For anyone planning to buy Dev Mode, change your region to Turkey, it'll only cost like a $1.40 USD for dev mode then.

Thanks for this, it answers a lot of questions I've had. Looking forward to making my physical collection of retro games accessible digitally over the upcoming weekend.

Great video! I have a series X and I hadn't used Dev Mode in a year since you had to use part of the internal storage to store games but now we can use external hard drives, great!

I think you are doing an amazing job, video AND written guide are super useful! Thank you !!

The amount of work you put into these stuff is unmatched. Thank you Russ, great content as usual.

so glad you revisited this guide! i have a portable screen on my series s and it makes it a pretty awesome and portable retro machine

21:30 Blue Dragon (360 version) can be purchased digitally for use on modern Xbox consoles as it's backwards compatible.

You're a legend Russ, thanks as always... I would love to see the frontend options for this, and also get a hands on with how to setup 4 player games(I have 3 sons)

Just wanna point out that you *can* get the basic Wiimote motion stuff mapped on Dolphin (e.g. Twilight Princess's swordplay, Metroid Prime's aiming & NSMBW's spin jump), but you have to configure it on the PC version of Dolphin first (connect your Xbox controller via USB and set it as the controller for these configs), then copy the .ini files to their respective folders on your Dolphin folder on your Xbox USB drive. You can also copy over textures and save data, may take some doing but I managed to get all my old Wii/GC saves onto my Series X!

Notes: - It looks like Blue Dragon *is* backwards compatible, but the Xbox database is not up to date! - To clarify, the risk of getting banned for emulating on Xbox was for a different method ("Retail Mode"), which has been effectively discontinued. The method shown in this video and my written guide ("Dev Mode") is still 100% legit and Microsoft has gone on record to say it's not going away. - For in-depth installation tutorial videos, I recommend checking out Archades Games' channel, they have a whole playlist of deep-dive guides: kzfaq.info/sun/PLGTaokZjTu7hL4PCwaYbNkdLPgQL5NJJ0

Very high quality and in-depth video mate, literally couldn't ask for a better video 👍🏿 Subbed as soon as the video ended.

Thanks for the advice on shader settings on retroarch. Also very useful on my Steamdeck ! A French fan of the channel.

This guide is perfection. I was very sad when Retail emulation was killed, since Dev Mode scared me so much. But, yesterday, i steel throught and put my Series X on Dev Mode. Man, it was MUCH easier than i thought. Hell, you even dont need a PC to do it, i just used my phone and send the files of the emulators to my Xbox with no issue at all. And change between Retail and Dev mode is a breeze, just 40-50 seconds and you are done.

I've been out of the game for so long i had no idea all these old school games were possible! Im buying an Xbox series s tomorrow! Thanks for this information 💯💯💯

As always, your videos are so thorough and informative.You've convinced me to give this a try. Keep up the great work!

I was pretty bummed when they got rid of retail emulation, I managed to beat Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid and the DKC trilogy before they killed it. You convinced me to give dev mode emulation a shot. Great video!

Like always, I really admire how you present each topic in great detail but totally understandable for newcomers. I really struggle with bezels/overlays and filter/shaders and optimizing them for Retroarch on my RG353M, my Raspberry Pi 4 and my PC. Knowing what's out there, what are great option for emulating specifiq devices, what overlays/bezels work on which aspect ratio and which shaders run well on which handhelds is such a hassle to just get an overview and the required knowledge. Therefore, I really would love a video explaining and summarizing this Russ style. :)

Thanks for this update! I hope XEMU or similar will eventually run on this for those og xbox titles not on the official support list. It would be fun to get Jet Set Radio Future running on this hardware.

This dudes voice makes these videos what they are. So easy to listen to this dude explain things. Not many others on youtube that van do that for me

Thanks for the video! I have an xs and been wanting to do this for the longest!

Launchers and front ends on the series sounds pretty cool! Would love to see that

Thanks for the demo and info, have a great day

The font style and color palette at 1:09 need to implemented into your logo somehow, it looks so good!

Bought an Xbox Series X Central Air Conditioning unit yesterday... just to try this Retro Arch thing on it. 😎🍺 Thank you!!!

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm currently thinking of getting me a xbox series s for when I get my CDLs here soon. I wanted to do something like this for a while on my downtime and I can play more games than a little retro emulator like a Miyoo Mini can do. Up scaling and everything would probably help me out. I just want to let you know Russ. Thank you. I'm hoping to eventually get this going when I get my own truck and I will forever be a supporter for you!

Russ I bought this based mostly in your video! Thanks for the great work

Wow, I thought once you were in Dev mode, you couldn't go back to retail. I gotta try this now. Thanks for the video!

Thanks for this video. I had my xbox s set up in retail mode and moved overseas; when I went to play it, retroarch didn't launch due to MS's decision to remove the feature. Going to try to set up your method this weekend

Great video. I have to read up on your guide but I think this is something I’ll do with my series X over the weekend. Thank you. Also, I am a really big fan of the intro music.

Great stuff man! 🔥

Fantastic guide thank you!

Even though I've had a Series X since launch day, and purchased Dev Mode shortly after, I plan on getting a Series S eventually just to have a dedicated emulation box.

Great video! I set up Launchbox on my Series S dev mode and I love it. Very clean interface with all the games in one place.

absolutely fantastic! awesome vid 🎉 id love to see front end setup too good sir 😊✊️✊️✊️

Thanks man, Great guide

I am a huge fan of emulation and I'm glad Russ is really leaning hard into why - sure for some people it is price, but a bigger reason is access. It's crazy to me that these game companies will fart out lazy ports when they could easily support their own emulation solutions and have their entire back catalogs available on their modern systems, or better yet, on a PC or Android platform. Sadly greed wins the day. So piracy it is

Just one minor issue I found - Blue Dragon is backwards compatible - I played this game a while back on my XBox without emulation.

What a video u made. So much information. thx

Thanks for the content!

Today I realized you're my favorite KZfaq channel. I watch every video whether I'm buying a handheld or not...I just know you're going to play games I want to see lol Retro Game Corps is the "lo-fi girl" channel for retro handhelds and gaming nostalgia

You are the genius from when we were kids and someone knew a guy who had a custom dreamcast or a custom xbox. I'm amazed at your level of broad knowledge.

Awesome Video! I'm going to do it on my Xbox Series X. I'm willing to have all the retro consoles with the entire game library of each, willing to play them time to time. Just to say: I Have em all! lol. From the first Commodore and Atari to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, no newer ones because i think there are already the new era. Passing by all Nintendo's, GBA, NES, SNES, Virtual Boy, Sega Master System, Game Gear, Genesis, Saturn and so on. Thanks for the help and congrant's from ARGENTINA, BUENOS AIRES.

Russ, Amazing content!! This is exactly what I was looking for. #subscribed

I love Brave Fencer Musashi! Got into it after ditching N64 for Playstation and Final Fantasy 7.

I believe there is a setting in Dolphin UWP to turn off shader compilation. You may get slightly more pop in, but the stuttering will stop.

awesome guide, i got stuck at writing my publisher name & street address lol, didn't know if I was doing it right

I bought my Series S for about 160 euros pre owned off Facebook last December, half the reason for emulation (still very sad about retail mode). Its honestly great value for money with that in mind, would recommend.

Blue Dragon is available digitally and usually goes on sale super cheap at least in the U.S store.

This is a fantastic video, thank you so much for taking the time to put this together. Are there any performance limitations for running in Dev Mode? For example, do we get use of all cores, RAM and GPU? Is anything "nerfed"?

Thank you so much for this! I found your first video a few months ago and have been looking for a Series S for a while now. But every now and then I see a cheaper Series X but I've wanted to see an updated version to see the progress by developers.

Awesome video, I was curious if RCPS3 (ps3 emulation) would work, but that might be asking too much for the xbox to perform. It still would have been sweet to be able to play killzone 2 and 3 on the xbox series x or s

For me the most difficult PS2 game to emulate has to be the Transformers (Armada) game from 2004. If it runs well on the Series S it’s going to be an instant buy for me. Have you checked that game?

hi, thanks for a quality video as always. blue dragon is playable on the series s, just booted it. it is not one x enhanced though, like RDR for example.

Cool stuff man 👍

I'll admit, never really was into owning Xbox consoles but it's awesome to see how far emulation has come on products like these. Plus it's not a bad price if you're looking to emulate and play Xbox games. I currently emulate using my Steam Deck and absolutely love it. Are there other handhelds that outclass the Deck now? Sure, yet I still love the thing and the enjoyment it's brought me. Excellent video regardless!

I have a Xbox One X. I’m interested in seeing how well it would fare to the Series S/X as it is such a cheap console to pickup used right now.

Great video! You definitely gave me confidence that I will be able to set up dev mode. Just a quick question, does the guide in the description set it up with the same UI/overlay like yours (the PSP style)?

I wonder how the Xbox One S is.. I barely use the thing, wondering if the same can be done. This is awesome. :)

The fact you can play PS2 games on a Xbox console, but a PS5 won't. That's wild.

Nice update Russ!

Big fan and you helped me a ton with my steam deck setup and even though I've been a long time Xbox owner and currently max out at an Xbox One X you've given me great ideas for it that i didnt even know was possible.

One thing to consider is the main developers that ported and updated these emulators had their personal accounts and consoles banned due to uploading apps to retail in July. So new emulators and updates to current ones are going to be very limited going forward. If you already have a series s, you can use it for emulation. But if you only want a system for emulation, consider a PC. Xbox will likely never be able to do other systems like Wii U, 3DS, Switch, PS3, ect. In addition to developers being banned, those require OpenGL and/or Vulkan support which Microsoft isn't going to add.

Guys! We can play our Nintendo Gameboy games on your xbox's! IT'S LIKE WE'RE LIVING IN THE FUTURE!!!

Lovely video

Good video guide

Have a few questions, first off, do all the emulators shown in the video work on Xbox One? and do they run as good as series s? any of you guys can confirm what things are like on the xbox one end, because I don't really wanna spend 20 dollars or so on something that doesn't really work.

I love that the Series S exists, its a budget way for people to jump into the latest generation and it has amazing emulation as shown, I know a lot of people are cheesed with the fact its somewhat holding back development but compared to the vast accessibility it offers I'm OK with that trade.

im slowly learning i just put a ps2 on my mini pc ive been banging need for speed underground it handles extremely well. i have the series s and want to learn im 100% into this hobby now.

Yeah retroarch does have a bit of learning curve i think it'd be worse on oc though, I have no experience with the xbox version of retroarch but for the pc the most confusing to me was theres core specific settings and overall settings (emulators within retroarch basically). A big example is you have 2 menus to set up your controls: 1 the core console and 2 the overall one, so if you have a different controller you would first want to set it up in the main menu and then in the quick menu(which is the core menu) and keep in mind what controlls you put in for the overall menu.

I wish I knew where you can download them from

Hello quick question I’m planning on doing this. I had a look at your guide and got to the part about hardrives, I have one formatted for my Xbox already. Will I be able to use this hardrive or will I need to buy a new one to format it to my computer

I was always like your videos before watching

I don't need an Xbox I don't need an Xbox I don't need an Xbox.... Why do you do this to me ? 😂

Community: Is this...Legal? RGC: I Will Make it Legal.

You are not slick with the ads 😂 lol good video tho

Does dolphins compiled shaders stay resident in between loading the game, or does it have to recompile each time you load a game up?

PROTIP: 1st- for Retro Game Corps: It would be helpful to mention that the few hiccups you experienced in some games may not be present on the series X since it is the more powerful of the 2....cruisin usa would run just fine on the series X... Also, consider running a crawl at the bottom of the screen throughout your video that says "Microsoft will NOT ban you for using this developer mode method." I have to commend you for the patience you have in answering the same question over and over again. For Commenters - 2 - This is nothing new. Microsoft has allowed this developer mode access since the original xbox 1, (about 10 yrs now) - they have said in interviews plenty of times that they know some people will use their consoles for emulation just like people use pc's for emulation. The logic behind their decision is instead of having people finding ways to mod their console and potentially ruin it. they will let you do whatever you want in a controlled environment...that being developer mode....which you pay $20 ($19 really) directly to Microsoft to get access. So once again NO, microsoft will NOT ban you for using emulators IN DEVELOPER MODE. 3- If you're not hip to the emulation scene then I suggest you google your questions...asking if it can play this, that, or the other is very redundant... how would russ know when a particular emulator will be available if he does not work developing said emulator? he just showcases the ones that are available. 4 - If you want to know if and when a particular emulator will be available for your console then reach out to the DEVELOPMENT TEAM for that emulator. most of them are on social platforms, particularly on reddit and/or discord. They usually update their work progress weekly. 5 - Learn to read past the headlines in articles....Just reading "Microsoft bans Emulators" isn't/wasn't the full story. That's called a clickbait headline. If you actually read the whole article, they explain that it was only retail mode which is the regular mode in which your xbox operates. Microsoft never approved this method; it was simply a hack to bypass developer mode that they simply didn't prioritize in patching it up. Now they did.... I hope this covered 90% of the questions asked cause reading the same questions over and over can get tiresome. now go play some videogames.

Hello, I have question, is emulation on X runs any better or the performance is really similiar and its more depend on emulators itself, Thank you ! :)

Would you recommend this over an odin 2 if youre not going to be taking it out often?

It’s all dev mode so not worth it not paying for a dev account

I knew I made the right choice getting an Xbox Series X over PlayStation 5!!

I was conflicted on whether I should get a PS5 or the Xbox Series X. This video convinced me of my purchase. And honestly, I just want to play some Perfect Dark (2000/2010)

It's always neat seeing my Dolphin and Xenia backgrounds/themes in a vide by a popular KZfaqr. Now I'm especially glad that I got those damn Dolphin tabs to look right when switching between them. Also, fyi, there's almost no reason to try emulating PS2, GameCube, Wii, 360, N64, DS, Saturn, or PSP on an "Xbox One". Dreamcast might also be an issue, along with harder to emulate Arcade games, like some of the Cave Shmups, or Atomiswave and Naomi. None of the Xbox One line of consoles run those games well. You MIGHT get lucky and get a game or two from those consoles to run okay, but it'll mostly be the easier to run 2D games at best. Anything more demanding, is gonna run like crap. A Series S or Series X is really needed to play those specific consoles properly. An Xbox One, One S, or One X is really only good for emulating up to PS1 and lower. One thing, minor, but it wasn't mentioned during the shader discussion. Retroarch also has an option in the quick menu for "On-Screen Overlay". You can use this, to add image borders to your games. To fill in the blank black space around the game. I personally use an image of a CRT TV with the screen bit cut out. I fit it so the game fits right inside the TV Screen, and add a nice CRT shader, and man, it looks great. For my Game Boy games, I use a tv-out S-Video shader and the original Super Game Boy border. GBC, I do the same thing but with a custom made Super Game Boy Color border. And for GBA, same thing again, but with the Game Boy Player border. Honestly, it makes the games way more nostalgic when you make it look as close as you can to the real thing from back in the day. My favorite shader, personally, is NewPixie. It's a CRT shader, but it's a lot messier than the ones seen in this video. Adds scanlines, adds glow/bloom, adds some subtle noise and wobbling to the image, curves the image slightly. It's actually probably messier than what a real CRT looked like back in the day, but I also haven't used a real CRT since I was a kid. So the messier look, looks like what my brain THINKS a CRT looked like. A little note about "Dolphin works on Retroarch but it's more complicated to set up". This is definitely true. But to add to this, the standalone Dolphin emulator also just...runs better. The Dolphin core on Retroarch is outdated as hell, and has way more slowdown than the standalone. So I'd recommend the standalone, regardless of if you're okay with setting it up in RA or not. As far as the shader stuttering in Dolphin standalone. If it's REALLY a massive issue, you could turn on Skip Draw in the settings. The stutters will be virtually gone, but you'll get some pop-in since it's not waiting to load the shaders, and is instead just loading them on the fly. Minor correction: You CAN play Wii games that use motion controls. You can't MAKE a controller config inside the Xbox version of Dolphin, but you could make one on PC and copy it over. When you do, you can make every single motion-based thing (and the non-motion stuff) to the different buttons and sticks. Mario Galaxy, for example, works perfectly fine on an Xbox controller. Right Stick to move the cursor, a bumper/trigger to shake the Wiimote and make Mario Spin. Hell, you can even do the stuff that requires tilting by setting the tilts to a hotkey+stick. It's not quite AS intuitive and easy to use as a real Wiimote and Nunchuck. But it works. Heck, people even got Skyward Sword working on an Xbox Controller. Though that one's more complicated to learn since it's multiple different button combos for different kinds of sword movements and gliding and things. -- Here's a tip for Retroarch. Any time you're trying a core for the first time. Immediately go into the quick menu, and then core options. A lot of the cores have quite a few core-specific settings you can fiddle with. Game Boy having color palette options, GBC and GBA having color correction options to make the games look more like the original screens, some of the GB/GBC/GBA cores can even read a bios file and load the original Game Boy logo splash screens before a game boots. There's overclocking, and the ability to disable sprite limits. The upscaling options are usually in there too, for the 3D consoles. Definitely worth looking at the core options beforehand.

I'd be all over this if I didn't hate Microsoft.😂

Love the video.

I'd love to see moonlight on the Xbox as well, so I could use it for emulation and then as a streaming box for my PC. Mostly for that sweet sweet steam library that continues to grow with every sale...

Hey Russ I’ve been following you for a while you the reason why I bought a 353v and I LOVE IT. You opened my eyes to Xbox emulation and I followed your guide on how to get it and retroarch up and running and I followed your instructions to a T. Nonetheless I still got “failed to open libretro core” for every core I tried and games. I take a look at the logs and i get “parameter unknown.” I think I’ve been trying for about a week. And I got it to work after installing and uninstalling. But the cores can’t be read off my usb stick of 512gbs but for my core directory I press start to restore to default and the path. It gives me is an S: drive so I’m assuming cores can only be read off the systems memory and not usb stick. Maybe you can look into why that happens. Thank you have a great holiday!

How did you managed to show the fps? Can you do it in regular games too???

I'm interested to get a Series S as an Emulator machine for my TV. But I'm also interested to experiment with HD texture mods (PSP games in particular). Have you tested that aswell? Would be nice to get some feedback.

Just Set everythng Up with Dolphin and ITS running great. However, how can i use wii motions? Im playing new Super Mario Bros Wii with Dolphin and cant get the Motion jump to Work.. thanks in advance! :)

I don’t think this works anymore or I’m doing something wrong. I follow his online guide to the letter but when I launch retroarch on my Xbox it doesn’t register my controller inputs at all so I can’t do anything with retroarch.

Highly recommend Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus for the PSP. Amazing game I have played it for 10 years plus now and I still love it!

12:19 Do you know if that Wingman adapter works with GameCube controller through the USB adapter for Wii U/Switch?

Perfect video! Thanks!

Now I really want to try this

Do you think all the emulators will manage to work with 4k upscale?

Question. Does this emulator support native 4K 60hz-120hz frame rate options?

I run retroarch on mt nvidia shield tv and it's been great. I never knew I could do this with my series x. Thanks.

I've long switched to PC from my old Xbox, but would the same setup work for Xbox one for lightweight titles? Just curious not necessarily planning to mess with it./what's the max it can do

Hi there, I'm trying to do this same setup and I'm really struggling to follow along with your written tutorial. Why did none of the cores install on the retro arch? Also what am I supposed to do with all of the embedded text for bios files? It does not look like they are actual files you can download and use. There seems a lot to be desired from this written tutorial? Am I just crazy? The only installed cores it shows are the three you say to lock. And then you say to update all the rest core files. But that's all there is. Is it possible to just download and use Batocera on a flash drive and run it in Dev mode on Xbox?