Microsoft brings original Xbox games to PC with 4x resolution upscaling

Microsoft has launched Xbox Backward Compatibility on PC, bringing a handful of original Xbox games to Windows for the first time. The program is live now in early release, and it also extends to Windows-based handhelds like the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X.

Xbox Backward Compatibility first launched back in 2015, letting Xbox 360 and original Xbox games run on newer consoles. It was hugely popular with fans, even after Microsoft appeared to wind the program down in 2019. Now Microsoft is bringing that same idea to PC, starting from scratch with a small selection of original Xbox titles.

The launch lineup covers BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, and Fuzion Frenzy. All four can be bought directly through the Xbox app on PC, and they are included at no extra cost with every tier of Xbox Game Pass.

Anyone who already owns a digital license for these games on console gets the PC version automatically, thanks to Xbox Play Anywhere. Microsoft says more original Xbox games will be added to the program over time, though it has not said which titles are coming next.

Rather than simply moving the games over as-is, Microsoft has added a handful of PC-focused touches. Players can push rendering resolution up to four times the original output, along with VSync support, fullscreen or windowed modes, anisotropic filtering, and improved anti-aliasing. Language and audio settings can also be customized, something the original console releases did not always allow.

Achievement support is coming too, though not quite yet. Microsoft says it plans to add Achievements to select backward compatible original Xbox titles later this year, and that includes the four games available today.

To play these games on PC, Microsoft lists a minimum setup of a GeForce GTX 950, Radeon RX 550, Intel UHD 770, or Intel Arc A310 GPU, paired with a quad-core processor such as the Core i3-8100, Ryzen 3 1200, or Ryzen Z2 A, 8GB of RAM, and Windows 11.

For a smoother experience, Microsoft recommends stepping up to a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti or Intel Arc A770, alongside a six-core chip like the Core i5-10400, Ryzen 5 3600, or Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. These are hardly demanding requirements by today's standards, which makes sense given these are decades-old games getting a fresh coat of paint rather than being rebuilt from scratch.