The Weird, Uneven Legacy of the Xbox Original 

I wish videogame companies took as much risk as they used to

To give MS some credit, it is amazing that a lot of the weird, old, quirky titles are backwards compatible and sold through the store. There is a retention of that legacy, despite them moving toward being fairly homogeneous.

The green is very ‘hackery.’ It reminds me of an old green monochrome terminal. It has kind of a matrix vibe to me.

It’s awesome to see the OG Xbox getting the love it deserves

Never understood why the OG Xbox doesn't get more love. So many bangers with graphics that still hold up today.

I loved the "breakaway" controller connections That saves so many consoles/controllers

Three original Xbox was pretty much the Dreamcast 2. Not only because majority of the games on the Dreamcast got ported to the Xbox but also had many sequels to Dreamcast games. Also it was a hackers dream, it was the ultimate media player back then too.

Don't forget the original Shrek game debuted on the OG Xbox. A masterpiece still to this day.

I think the weirdo kids ultimately will get to feast in this back catalog. Even the first Halo game feels way pulpier and quirkier than most contemporary AAA.

I miss Microsoft’s original Xbox and early 360 approach to gaming. So many unique exclusive games that you couldn’t play anywhere else. After 2008 they lost me

"(Panzer Dragoon Orta) is possibly the greatest on-rails shooter ever produced." Instant like and subscribe just for that alone. Orta is one of THE best Xbox exclusives (and not just for the OG Xbox, I mean the Xbox brand in general) and one of my all-time favorite games! It deserves every bit of praise it gets!

The OG Xbox deserves so much love. It’s honestly my new favorite console of all time with its unique library along with starting one of my favorite series ever with Halo and truly kickstarting modern online multiplayer.

To me, the xbox has always been the dreamcast's spiritual successor. I remember really wanting a PS2 but buying the Xbox exclusively for JSRF, and ended up with insanely good and alternative games. A true gem of a console.

I don't think it's a coincidence that more obscure Playstation 2 and Gamecube games have remained relevant while Xbox ones haven't. Until recently, there was not an accessible emulator to play Xbox games, while PCSX2 and Dolphin have both been around for well over a decade now.

I'm so happy that Voodoo Vince got a Remaster and even on PC. Still a good platformer.

Some cracking games, with colour, imagination and life. I miss games with this much inspiration, whilst still having console-sellers like Halo

Xbox came out the year i graduated HS. It never appeared in dorms etc as much as ps2 but if you had halo and 4 controllers thats all you needed to have a line of people outside your door waiting to play co op. It was also the first console you could really mod to upgrade the hard drive and what the console could do. Expanding it into something else besides just "unlocking" the ability to play burned games. Phantom Dust is FREE on Xbox FREE I tell you! To anyone.

My summary of the original Xbox is a fever dream you can enjoy

The modding scene for the xbox is fucking amazing.

I would rent Morrowind over and over again as a kid - XBOX felt so different from everything else at the time. It definitely left a huge impression.

When the XBox was first announced, I was skeptical but they proved themselves by doing a lot of things right. And when they came out with the smaller S controller a year later, I bought one (I hated the Duke controller). I mainly bought it because it seemed like a Dreamcast 2 so I was into mostly those types of niche Japanese games, of which it had plenty of (as you mentioned). The 360 was also well done (aside from the Red Ring) and also had a lot of lesser known Japanese gems. But as you say, once Xbox One came out, it just became a normie console or a PC for the living room, and the Japanese were no longer interested in making exclusives for it. Because of that, and because of most games being cross-platform on Steam, the last consoles I bought were the 360 and PS3 until the Switch. The Xbox, GameCube, PS2, and Dreamcast generation was my favorite era of gaming as they all felt unique and special in their own ways. It was a very exciting time for gaming...

The more OG Xbox content, the better. 🔥🔥

Loved how you could download songs and hear theme while playing games

A fantastic written, edited and created video. I too, feel that the OG Xbox was severely underrated regarding what it rebelliously offered to the console player and how it later heavily influenced even Sony.

"Frat boys and horny teenagers" Sounds like an overly simplification of "their target audience" Ever thought that modern entertainments are so hooked on trying to lecture their customers instead of satisfying them?

sega GT, jet set radio, project gotham, NFS underground, shenmue, oh yeah and that one game that was like halo or something? halo i think? i always saw the OG xbox as a dreamcast except they added 4 buttons to their controller. (microsoft helped create some of the features in dreamcast) a black and white button, select, and the most important piece of them all a second joystick. it also helped that instead of giving up and quitting sega was like" nah were just done with the console side of things but we will continue to create games and release them on all platforms" true chad move right there.

Booting up the original XBOX is like turning on a nuclear reactor. I love the XBOX and it was the system I wanted the most that generation, but it was too expensive and everyone else had a PS2, so that is what I got. I got the XBOX later though, and it is one of the most underappreciated consoles ever. Also, X in Japan symbolizes death, so it was not exactly going to thrive over there. Keep an eye out for Insignia, which are aiming for getting the OG XBOX back online. Also, Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a cool console exclusive for the system as well.

I honestly prefer this "uneven-ness" and variety to when Microsoft started playing it more safe with shooters later on, plus I just loved that era in the early 2000s where game companies just threw everything to the wall to see what stuck. I do feel like we're getting back towards Microsoft's original variety with their MANY acquisitions and backing of different types of games like Cuphead, Ori, Sunset Overdrive, Sea of Thieves and others.

Great video man. The OG Xbox always fascinated me as a kid. I remember seeing DOA Volleyball at Blockbuster and dashing away from my mom to steal a look at the cover art lmao

xbox is extremely nostalgic for me, my xbox randomly broke in 2010 or so, when I was young. But I wasn't really ready to lose it at that point. Games like MechAssault, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and Gun Valkyrie are some of my favorites, but I haven't really been able to touch them since. I'm hoping that I can get a new one someday.

I miss the old days of gaming . Ps1,n64,gameboy,Xbox,ps2,gamecube ect ect

the canadians in the audience caught that you referenced ytv. and you were completely right to do so

Dreamcast and og Xbox are a match made in heaven. my Xbox was my Dreamcast 2 and i loved systems that didnt care about playing movies and only games.

The OG Xbox might just be my favorite console, and I didnt even grow up with the thing. I grew up with PS2 and Gamecube.

I didn’t like the Xbox at first, but after Ninja Gaiden, Fable, Voodoo Vince, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Morrowind, etc I could no longer deny it.

I loved my original Xbox, og Halo split screen with the boys. Good times

such a great take. its not just a bro console, it has it's uniqueness. one note - i think the green/explosion vibe was a nuclear power reference thing

i freaking loved the first xbox. I miss that era so much.

Jet Set Radio Future is one of my favourite Xbox games of all time! I hope we can play it again on series S/X!

I remember thinking that I would never be an Xbox fan, since most of the games I like are those quirky Japanese games like Azure Striker Gunvolt and Puyo Puyo. "The Xbox is just Halo, Gears of War, and other shooter games". Then I found Jet Set Radio Future and I really wanted to play it. Then I found Lost Odyssey. The Fable Series, Shin Megami Tensei Nine (JP exclusive), Tenerezza (also JP exclusive). I was missing on a whole treasure trove of games up my ally, all because I don't like CoD.

Funny thing is, there is a whole counter culture subset of Japanese society that loves everything American whether it be lowriders, hot rods, muscle cars, and yes even xboxes. That being said (and completely unrelated), my modded xbox has a hallowed place in my gaming rig, clock capacitor fixed and new heat sinks, ready to fire up the whole library on demand. Long live the OG with the Duke, and Halo and Halo 2 running original code on original hardware as intended.

As a person that grew up playing Playstation, this is like some strange otherworldly version of my childhood.

Remember the time when I found out you could play your personal music in games, good times 😁

I didnt even really notice that transition but you're 100% right. Super insightful!

That og Xbox boot up was not pre rendered like that of the PS2 and GameCube. The console devs created an actual engine to run the dashboard and boot sequence that kicks into gear upon power up, and everything you see on the Xbox is in real time, and shows off just how graphically capable this console is. It's a little hard to describe and that's my best shot at it.

Really enjoyed your video man. Was really pleased to hear you mentioning gems like blinx, shenmue, kung fu chaos and crimson skies. Great work! 🙂

Jet Set Radio Future, Panzer Dragoon Orta, the best versions of multiplatform releases and best of all, no need to buy memory cards the og Xbox was a great console to own and play

My favorite Xbox. And the closing comments are straight on point.

I think the original Xbox is one of the most underrated systems ever made. It feels like most people see it as a Halo machine but it actually has a very unique but hidden library. I love all my Sega consoles and the og Xbox really feels like a Dreamcast 2. I was a child when the Xbox was new and I remember my father telling me that it actually is the successor to the Dreamcast. We were a Sega household and my father loved Sega. I remember the dark day when the Dreamcast died amd suddenly we had an Xbox at home.

Great video! Most videos don't dive into the esoteric games on the system, glad to see them represented! Have a pretty decent Original Xbox collection myself, need to record some games some time.

The way the Xbox is described in this video seems very accurate and true to me and I remember having fun with so many old games.

My favorite console of all time. Midtown Madness 3 was my favorite original Xbox game

Been a PS/Nintendo guy my whole life. Before the 360 era, it was just because that’s what we had around the house. During the 360/PS3 era, it was because the 360 didn’t make the kind of games I liked playing. Which would be those weird Japanese/Western games. I mean, it only had like three exclusive RPGs. The Last Remnant, Lost Odyssey, and Blue Dragon +. I never knew just how completely opposite the original Xbox was. In fact, before even finishing this video, I think this a console I easily could’ve fallen for way back when if it had been in the house instead of a PlayStation. Only reason I’m glad it wasn’t is because its successor leaned fully into a crowd I wasn’t part of. Also, it’s funny I see a video like this now because just a few days ago I was thinking about how the shoe in on the other foot. The newest Xbox has a number of games I find genuinely interesting while PS basically has nothing I actually want to play. Funny how things change…

Having all 3 consoles as a kid I mostly played Xbox because of the wacky fun I could have with games that had me feeling like I was in a fever dream. Blinx 2 had an amazing amount of customization at a time when you really had no say in what the main character looked like. Conker: Live and Reloaded had an addicting multiplayer, that as a single child, I could play with computer bots that had me playing for hours. I would play everyday after school switching to different classes and trying new weapons. Very akin to what you would find in COD Zombies or Halo’s Firefight mode. Psychonauts was a game that on a surface level was extremely hard to describe to my friends at school. I remember every boss battle and traversing the open world. As a 6 year old the game was very unsettling too and some parts of the over world would keep me up at night. One part of woods you could find a telepathic grizzly bear that was 3 times the size of your character and would kill you very easily. Stuff like that I remember going on 20 years now and I find that compelling. A true testament as to the staying power of a very weird console. Still have my original childhood console and the Duke controller, still way too big even for my adult hands lol !

"the sequel to one of my favorite games..." you just earned yourself a subscriber

Blinx is one my favorite games from the Xbox era including Jet Set Radio future ,Vexx and Ty 3

X Box when it first came out was incredible. All the games where pushing the margins before Halo 2 came out and live became it's bread and butter.

This is the 1st video ive seen from this channel, and dude, your glowup is literally just waiting to happen. The production value and pacing is perfect, cant wait to see more and I just subscribed 💯👍

The modding scene has kept this console relevant to this day. Hands down, best console ever

As one of the few gamers that has played since the literal first nes game, that was a weird dig at Ninja Gaiden.

JSRF hit me in the childhood, such a underrated creative masterpiece... it’s criminal SEGA has yet to remaster such a gem

I really appreciate this video! I've always been a Sega/Nintendo/Playstation fan, interchangeably. But never had any love for the Xbox. To be fair, the OG Xbox flew under the radar for me, and with the 360 onward i figured there's no point of owning one when Playstation exists. I have more recently heard good things about the Original from time to time, and this video really cemented it for me. It looks like it could be a similar vibe to what i got when exploring the Saturn's hidden gems. I may actually have to pick one up now. Great video, hope to see more like it!

I still kinda remember how I got my xbox, it was a day where the original plan was to get a dreamcast because I saw Cybernet promoting Parappa the Rapper and I kinda like rhythm games. So when we went to get ont, the guy in charge of the consoles probably knew that the console was to become obsolete and wanted to suggest a newer one (or the xbox gave him more sales than selling a dreamcast idk, i'd like to think it was the former) and convinced not only my mother but me from acquiring an xbox. And I don't really regret getting the console, it came with the JSRF/Sega GT 2002 bundle and while I sucked at the car game, i'd totally loved JSRF. Cue time later when I got the DDR Ultramix 1 and 2, Fatal Frame 2, Halo 2, Enter the Matrix, etc, that I ended up realizing that it was a pretty good deal and I was thankful to the guy who suggested the console. A shame I lost it in a pawn shop after trying to help my parents to pay some bills.

5:20 that nostalgia hits hard

This was an amazing video on an incredibly niche subjects that managed to gather a wast amount of views all thanks to how well presented and narrated it was. I 100% see your channel growing into something big if you keep up this amazing work! Subscribed and definitely will catch the rest of your videos!

The best game channel on RU-vid! Thanks for another great video that I can watch while eating dinner!

I really want a shirt that says, “My console runs on alien goop.”

I picked up an original Xbox solely to play JSRF with no extra hiccups. Still love it!!!

the only xbox with a soul

The second console my family got after the PS1, loved that console

This guy pops in, drops this legendary video and bounces! If there was ever a case to be made for the “algorithm”, here we are. Farewell sweet prince. We’ll always have this 19 minutes and 13 seconds.

I got crazy flashbacks when you started playing music from Grabbed by the Ghoulies, that game was awesome.

The OG Xbox is my favorite console ever. Although I didn't own the system back in the day I got into it in recent years and fell in love with their games and aestethic. I'm glad that people are feeling the same way I do.

The Xbox is kind of a weird console. Lots of important games and sequel of cult game (Jet Set Radio Future, Shenmue 2, Conker, Panzer Dragoon Orta, etc.) but weirdly, a lot of them is now forgotten. But why? Because it never has a fixed audience? Probably. But another thing is really important about it, and I learn it while doing a live on another obscure game, the conversation was going a bit like that : "Yeah, the Dreamcast got a lot of great games. Jet Set Radio was awesome, I should try to emulate future" "Future? But it’s on the Xbox." "And?" "And the Xbox is a mess to emulate." After asking, the Xbox got three things that made it hard to emulate: A weird OS hardly replaceable and badly documented, the fact that it’s really capricious about pirating and illegal game, and some game made only for it, hardly adaptable on other platforms. And when a console is hard to emulate, its games are, sadly, easily forgotten. Currently, it’s still a really hard console to emulate, even if some games are playable like that. So, should we just wait for remake, and forget the old, more niche game? Yes… and no. One thing I learn is that even if we think something is hard to emulate, it’s still going to be done with time. N64 and 3DS are now easily emulated, even if they were hard at the start (and still a bit unstable). PC-88 and PC-98 (My favourite console) games were, a few years ago, considered to be forever meant to be only in Japanese, and we now have some translated game. Sometimes, we just need to be patient, and one day, we probably could finally replay those games without having to buy the original console and game. Still, really interesting video, I think you really nailed what made this green OVNI of an Xbox a unique console.

Nice to see more people realizing that the OG Xbox was actually the Dreamcast 2, in way too many ways.

I loved the weirdness of my OG xbox and I loved a lot of the mainstream stuff too. I think my favourite game I never hear anyone talk about is the oddball customisable mech battler Phantom Crash.

Without the xbox I'd never have played Morrowind, Kingdom Under Fire Heroes, Shenmue 2 (I didn't have a Dreamcast back then). I have 2 crystal ones now, one is kept as is and my other is modded to play games in NTSC format (480p+) it's great. Can actually do a bunch of stuff including emulation but I've not dived into it. 14:15 what game is this theme from? I swear I've heard that before

I got one for Christmas in 2002 and I remember wanting a PS2 but my dad was instead sold on the Xbox because he didn't have to buy memory cards for it. My initial disappointment didn't last long. He got us Halo:CE and later we got 007 Agent Under Fire, Spiderman, Star Wars Clone Wars, Secret Weapons over Normandy and CoD Finest Hour. I had a blast with it and I still play it to this day.

The OG xbox was a really good dvd player, the best one I ever had, way better than the 360's. Not everyone might of used it because you needed the remote. One other weird thing about the remote. If you were playing music there is that one visualizer. The remote let you zoom in on it so it was full screen. Maybe you could do that with the controller too. If you could I didn't know how.

Xbox was also great if you loved western RPG’s, and especially hardcore ones, which don’t really exist anymore. Games like Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, that’s worth the console’s price twice over. KOTOR, KOTOR 2, Jade Empire, also worth buying Xbox for. Enclave, Fable, Baldur’s Gate, D&D, a few others

Pros: you can play your music while gaming Cons: the controller was big and had two cables

great video. so many ideas and such a lengthy timeline all told in under 20 minutes well done 👍

Anyone remember "Psy-ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy"? The psychic mechanic was freaking amazing. I probably spent 50 hours in the practice room, which was the only level available on the demo cd I got with a magazine. Does anyone remember when demo cds were a thing? lol.

Nice work on this dude! I remember feeling like the original Xbox was trying so hard to market to a different crowd from me and I mostly ignored it. Had to borrow my buddy’s to play JSRF real quick though, haha. This video certainly reminded me that it had a much more robust library than most give it credit for these days.

Good work, man! Keep it up.

The OG xbox is so underrated and had so many good games.

Grew up with this console, JSRF and Scaler are my favorites to this day ^^ thanks for this great video

The only console that would let me rip my own cds into it and even have it played on some games... First console I ever modded. Lots of good memories with this one

Homebrew scene was also brilliant

My very first console was this original Xbox and still hold some awesome memories with this console and you really made me reach into the back like seeing some of those niche games again that I played as a kid just took a minute back🤯

My uncle got me and me an original Xbox for Christmas when I was around 6 years old I will never forget that day and the time playing it. The first 2 games I got were Blinx, Sega GT/Jet Set. I had that thing up until a couple years ago when my puppy pissed on it and ruined it. It STILL worked so well and the component cables gave it the BEST graphics, it looked better than PC games back then unless you had a beast of a machine. Other than GameCube that is by far the best console and most fun I had as a kid. Will never get rid of my games and controllers when I get the itch I'll have to get another one.

I feel like the only kid to grow up with toejam and earl 3

Very insightful topic on the xbox.thank you for a well thought out video.let's hope we get new jet set radio and panzer dragoon orta game(some day).

One word: Morrowind. That game is the sole reason I got an original Xbox, and it was totally worth it, despite the save-killing dirty disc error bug 😆

lol Shadow the hedgehog cocking a AR like its a shotgun is hilarious

Looking forward to more of your videos sir.

Every time I see a video about the original XBOX, I feel compeled to click on it. Was my first console and still remember it with lots of nostalgia. Thank you for this video, it captured very well the essence of what that console was for us!

I love the Xbox. Played Halo 1 and 2, Dead or Alive 3 and Ultimate. KOTOR 1 and 2, Morrowind sooo much. My favorite game on there is probably Jade Empire

Great video. Subscribed.

This is a great look at Xbox as a whole. Loved the video!