Xbox just added PS1 emulation before Sony
Sony is once again embroiled in the argument of backward compatibility, but this time, it's been pushed out of the market by its biggest competition. Although Sony seems to be winning the next-gen console war in terms of sales, the Xbox Series just got a major boost.
While the famed House that PlayStation built has done its best to improve complaints with the PlayStation 5, you can now emulate your old PlayStation games on the Xbox Series before you can on the PS5. That's right, Crash Bandicoot and Lara Croft's triangle breasts never looked so good.
How has Xbox added PS1 emulation?
We already knew the Xbox Series S would have some great emulation potential, however, the added bonus of running the classic PlayStation console is another reason to part with your cash. If you own the Xbox Series X or Series S, you'll be able to play any game from any generation of Xbox. From Halo: Combat Evolved through to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, they're all here.
If you'd ever wondered what a 4K version of Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy 7 that used to run on PS1 would look like, you don't need to wonder any more. The PS1 is one of the most popular emulation trends in living memory, and now, YouTube's Modern Vintage Gamer has shown us how to do it on Xbox Series. In his latest video, Dimitris Giannakis explains how he's used the 2020 emulator called Duckstation to run them on Xbox Series S.
According to Duckstation's developer, the aim of the emulator is for "playability, speed and long-term maintainability. The goal is to be as accurate as possible while maintaining performance suitable for low-end devices”. Modern Vintage Gamer's video shows off games playing at native 4K resolution while locked to 60 FPS.
What happens if you try and Play PS1 on the Xbox Series?
Giannakis admits that although PlayStation emulators can be found everywhere these days, he said Duckstation is unparalleled when running on the Xbox Series S. He claims Duckstation has the added ability to upscale titles beyond 4K. Remembering that the PS5 will only play its own games and "most" PS4 games, Microsoft just pipped Sony to the post.
If that wasn't enough, there's True Colour Rendering and Texture Filtering - which gets rid of some of that blockiness that dogged the PlayStation's early days. Finally, Duckstation fixes texture warping, which was a prominent issue with old PS1 games. Even though this takes up a tonne of processing power, the Xbox Series S takes it in its stride.
Remembering that PS1 games didn't run at 60fps, they'll still run at their original frame rate. Still, Duckstation has the ability to overclock, which means some can run at 60fps. For example, PowerSlave has a 60fps frame cap that can be fully explored via Duckstation. Other game like Chrono Cross and Gran Turismo run with ease.
As with any emulator, Duckstation isn't officially on the Xbox store. You'll have to put your Xbox Series into Developer Mode (and pay Microsoft for the privilege), then install it manually. We've seen Developer Mode run emulators like RetroArch, but according to Modern Vintage Gamer, Duckstation is the pinnacle of emulation. We can't wait to go back to Raccoon City for a dose of '90s nostalgia in 2021.
