There’s a Star Wars sport on the market that’s onerous to play in 2024 as a result of, for no matter motive, it stays trapped on the hard-to-emulate OG Xbox with none official remakes, remasters, or backward compatibility assist. That sport is Star Wars: Obi-Wan.
Final week, Lucasfilm Video games and Aspyr introduced a remastered model of 2002’s Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, a sport that first launched on PlayStation 2 and GameCube. The brand new remaster is ready to replace a few of the textures, enhance the lighting, and even add a brand new flashlight choice, too. That every one sounds good, and I’m excited to see one more previous Star Wars sport delivered to extra trendy platforms. Nevertheless, seeing Bounty Hunter get the remaster remedy made me take into consideration Obi-Wan on Xbox, a sport that launched only a 12 months earlier than Bounty Hunter that’s nonetheless trapped on the unique Xbox console over 20 years after its launch.
In 2001, two years after the discharge of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Lucasarts launched Star Wars: Obi-Wan as an unique sport for the Xbox. This third-person motion sport starred, you guessed it, Obi-Wan Kenobi and was each a prequel to and retelling of the Phantom Menace movie.
It’s not an amazing sport, to be clear. However it featured some fascinating concepts—like utilizing the suitable stick for lightsaber fight—and provided a enjoyable option to expertise the primary Star Wars prequel earlier than Assault of the Clones hit theaters in 2002. Moreover, it’s not like Bounty Hunter is an unbelievable online game, both. But it’s getting a brand new remaster (after being launched on PS4 as a PS2 traditional already), whereas Obi-Wan on Xbox is left behind.
The way to play Star Wars: Obi-Wan in 2024
Star Wars: Obi-Wan by no means bought a PC port, was by no means launched on PS2, and has by no means been up to date to assist backward compatibility on Xbox One or Sequence X/S. If you wish to play Obi-Wan you’ve gotten one good choice and one dangerous choice.
The great choice: You go purchase an OG Xbox and a duplicate of Obi-Wan. Set it up and there you go, you’re enjoying Star Wars: Obi-Wan. Nicely, that’s assuming the Xbox you obtain works correctly and the copy of the sport you bought isn’t too broken. (Fortunately pre-owned copies of the sport aren’t very costly, so if you must purchase two of them it gained’t break the financial institution.)
The dangerous choice is emulation. I like emulating video games! I’m not towards it in any respect and I believe fan-developed emulators are an essential a part of sport preservation. So once I say emulating Obi-Wan is dangerous, I need to be clear that it’s not as a result of I’m towards enjoying previous video games utilizing third-party software program. No, enjoying Obi-Wan on an Xbox emulator is dangerous as a result of it sucks and is (as of this writing) not an amazing expertise.
If you happen to play on CXBX-Reloaded, a fan-made Xbox emulator, you would possibly be capable to make it by way of the sport, however many gamers have reported crashes, graphical bugs, and different issues that spoil the expertise. I’ve additionally tried to play Obi-Wan on XEMU, a distinct Xbox emulator, and had even worse luck—I couldn’t get previous the second stage. Whereas some gamers have been in a position to tinker sufficient to get Obi-Wan operating nicely on CXBX, it’s nonetheless not an excellent option to play the sport.
Assist me Lucasfilm Video games, you’re my solely hope
So now, right here’s my plea: Somebody at Lucasfilm Video games, please contact Nightdive Studios, Aspyr, or one other developer that’s good at reviving previous video games and pay them the cash to convey Star Wars: Obi-Wan to extra platforms.
Cleaned up and operating at 60FPS, Obi-Wan can be a strong hit on consoles just like the Change. Plus the Star Wars prequels are at the moment experiencing a renaissance amongst followers who grew up watching the movies. Pleasure for prequel-era content material is at an all-time excessive in 2024 and I believe a well-done Obi-Wan port or remaster can be a slam dunk.
And if that’s not potential, on the very least it will be good to get the sport ported to PC so followers can maintain updating it and modding it simply for years to come back. Or somebody at Xbox flip the swap and make this factor backwards appropriate on Xbox One and Sequence X/S consoles. I’d take that at this level!
However what I really need is a pleasant remaster. It might save part of online game historical past and rescue a Star Wars sport from being forgotten. It’s actually a win-win scenario and it’s about time Obi-Wan will get the remaster he deserves.
.
