Putting aside menu screens, which run in more obviously interpolated form, the in-game polygonal graphics have been updated to look razor-sharp. The game originally ran at roughly 640-by-480 resolution - arguably half that due to interlacing tricks - but thanks to the Xbox One X’s emulator, it runs with enough detail to fill most of a 4K screen at a smooth frame rate. Sega’s classic shooter Panzer Dragoon Orta is perhaps the best example of Microsoft’s magic at work. But now Microsoft has accomplished a multi-generational feat through software, taking 2001-vintage Xbox games and transforming them into 2018-ready 4K.Ībove: Panzer Dragoon Orta running on the Xbox One X at 4K.

Sony has twice included old PlayStation chips inside next-gen consoles just to support earlier games, only to pull the extra chips from lower-priced “slim” models. Microsoft has deeply embraced backward compatibility, and its recent implementation with the Xbox One and Xbox One X is the best I’ve ever seen. In prior generations, it has sufficed - and often been challenging - for a console to run its immediate predecessor’s games as well as they ran on the original hardware. Some people have even downplayed its importance. But it’s not a mandatory feature, either. Nintendo famously infuriated parents by leaving NES support out of the SNES, and of all the consoles released since then, perhaps half have included backward compatibility.

ColecoVision’s 1982 Expansion Module 1 and Sega’s 1989 Power Base Converter set the stage for new consoles to play older models’ games.

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