IT’s now been over 20 years since the Xbox hit store shelves and I’ll admit it, many games on the original Xbox still hold up even today.
While Xbox has done a great job at preserving the legacy of these games via its backwards compatibility program, I am still finding myself on a Friday night playing the original Xbox and many of the titles that are not available to play on their newer hardware.
I have, for the most part, used aftermarket cables (typically cheapo component video cables from eBay) to allow me to play these games on the original console hardware but with modern TVs.
However, as technology has evolved, it is now almost impossible to find a TV capable of using these old cables – most of them moved to the straightforward HDMI connection many years ago.
In saying that, it is now almost a necessity to seek out an HDMI converter cable if you’re wanting to play the original Xbox.
A few years ago I bit the bullet and purchased an Xbox cable for around AUD$50 from a company called Pound. about this, I hooked the original Xbox up to my 4K 55in TV in my gaming room only to be slightly disappointed with the overall image clarity.
This is partly due to the old Xbox supporting 480p, 720p and in a few instances, 1080i resolution – the graphics just weren’t meant to be displayed on such a big screen.
I then moved the setup to my smaller, retro friendly 42in LCD; this made the image look a bit cleaner but still had an overall blur. It was the best I could do, until now.
Late last year a Turkish company named Beharbros were releasing a new handmade Xbox HDMI cable named ‘Xedusa’ which they promised would output the best available quality possible a modern TV from the 2001-era Xbox console.
I had purchased a VGA adaptor from the company previously for the Sega Dreamcast and was blown away at how good this could look on a 55in TV, with fantastic image clarity.
It was then I knew how truly ahead of its time the Dreamcast was. A few years later and using a different TV, I upgraded to their HDMI version which offered the same amount of high quality parts and outstanding image.
I still use this on my Dreamcast to this day, so with all the confidence in the world I reached out to the company and enquired about getting the new Xedusa for my original Xbox to put through its paces.
When I connected it up to my 42in LCD I could notice the difference right away. Now, just a heads- up: The Xedusa won’t make the game’s image or resolution better then they originally were. It simply cleans up the original image removing much of the noise and will sharpen a lot of the edges. Compared to backwards compatible games on the Xbox One and Series X/S consoles, the graphics won’t be upscaled to 4K resolution; it will just be an overall ‘cleaner’ image.
Happy with what it was doing, I eventually switched it over to my 4K, 55in screen and I must say I was really impressed.
The colours looked a lot more vibrant and the image was a lot smoother then the last time I had attempted to use an HDMI adapter on this larger screen. I was in pure retro gaming heaven.
Not only does the Xedusa offer HDMI, but it also has a component adapter so those purists who prefer to use old CRT televisions (which are hard to come by in good working order) still have the option to play this way instead of forking out hundreds of dollars for original Xbox component cables.
Audio is also important on this little HDMI box, as it will offer the usual Dolby Digital via the HDMI cable but in addition, offers optical audio output which can be connected to a surround sound system.
Now I’m able to enjoy the original Xbox gaming titles on my big TV, there is no way that I can go back to the way I used to play them on a smaller screen.
The company charges in USD on the website for with currency conversions, this will set you back around AUD$95AUD depending on how the Aussie dollar is doing.
If you’re a huge retro gamer such as myself, this is possibly the best way to enjoy games currently not offered up as part of the Xbox backwards compatibility program Xbox (provided you have original era hardware to play it on).
Don’t forget to check out my list of amazing original Xbox games that are not part of the backwards compatible program.
The Beharbros and their latest Xedusa is a sturdy, well built way to play many games on newer technology and I have been very impressed with it.
