Assuming the Xbox One or Series S/X wasn't your first Microsoft console, then you're probably aware there are a few titles from the 360 and original Xbox generation that are backwards compatible with the newer consoles. Now sadly, Microsoft ended their practice of adding new games to that list several years back so there won't be any new additions any time soon. That's the bad news, but hey, there are still over six hundred titles from the 360 and 63 original Xbox games available to play on the more modern hardware, so you've got options. The good news is, most of the games on offer are available through the Microsoft own store. The, uh, other bad news though, is that not all of those games are still available for purchase on the Xbox store.
But the good news is, if you own a physical copy of one of those games, delisted or not, you can pop it into your XBONE or Series, and your console will just download the digital edition like it ain't no thing. Unlike buying it off the marketplace, you'll still need to pop the disc into your system any time you want to play, but thereafter, they'll be in your library until you erase them to make room for the next behemoth Halo or Gears of War patch you need to download.
Most of these titles are straight 1:1 replicas of what you'd get if you popped the disc into an older system, but not all of them, so I thought it would be fun to take a look at a few of the awesome goodies hidden away, and easily available if you pick up or already own a physical copy of a given game. Let's dive right in and check out some of the fun to be had with these hidden gems, starting with....
1) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and its numerous sequels.
Presumably Ubisoft just hates money. I can't think of any other reason for them to de-list some of the most entertaining stealth-based action games of all time from Microsoft's store, but there you have it. Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and Splinter Cell: Double Agent are all no longer available to buy through Microsoft's store, although as of this writing, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, the third game in the series, is.
Weird, but whatever.
The fact three of these four games are no longer for sale is a good incentive for grabbing physical copies of them anyway if, somehow, you owned an Xbox back in the day but managed to avoid Sam Fisher sneaking himself into your house. But you'll notice if you zoom in on that image, there's a little golden circle towards the bottom right, just above the Ubisoft logo, that says, "Download new content on Live". Splinter Cell received three DLC maps which you could grab off Xbox Live back in the day. The key phrase there being 'back in the day', since Microsoft's original Xbox online service has been shut down for years. The only way you have these maps today is if you downloaded them when that service was still online, right?
Nope. If you pop a physical disc from Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, or Chaos Theory into your newer system, the digital download comes with the DLC maps for each title which haven't been available for years. Double Agent never got any extra goodies via Live, and since that also got a 360 release which is similarly backwards compatible with the newer systems, you'll probably want to look for that version instead. But the fact remains, you can play all four original Splinter Cell games, and get their DLC, simply by owning physical copies of the discs here in 2025. The best part: all these games sold absurdly well, so tracking down disc-only copies for cheap is easier than any mission Sam Fisher ever had to undertake, and won't require night vision goggles or silenced weaponry.
2) The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
I'll be the first to admit, the Xbox edition isn't the ideal way to experience this ground-breaking entry in the Elder Scrolls series. With slower load times than the PC version, graphics which aren't as good, and an immunity to mods thanks to its status as an Xbox game as opposed to a digital installation from Steam, GOG, or other PC gaming service, you should only want to experience Morrowind on the original Xbox if you're a masochist.
Right?
Not so fast: maybe back in 2002, you didn't have a computer with a solid graphics card, but you did have an Xbox. This was the first Elder Scrolls title playable on a console, after all, and it sold like gangbusters. It was the best-selling RPG on the system for 2002. It qualified for Microsoft's "Platinum Hits" line in 2003, the year after it's original release. In fact, it's the only Xbox title outside of the original Halo which remained in the top 10 best-selling games for that system the year after its release, and it was the first Xbox game to go Platinum twice, thanks to the 2004 release of its "Game of the Year" edition achieving similarly spectacular sales.
For an awful lot of people, their first experience with Morrowind in particular, and the Elder Scrolls world in general, was on the Xbox. That's some powerful nostalgia shit right there, so it isn't surprising Microsoft got this one working in the backwards compatibility program all the way back in 2018. But still, why should you care?
Because popping in an OG Morrowind disc gets you the "Game of the Year" edition download, with both the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansion packs (and a few bug patches thrown in for good measure), that's why. You will get the same thing whether you use the original or "Game of the Year" disc, but the non-GOTY version is less expensive, and since you're all about saving money in these economic times, you're obviously going to want the cheaper option. And hey, if you've got that itch to re-experience Vvardenfell with an Xbox controller, chances are you still have your old disc collecting dust in a closet somewhere already. That means 'free', and 'free' is always good.
Additionally, if you own the 2-disc "Game of the Year" edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you might have realized you can put in the first disc and download a backwards compatible version of that game as well. What you might not realize is that you can pop in the second disc, and it'll install digital versions of the Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles DLC for free too! Grab that horse armor and let's go save Kvatch!
3) Virtually every Star Wars game for the original Xbox
If you can't get enough Star Wars in your life, especially back in the early 2000s era from before the DVD release of the original trilogy, then it's time to bring those game discs back to life by tossing them into your newer system and enjoying a plethora of goodies which have long been absent unless you bought or downloaded them before Live went offline in 2010.
For Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II, you can enjoy full versions of the game with all their respective DLC included. With the original game, this only gets you the Jabba's Palace map, so it's not all that exciting, especially considering the map reappeared in the sequel. Better than nothing though, right?
On the other hand, for Battlefront II, you get four maps imported and updated from the original Battlefront game (two from Rhen Var, one on Yavin, and one on Cloud City), a new Jedi hero in Kit Fisto, a new Sith villain in Asajj Ventress, and the Kashyyyk Assault game mode, which is a considerable boost in content considering what was already in the game to begin with. But let's not stop there!
Star Wars: Republic Commando comes with a free multiplayer map called 'Hanger', which is great for fragging your friends for a while if you get tired of Battlefront and Battlefront II.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comes with the Yavin Station DLC, which is basically just a shop selling high-level gear and a bit of extra plot thrown in, but also plays at 60FPS, which is awesome!
And while Star Wars: The Clone Wars doesn't have any DLC or extra goodies, it is one of 2 original Xbox games to get the Frame Boost patch, allowing it to run more smoothly on the newer consoles. The other game is Chicken Little, which I guess is great if you were a die-hard fan of that movie back in the day and needed the Xbox version in your modern-day adult life?
In addition to those games, you can also play Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Academy, Jedi Outcast, Jedi Starfighter, and Starfighter: Special Edition on your newer Xbox just by popping in the discs. You can, in theory, play Knights of the Old Republic II this way as well, but the game is fraught with emulation issues ranging from audio glitches and frame rate drops all the way up to save file corruption, so just play this one on PC with the fan community mods or stick with the original hardware, and the Force will be with you.
Sorry, Ewan McGregor stans: Star Wars: Obi-Wan didn't make the cut.
4) Alan Wake
If you're a horror game fan and you never experienced Alan Wake, then you missed out on a hell of a treat. One part Twin Peaks, one part Richard Bachman-esque nightmare, this is one game where the story and the gameplay go hand in hand to deliver something greater than the sum of its parts. If nothing else, it'll ensure you stock up on batteries for every flashlight in the house once you're done exploring its forested countryside.
Note to @blewitt: I said flashlight, not fleshlight. Remember what happened the last time we confused the two? Don't worry, our wives will never let us forget. Talk about your pants-shitting terror thought, right?
Alan Wake is an oddball part of this list, because unlike everything else I've talked about, there aren't any bonuses of any kind with this release. You don't get any new maps, or DLC story beats, or unlocked weapons or outfits or anything. On the other hand, what you do get is a smoother gameplay experience, as the digital edition has been upgraded with an FPS boost that makes everything smoother. And really, for a game that's already as awesome as Alan Wake is, there's little else you'd need for this title.
The game received a remastered version for the Xbox One and Series S/X, but if you already have the original version from back in the day and don't want to spend money to buy the game a second time, the frame boosted version you get for free with a physical copy is worth knowing about.
5) The Dead Space trilogy.
While the Dead Space remake set the bar for what updating a stone-cold classic should look like, you cannot be made whole again unless you've played the original trilogy. And luckily for you, Microsoft made all three original Dead Space titles backwards compatible on their modern hardware simply by popping in their respective discs.
Now, if you've got a Series S/X system, then I don't care how much money you want to save, you owe it to yourself to get a copy of the 2023 Dead Space remake, because it is that damn good. You can use the 2008 disc as a placeholder until you acquire that game if you want, but as soon as you do, I can guarantee it'll never see the light of day again except as a curiosity or to do a YouTube video explaining the differences between them. Dead Space 2023 is to Dead Space 2008 as Resident Evil's HD remaster of the GameCube remake is to the original PlayStation edition: you could play it, but... why?
On the other hand, since 2023's Dead Space somehow "under-performed" according to EA, the chance we're going to see a remake of Dead Space 2, much less Dead Space 3, is about as likely as you surviving a Necromorph outbreak in your own home. Which is why it's a good thing you can pop the discs for both of the original game's sequels into your system and play through them again, this time with boosted frame rates, for a more stutter-free experience.
What's even better is that all the games' DLC is available for sale on the Xbox store, so you can still get access to all the extra weapons and outfits, even if you bought them back in the day on the 360 Marketplace. Same with the Severed DLC for Dead Space 2, and the Awakened DLC for the third game. The puzzle game Dead Space Ignition is even still available for purchase (or download if you already own it), and having a completed save file for it on your system opens up the extra costume and story logs that are otherwise inaccessible in Dead Space 2.
No matter your feelings on Dead Space 3, having a frame-boosted Dead Space 2 available for free is too good an opportunity to pass up, so if you consigned your Dead Space discs to the closet after you disconnected your 360 for the last time, go dig them out and reacquaint yourself with the feeling of soiled boxer shorts.
You can rub them in @blewitt's face later.