Xbox 360 Games Are Getting Native PC Ports, but I Still Bought a Used Console

With the release of XenonRecomp, a tool that allows recompilation of Xbox 360 games, we may soon start receiving native PC ports of Xbox 360 titles. While XenonRecomp is a massive step in the right direction when it comes to enjoying Xbox 360 games on PC, I still bought a used Xbox 360 to enjoy these titles. Here’s why.

Native PC Ports of Xbox 360 Games Will Take a While to Arrive

XenonRecomp is a fantastic tool that may one day make Xbox 360 emulation obsolete. But creating native PC ports of Xbox 360 games isn’t that straightforward. You can’t simply translate the Xbox 360 code to C++ with XenonRecomp, call it a day, and play Xbox 360 games on your PC.

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Creating PC ports of Xbox 360 games is still quite an involved and lengthy process, even with the help of XenonRecomp. The developers of Unleashed Recompiled, the first native PC port of an Xbox 360 game, had spent years editing and fixing the recompiled code to make the game playable on PC. After making the game run without issues on PC, they spent more time optimizing it and adding new features, such as a higher frame rate.

Realistically, we shouldn’t expect the biggest Xbox 360 exclusives to receive native PC ports anytime soon. Just look at the state of native PC ports of Nintendo 64 games, which use a similar technique via N64: Recompiled, to translate the N64 code into C.

Despite the tool being available for almost a year, we’ve only gotten the Majora’s Mask port despite N64 featuring a ton of cult classics, many of which are still quite popular even today. In other words, XenonRecomp is a great tool for game preservation, but it will take years for the most popular Xbox 360 exclusives to be ported to PC.

The best alternative, emulating Xbox 360 games, isn’t that great. The majority of Xbox 360 bangers are unplayable on PC via Xenia, by far the best Xbox 360 PC emulator. I managed to beat Forza Horizon a few years ago, and the game worked flawlessly. The Xbox 360 Forza Motorsport games on the other hand, which are the main reason why I got myself an Xbox 360 in 2025, are still unplayable and will be for quite some time.

I wanted to play them now because I had been yearning for a while for a massive simcade with a meaty single-player campaign and tons of cars to drive, and Forza Motorsport 2, 3, and 4 fit the bill perfectly.

I also wanted to finally try out the Xbox 360, a console that was the talk of the town back in my late teens and early 20s, but one I never got to play aside from the odd session at a friend’s place because I was a PC gamer at the time and couldn’t afford a second gaming platform. The year the Xbox 360 is turning 20 and officially becoming a retro console seems like a perfect moment to finally play the most coveted games from its library.

The best way to play Xbox 360 exclusives is on an Xbox 360, and that won’t change anytime soon.

Xbox 360 Games Look Good, Even Today

While native PC ports of Xbox 360 games will most likely support higher resolutions and frame rates than Xbox 360 versions of said games, I’ve got to say that the Xbox 360 games I’ve played look fine to me even today.

I play the console on an ancient 42-inch 1080p TV, and every game I’ve tried looks more than decent. Forza Motorsport 2 has that between-console-generation look that makes its visuals closer to an original Xbox game than a proper Xbox 360 title. But the 720p output combined with 60FPS performance makes it attractive enough for me to spend a few hours each day racing.

Crackdown is also on my gaming plate at the moment. Despite the game’s simplistic visuals for modern standards and the 30FPS cap, Crackdown plays great. Yes, it looks a bit rough, but still good enough to forget about the visuals five minutes after beginning to bring back the order to Atlantic City.

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I’ve also been playing tons of Top Spin 4, the best tennis simulation ever, which I highly recommend to every fan of the sport. While the game has that “X360 and PS3” look during close shots between games, the visuals look great to me once the camera moves away and the action starts.

Lastly, I tried Forza Motorsport 4 when testing the console. That game looks so good I could call it an Xbox One game, and no one would bat an eye. High-res assets, impeccable 60FPS performance, and impressively detailed racing tracks make Forza Motorsport 4 a gorgeous game, even today. I had to decline to buy it, though, because it looks so pretty and plays so well that I’d just play the heck out of it and completely ignore Forza Motorsport 2 and 3.

The Console Was Cheap and the Games Are Cheap, Too

After realizing that there are three Forza Motorsport games on the Xbox 360 just waiting for me to play them, I quickly pulled the local version of Craigslist and got a bunch of used Xbox 360 listings.

I found a seller near me who agreed to sell me the console along with two controllers for about $90 (€80), which is a great price for a used Xbox 360 in this neck of the woods. I had thought I’d be fleeced when buying physical games. So, my initial plan was only to get Forza Motorsport 2, 3, and 4, maybe a couple more titles I haven’t had the chance to play, like Top Spin 4, and call it a day.

But I’ve been positively surprised by the prices. While the PS3 was the more popular choice of that console era around here, Xbox 360 discs are very cheap. I managed to snag Crackdown, Top Spin 4, and Forza Motorsport 2 for about $20 (€18). Most other games, even niche titles such as Condemned 2 (RIP Monolith), cost less than a tenner.

In the end, I greatly expanded my Xbox 360 wishlist, which now includes more than 30 titles. I also got Forza 3, Condemned 2, and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 and 2 (both games are on PC, but the X360 versions look and play differently) for about $30. Together with the aforementioned three games, I’m set for at least the next 6 months.

After I finish those, it will finally be time to play the legendary Forza Motorsport 4, Fable II, which never got a PC release, and a couple of other console exclusives that never saw the light of day on PC. Games such as Burnout Revenge, Fight Night, Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4, and The Darkness.

I Can Play Xbox Games Too

A nifty bonus of owning an Xbox 360 is that I can also play a good chunk of original Xbox titles on it. I won’t use backward compatibility often, but I do plan to play through the first Forza Motorsport and Burnout 3, for starters.

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I’ll also have to try a couple of other Xbox classics, namely the OG Halo (I never had a chance to play it on a console) and Halo 2.

I believe we will eventually get native PC ports of the most popular Xbox 360 games. And I hope that one day I’ll play Xbox 360 Forza Motorsport games on my ROG Ally or whatever my handheld PC of choice is by the time those games come out on PC. However, at the moment, a used Xbox 360 is the best and most affordable way to enjoy Xbox 360 games.

There’s just something magical about playing games on their native platform. Taking the beaten-up controller that’s as comfortable as it was 20 years ago (the Xbox 360 excels in this regard), turning on the console, and getting lost for hours playing games from my teens and early 20s I’d never had a chance to play while they were the new kids on the block.