OG xbox is so underrated

[PhrawzT]

I would agree that it was underappreciated in its time. The PS2 got much more hype for its games, but many of the same games looked and played better on the Xbox.

I had a couple friends at the time that only knew the Xbox for Halo and assumed that it was just about FPS and sports games.

 

[Deleted member 862719]

besides it can break heads it understand Pretty good games but doesn't beat Ps2 bro

 

[Ferik]

I mean the PS2 certainly has more games, and a larger variety of genres, but the Xbox has plenty of advantages over the PS2 due to its design. Particularly in the CRPG front if those are your thing. That hard drive allowed for a lot of really complex western style RPGs the PS2 could only dream of between Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, Fable, Morrowind, Jade Empire, and to a lesser extent Sudeki.

It also tended to have the best versions of games that were released for multiple consoles. Particularly noticeable in the load times. I played Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on PS2 as a kid while my friend had an Xbox and the difference between the two in terms of loading is kind of ridiculous.

It also has Ninja Gaiden Black, which if it's not my favorite game from that console generation it's easily in the top 3 so it has that going for it, but that's more of a personal preference admittedly.

The controller also has much better analog stick sensitivity. The PS2's sticks are notoriously pretty garbage. Particularly noticeable when comparing fast paced racing games available on both consoles like Burnout 3 and Need for Speed Most Wanted.

 

[aquova]

My cousins had one as a kid, but it's the only console of that generation I've never owned. Some day, I'll save up and try and get one of the green Halo editions ones and see what I've missed.

 

[Deleted member 132407]

besides it can break heads it understand Pretty good games but doesn't beat Ps2 bro

Idk, I had an s-type controller. X-Box had badass games that were exclusive to it.
For example & much more

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I know a lot of people disagree with the premise, but I have to admit, I remember the OG Xbox getting a lot of shit from all quarters back in the day.

It was successful as all hell, but for years people did rag on it for being insanely huge, clunky, and coming with a bunch of other minor issues (Needing an add-on for DVD playback, chunky controllers, that brakeaway cable that always went missing, etc).

I know a fair few people who had them, myself included, but I think it's just looked back on as being sort of nothing-y in hindsight. Because so many of the games from the system saw either a simultaneous or at least delayed release on PC, and because the PS2 was so overwhelmingly popular, it made the OG Xbox seem sort of rubbish by comparison, even though it was a fantastic console.

In truth, pretty much every gamer I knew owned an OG Xbox at least once in their lives, if only so they could play Halo 1/2. Personally, I still have a soft spot for the machine, even though I've had to ditch all 3 of mine due to hardware failures I couldn't be bothered repairing. I sort of miss Azurik: Rise of Perathia, even though it's sort of terrible.

 

[thetwaz]

Depends what you mean by underrated. The PS2 was one of the most successful consoles of all time - in comparison to that then it's definitely underrated.

In terms of its impact, particularly in terms of Halo's impact on console FPSs, and the advent of PC and Console multiplats becoming the norm, I think most people recognise it as being pretty successful. It also I think raised the bar in what was expected from the next generation of consoles.

 

[Turbo Kid]

I bought most of my games for Gamecube and PS2 because I remember them having better memory card support. Microsoft wanted you to just keep all your Xbox saves on the hard drive, which I didn't like. I always thought "What happens if the drive dies or something?"

I could have my PS2 or GC games on two different memory cards if I wanted. Easy back ups.

That was why I didn't like using the Xbox much. The console had some great exclusives though like Panzer Dragoon Orta, Otogi, Jet Set Radio Future, Ninja Gaiden, Kingdom Under Fire Crusaders, etc.

If I wanted a third party game I always bought it on the GC if available, and PS2 if not available, since the GC was more powerful than the PS2. The only Xbox games I bought were exclusives since I had no other choice.

Aside from Halo, no one I knew at the time really cared about the Xbox. It was just the Halo machine. Whenever my friends weren't in the mood to play Halo, they were playing GC and PS2 games (mostly PS2).

 

[aquova]

I'm looking at picking up an Xbox for the first time. What options are there for modding it? I would love to be able to load games solely off a hard drive, can this just be done with a hard drive upgrade and jailbreaking, or is more effort involved?

 

[moonbits]

I'm looking at picking up an Xbox for the first time. What options are there for modding it? I would love to be able to load games solely off a hard drive, can this just be done with a hard drive upgrade and jailbreaking, or is more effort involved?

You'll need a USB adapter cable and a very old USB drive, after that it's relatively easy.

 

[aquova]

You'll need a USB adapter cable and a very old USB drive, after that it's relatively easy.

For the jailbreaking, or is the USB drive for game storage?

 

[moonbits]

For the jailbreaking, or is the USB drive for game storage?

for jailbreaking. For storage I'm not sure if you can use the HDD. I used to burn DVDs lol

 

[Deleted member 132407]

for jailbreaking. For storage I'm not sure if you can use the HDD. I used to burn DVDs lol

He also covers other modifying options videos

 

[Ferik]

Upgrading the hard drive isn't too complicated. You will need some extra parts though unless you have an old IDE drive lying around. To use a modern SATA drive you need an IDE to SATA adapter and an 80 wire IDE cable.

Amazon.com: StarTech.com IDE to SATA Hard Drive or Optical Drive Adapter Converter, 40-Pin PATA to 2.5" SATA HDD / SSD / ODD Converter, TAA : Electronics

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www.amazon.com

XBox UDMA IDE Replacement Cable (80 Wire ATA Cable)

This custom length 80 wire cable is a direct replacement for the original 40 wire cable that comes with the console. This allows for higher access speeds to the hard drive. This comes flat and will require you to add a few folds to mimic the original cable. These folds are simple to accomplish...

www.laserbear.net

With those two you can slap any off the shelf SATA HDD or SSD in. You will need a way to set up the hard drive though before installing it to the Xbox. You can technically do it from the Xbox itself using a program called Chimp, but it involves hotswapping the DVD drive for the new hard drive while the system is powered on so it's not ideal. If you have an external drive bay or an extra sata port on a Windows PC you can easily set a drive up with FATXplorer 3.0

FATXplorer » 3.0 Beta

!-- wp:paragraph --Latest FATXplorer beta version: 3.0.0.26690, released on April 4, 2025!-- /wp:paragraph --!-- wp:paragraph --Thank you for your interest in the FATXplorer 3.0 beta! The beta is an opportunity to try out FATXplorer 3.0 before its final release.

fatxplorer.eaton-works.com

You can easily FTP the files from your Xbox's stock drive once it's softmodded to set up the new drive, then lock it with the eeprom file the softmod installer made, or you can write down the hard drive key and set up the drive with fresh files then lock it with the key.

 

[aquova]

Oh nice, that's helpful

You will need a way to set up the hard drive though before installing it to the Xbox.

I have one of those SATA to USB adapters, so I can just mount it on my PC, assuming it's just a normal FAT32 or whatever partition

 

[Ferik]

It's FATX, which is why you need FATXplorer to mount and view it. But yes, a normal SATA to USB adapter will work once you install and run FATXplorer.

 

[Segadude113]

Someone edited footage of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to look like it's on an OG XBOX like JSRF

 

[Tetronomicon]

I'm guessing the first Xbox is seen as "underrated" because back in its time it was basically just perceived as "The Halo Machine" and not much more from the gaming audience on the whole. Like... who here remembers Raze's Hell? Still an Xbox exclusive to this day.

One of the bigger advantages of the Xbox was that a lot of pretty good PC ports came over to it. That just means people remember those PC games more so than them being on the original Xbox. If you think of Morrowind today, do you think of the PC version or the Xbox version first? I'm guessing most think the PC version here in 2025.

As a retrogaming console, it exists in kind of weird place.

 

[Yousef]

It’s rated finely. The target audience was North Americans and it sold greatly there and had a fantastic library. Was also ahead of the curve in a lot of ways with the console market. It’s the least “retro-feeling” console out of all the pre-7th gen systems. Games on it also ran at a higher frame rate. Its got a decent chunk of its library either re-released, remastered or remade. It’s unpopular in the emulation scene, sure, but that’s attributed to its multi-platform titles being easier to emulate on Dolphin or PCSX2.

 

[PhrawzT]

The original Xbox was the first console I ever modded back in 2003, and it still runs great to this day.

 

[Maximecool]

for me the best xbox game

 

[Dany28]

Yeah that's true.

 

[DjQuick2008]

Never had a go at this console yet emulated a few titles on my gaming build. Id want to play crazy taxi 3 and the wwf games for this console. also NFS underground made this console so thats sweet.