What a world we live in, when Microsoft’s next-gen console has better PlayStation backwards compatibility than the PlayStation 5.
Both the Xbox Series S and X have a developer mode users can activate, which can let you run UWP (Universal Windows Protocol) apps. That’s an application designed to be able to run not just in Windows 10, but Xbox and Windows 10 Mobile as well.
That includes RetroArch, a famous front end for various emulators, which means that with a minimum of fuss anyone with one of Microsoft’s new consoles can kick back and play, say, a PlayStation 2 game, or something from the GameCube library if you’d prefer that instead.
Modern Vintage Gamer has been putting this emulation workaround to the test over the last week, and while there are catches—in dev mode the consoles can’t use their full power, and the size of some games on some platforms is limited—this is still incredible emulation performance for such cheap and accessible machines.
Just take a look at these PS2 games:
Nice! Getting developer access will cost you a bit of cash, but once that is paid for—and if you know your way around ROMs—you can pass the time between now and actual next-gen releases in 2021 by playing a bunch of games from 2002.
