Android smartphones can now play Xbox games

What used to feel like a long shot for retro-gaming fans has suddenly shown up on phones: an original Xbox emulator running on Android devices. The Xbox was always tricky to mimic because of its unusual internals (i.e., custom hardware quirks), so this is a surprise to many.

This week brought X1 BOX to Google Play — a full emulator build that leans on the open xemu code. It actually runs, which is why people are talking, but the conversation online is not all praise.

Money is the sore point. The solo developer known as izzy2lost has listed the app for about $8 (approx.), and a lot of users bristle at paying for something forked from a free project. The official xemu folks have piped up: they aren’t behind this port and say they’re preparing a completely free Android release.

For anyone who can’t wait, X1 BOX is available and functional. Meanwhile, off-Play stores you can still find a free emulator forked from xemu, e.g., community builds that skirt Google Play distribution.