed and Dangerous
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb
- Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent
- Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict
Free Original Xbox DLC:
- Armed and Dangerous – New Mission: Summer Home
- Star Wars Battlefront – New Map: Jabba
- Star Wars Battlefront II – Expansion Pack (4 new maps, 1 new hero: Kit Fisto, 1 new villain: Asajj Ventress). New mode: Kashyyyk Assault
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Equipment store: Yavin Station
- Star Wars Republic Commando – Multiplayer Map: Hangar
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – 3 Mission Packs: Kola Cell, Vselka Infiltration, and Vselka Submarine
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow – 2 Map Packs (split-screen multi-player maps): Federal Bank and River Mall
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory – 2 Mission Packs (split-screen co-op missions): Nuclear Plant and UN Headquarters. 2 Map Packs (split-screen multi-player maps): Polar Base and Steel Squat
Enhanced Xbox 360 titles:
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts
- Banjo-Tooie
- Kameo Elements of Power
- Perfect Dark
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Viva Piñata
- Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
Xbox 360 Games:
- Asura’s Wrath
- Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
- Enchanted Arms
- Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
- Far Cry Classic
- Far Cry Instincts Predator
- Infinite Undiscovery
- Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
- Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands
- Skate
- Star Ocean: The Last Hope
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Syndicate
- Too Human
- Unreal Tournament III
Source: Xbox Wire
