- Paul Fingleton
Over 300 Xbox 360 Games You Can Play on Your Xbox One
A little over eighteen months ago, Microsoft announced that they would be making Xbox 360 games playable on the Xbox One. This technical feat was impressive, taking into account that the two consoles have vastly different processor architectures and that Microsoft made these games available to gamers at no extra charge, if they already owned the game digitally or physically.

What type of Witchcraft is this?
No witchcraft is involved, only very clever engineering. The Xbox 360 has an IBM PowerPC CPU and the Xbox One has an AMD x64 CPU, meaning they have a different number of processors, those different processors work at different speeds and essentially speak completely different languages to understand and issue commands.
The Xbox Team have used their extensive knowledge to build a translator for those commands and the different speeds at which the CPU processors work. This translator is called an Emulator and is a program that asks itself "If this command was given to an Xbox 360, what would it do to handle it?" and provides that command in a way that the Xbox One understands.
There are many different kinds of Video Game emulators available online, most developed by hobbyists to keep their old video game library alive. The developers of these emulators have spent hours breaking down at the machine code, debugging level what exactly happens within the processor of a console at a certain time when something happens and then make an educated guess of what should happen in a modern CPU.
The engineers at Microsoft had a slight advantage in that they knew from the original designs of the Xbox 360 what should be happening. However, to get an emulator running and to get an emulator running well are two very different things.
What types of Games are available?
While some gamers may have dabbled with emulators on the internet before, often they are ok but don't run all games well or have unexpected behaviour in some places because the developers of the emulator had not predicted for certain behaviour.
Where Xbox has excelled is to effectively load a full Xbox 360, including the OS from the Xbox 360, each time you run a Backwards Compatible game. Your Xbox 360 game does not know anything about the Xbox One and thinks that it is running on Xbox 360 hardware.
This has made it possible to have full games, rather than only the smaller 'Arcade' games work reliably to work on the newer console.
Good news came from Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, this week that he plans for Backwards Compatibility to be a key feature of Xbox for years to come. Microsoft's as yet unnamed console, Project Scorpio will be able to play all Xbox One games and hundreds of Xbox 360 titles when it launches around Christmas / Thanksgiving this year.
As of 1. February 2017, here is the list of Xbox 360 games that you can play on your xbox.
Full Games / Games on Demand
Alan Wake
Alice: Madness Returns
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed II
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Battlefield 3 (Disc Only)
Battlefield: Bad Co. 2
Battlestations: Midway
Bayonetta
BioShock
BioShock 2
BioShock Infinite
Blue Dragon
Borderlands
Bound by Flame
Bully Scholarship Ed.
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: World at War
CastleStorm
Catherine
CLANNAD (Only available in Japan)
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Dark Souls
Dark Void
de Blob 2
Dead Space
DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION
DiRT 3
DiRT Showdown
DOOM 3 BFG Edition (only available on disc)
Dragon Age: Origins
Dungeon Siege III
E4
Eat Lead
EnclevermentExperiment
Escape Dead Island
Fable II
Fable III
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Forza Horizon
FunTown Mahjong
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 3
Gears of War: Judgment
Ghostbusters
GRID 2
Halo Wars
Halo: Reach
Injustice: Gods Among Us (+ disc only Ultimate Edition)
Jurassic Park: The Game
Just Cause 2
Kameo: Elements of Power
Kane & Lynch 2
Killer Is Dead
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
LEGO Batman
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2 (disc only)
Mass Effect 3 (disc only)
Midway Arcade Origins
Mirror’s Edge
MOH Airborne
MONOPOLY PLUS
MX vs. ATV Reflex
Oblivion
Of Orcs and Men (not available in all regions)
OFP: Red River (disc only, except Japan)
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Perfect Dark Zero
Portal 2
Pure (disc only)
RAGE (disc only)
Rayman Legends
Rayman Origins
Red Dead Redemption
Sacred 3
Saints Row IV
Shadowrun
Shadows of the Damned
Silent Hill: Downpour
Skate 3
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
South Park: The Stick of Truth
SSX
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Supreme Commander 2
TEKKEN 6
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
The Orange Box
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Tour de France 2011 (not available in all regions)
Toy Story 3
Tron: Evolution
Viva Piñata
Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
XCOM: Enemy Within
Xbox Live Arcade titles
A Kingdom for Keflings
A World of Keflings
Aegis Wing
Age of Booty
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
Alien Hominid HD
Altered Beast
Anomaly Warzone Earth
Aqua
ARKANOID Live!
Asteroids & Deluxe
Astropop
Babel Rising (not avail in Xbox 360 store)
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
BattleBlock Theater
Beat’n Groovy
Bejeweled 2
Bejeweled 3
Bellator: MMA Onslaught
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2
Blood Knights
Blood of the Werewolf
Bloodforge
BloodRayne: Betrayal
Bomberman Battlefest
Boom Boom Rocket
Braid
Brain Challenge
Call of Juarez Gunslinger
CAPCOM ARCADE CABINET
Carcassonne
Castle Crashers
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Centipede & Millipede
Comic Jumper
Comix Zone
Counter-Strike: GO
Crazy Taxi
CRYSTAL DEFENDERS
Crystal Quest
Dead Space Ignition
Deadliest Warrior: Legends
Deathspank T.O.V.
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut
DIG DUG
Discs of Tron
Domino Master
Doom
Doom II
Doritos Crash Course
Double Dragon Neon
Dragon’s Lair
DuckTales: Remastered
Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
Earthworm Jim HD
Faery: Legends of Avalon
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
Feeding Frenzy
Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown
Final Fight: Double Impact
Flashback
FLOCK!
Foul Play
Fret Nice
Frogger
Frogger 2
Galaga
Galaga Legions
Galaga Legions DX
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Gatling Gears
Geometry Wars Evolved
Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime
Go! Go! Break Steady
Golden Axe
Gripshift
Guardian Heroes
Gunstar Heroes
Guwange
HALF-MINUTE HERO -Super Mega Neo Climax-
Halo: Spartan Assault
Hardwood Backgammon
Hardwood Hearts
Hardwood Spades
Haunted House
Heavy Weapon
Hexic 2
Hexic HD
Hydro Thunder
I Am Alive
Ikaruga
Interpol
Iron Brigade
Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad
Jet Set Radio
Jetpac Refuelled
Joe Danger 2: The Movie
Joe Danger Special Edition
Joust
Joy Ride Turbo
Lazy Raiders
LIMBO
Lode Runner
LUMINES LIVE!
Magic 2012
Mars: War Logs
MEGA MAN 10
MEGA MAN 9
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug XX
Might & Magic Clash of Heroes
Military Madness
Missile Command
Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine
Monday Night Combat
Monkey Island 2: Special Edition
Monkey Island: Special Edition
Motocross Madness
Mr. DRILLER Online
MS. PAC-MAN
Ms. Splosion Man
Mutant Blobs Attack!!!
Mutant Storm Empire
N+
NBA JAM: On Fire Edition
NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM
NEW RALLY-X
NiGHTS into dreams…
NIN2-JUMP
Omega Five
Outland
PAC-MAN
PAC-MAN MUSEUM
Pac-Man: Championship Edition
Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX+
Peggle
Perfect Dark
Phantasy Star II
Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds
Pinball FX
Planets Under Attack
Plants vs. Zombies
Portal: Still Alive
Prince of Persia
Putty Squad
Puzzle Quest
Puzzle Quest 2
Puzzle Quest Galactrix
Puzzlegeddon
QIX++
Raskulls
Rayman 3 HD
Red Faction: Battlegrounds
Rocket Knight
R-Type Dimensions
Runner2
Sacred Citadel
Sam & Max Save the World
Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space
Samurai Shodown II
Scarygirl
Scrap Metal
SEGA Bass Fishing
Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.
Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe
Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World
Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage
Shadow Complex
Shank 2
Shotest Shogi
Shred Nebula
Skullgirls
Skydive
Small Arms
Sonic & Knuckles
SONIC 4 Episode II
Sonic CD
Sonic the Fighters
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Sonic The Hedgehog 3
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4 Episode I
Soul Calibur II HD
Soulcalibur
Space Ark
Space Giraffe
Spelunky
Splosion Man
Strania
Super Meat Boy
Syberia
Texas Hold ‘Em
The Cave
The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match
The Maw
The Splatters
Ticket to Ride
Torchlight
Tour de France 2009
Toy Soldiers
Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Trials HD
Triggerheart Exelica
Trine 2
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon
Unbound Saga
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown
Wolfenstein 3D
Word Puzzle
Zuma
Zuma’s Revenge!