Cool and Interesting OG Xbox / 360 exclusives (/games not on PS2/3)

[usergaycoolguy]

Finally found a great deal on a modded Xbox 360 with all the modern amenities so I'm building my HDD wishlist at the moment. Had an OG Xbox briefly for JSRF but that's basically the only game I played. Never had a 360 but I have a modded PS3 so I've played a fair amount of games of the era already. So I probably won't be adding stuff like Soul Calibur, Psychonauts, Burnout, MGS3 etc since I've already got them.

Here's my list so far:
Must trys:
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Blinx 1
Blinx 2
JSRF
Metal Wolf Chaos
Bomberman Act Zero (yes I know it sucks but it sounds fascinating)
Morrowind Xbox (I'm SO curious)
Titanfall?
Viva Pinata
Bullet Witch?
Prey
50 Cent Blood in the Sand
Earth Defense Force 2017 / 2025?
Guilty Gear 2
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Beautiful Katamari (I've played a bit via emulation but it's the only Katamari game besides IOS I've not beaten)
Sneak King

Maybes:
Avatar: The Legend of Aang - The Burning Earth
Otogi 1/2
Perfect Dark Zero
Sonic Free Riders
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf
KOTOR?
Project Sylpheed
Kameo: Elements of Power
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
From Dust

Are any of these really worth playing? Are there others you'd super recommend? I know a lot aren't technically exclusives anymore because they were rereleased on Windows but getting games for Windows Live playing is such a pain especially on linux so I'm counting any of them too.

 

[Pearly]

JSRF is honestly the only game I truly miss on the xbox, most of what I liked that was actually good so got a port of some kind but JSRF....

 

[Lokgamer]

Condemned 1
Tenchu (I don't remember which subtitle)
Infinity undescovery
Magna Carta
Kingdom under fire
Divinity 2

At the moment (nowadays they are in other platforms)
Dead Rising
Alan Wake
Dust
Gears of war XD

 

[usergaycoolguy]

JSRF is honestly the only game I truly miss on the xbox, most of what I liked that was actually good so got a port of some kind but JSRF....

Yeah honestly, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk definitely took a lot of the mechanical stuff and ran with it, but the open world areas and particularly wandering though the later game places like weird shanty towns in the sewers and hazy future skyscrapers was so so evocative it still feels like a dream all these years later.

 

[Sanomoe]

Get Omega Five. It's from Natsume's Tengo Project, and everything they do is gold

Post automatically merged: Jun 26, 2026

If you don't mind, or like fanservice, get the Otomedius G and Excellent. It's essentially Parodius with cute grills

 

[FateLanegod]

AirForce Delta Storm, if you’re into airjet dogfights and crazy stunt missions.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

the 360 has a surprising amount of exclusive shmups.

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=58787

 

[Tsukishima]

I'm a massive fan of Kameo: Elements of Power & Viva Pinata and its sequel: Trouble in Paradise, there's also Eternal Sonata which is a wonderful love letter to RPG's and Frédéric Chopin. It's also available on PS3, but the 360 version is the much more smoother version to play. The PS3 version has some neat bonuses, but practically doubles / triples the grinding needed to beat the game due to it's baffling decisions of reducing XP and making enemies generally harder.

There's also a rather niche game I want to play on Xbox some day called Phantom Crash.

This poster is the epitome of coolness.

Also, cool to see Blinx on your must play! It's such a cool little mascot that Microsoft once tried to make popular but never made its mark. His games are really interesting though.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Gunvalkyrie
Magatama
Phantom Dust
Magi Death Fight: Mahou Gakuen
Thousand Land
Black Stone: Magic & Steel
Plus Plum 2
Breakdown
Metal Dungeon
Touge R
Maximum Chase
Double S.T.E.A.L.: The Second Clash
Tenerezza

360:
Zegapain XOR and Zegapain NOT
Spectral Force 3
WarTech: Senko no Ronde and Senko no Ronde DUO
Samurai Shodown Sen
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights and N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights
Zoids Assault
Death Smiles and Deathsmiles II: Makai no Merry Christmas
Gal*Gun

 

[Darth Neodeus]

If you're into mech games, then Steel Battalion would be the ultimate experience on the original Xbox, but good luck finding a functionning and affordable controller...

 

[Sanomoe]

Gunvalkyrie
Magatama
Phantom Dust
Magi Death Fight: Mahou Gakuen
Thousand Land
Black Stone: Magic & Steel
Plus Plum 2
Breakdown
Metal Dungeon
Touge R
Maximum Chase
Double S.T.E.A.L.: The Second Clash
Tenerezza

360:
Zegapain XOR and Zegapain NOT
Spectral Force 3
WarTech: Senko no Ronde and Senko no Ronde DUO
Samurai Shodown Sen
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights and N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights
Zoids Assault
Death Smiles and Deathsmiles II: Makai no Merry Christmas
Gal*Gun

If you post N3II, you have to post this video as well:

 

[egwizard]

Some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head for the 360 stuff are:

Lost Odyssey
Blue Dragon
Bullet Witch
Magna Carta II
Kameo
Tenchu Z
Nighty - Nine - Nights 1+2
Guilty Gear 2: Overture
Star Ocean: The Last Hope (edit: forgot about this one )

And then for the OG Xbox stuff:

Jet Set Radio Future (obviously)
Otogi
Gun Valkyrie
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Blinx
Steel Batallion
Night Caster 1 + 2
Phantom Dust (Don't know if this counts as it got a remaster...)

 

[DarkTownStrutters]

I didn't have a very good computer back in the early 2000's (poor student) but i did manage to snag a second hand Xbox early on.

I spend waaaay too much time on Morrowind, and once i figured out how to exploit alchemy, even more time zipping around the island punching daedra in their stupid faces. And after i got bored of that, i ditched all my armor and weapons, took a vow of virtual poverty, and walked the length and breadth of Vanderfell following the way of Kung-Fu, helping the common folk and solving their problems by punching daedra in their stupid faces.

Also Jet Set Radio was kind of cool.

 

[Kovlak]

Don't forget Silent Hill 2 and Sikent Hill 4 on the og Xbox.

 

[usergaycoolguy]

Gunvalkyrie
Magatama
Phantom Dust
Magi Death Fight: Mahou Gakuen
Thousand Land
Black Stone: Magic & Steel
Plus Plum 2
Breakdown
Metal Dungeon
Touge R
Maximum Chase
Double S.T.E.A.L.: The Second Clash
Tenerezza

360:
Zegapain XOR and Zegapain NOT
Spectral Force 3
WarTech: Senko no Ronde and Senko no Ronde DUO
Samurai Shodown Sen
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights and N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights
Zoids Assault
Death Smiles and Deathsmiles II: Makai no Merry Christmas
Gal*Gun

Damn these are some deep cuts, ty! And thanks everyone for your awesome suggestions!

 

[CraigJinx]

Has to be the first two Gears Of War games (after 2 you can see the early inspirations for Fortshite, especially with the truly awful Judgment) and the first Crackdown game.

 

[Lokgamer]

Don't forget Silent Hill 2 and Sikent Hill 4 on the og Xbox.

sh2 and 4 were relased in ps2 too...

 

[usergaycoolguy]

sh2 and 4 were relased in ps2 too...

Silent Hill 2 is kinda interesting on Xbox because even though the Xbox has higher specs because of the difference in hardware it looks way worse on the Xbox, like the fog effects are really basic because it was running on something like direct X 8 and couldn't get the same level of environmental fidelity on different hardware. But yeah I'll probably save on HDD space since I've already got the PS2 version.

 

[retrohelix]

Anything I'd suggest has been mentioned, but I want to give special attention to Panzer Dragoon Orta. This game is immaculate. The fourth main entry in the series and the third rail shooter, and it represents peak gameplay, visuals, and audio of the franchise. It's also very difficult; you'll not only have to manage transforming between three different forms, but deciding which to prioritize leveling up and which ones work best in certain situations. This depth lends it extreme replay value though, and figuring it all out was a joy.

I played this for the first time in 2020 as an adult, so I have no particular nostalgia for it. It's simply a quality game, and one of my all-time favorites. It's available on Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One for a mere $10, so if someone who can't emulate the original Xbox is reading this and has access, I can't recommend it enough. The 4K on a big TV is a treat.

 

[CrunchyComputer]

I liked Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge myself. It was a pretty decent game, it had some fun levels. But, I do remember that toward the end of the game, it became an absolute clusterfuck of a stunt navigation task.