Let's settle it: These are the 10 best original Xbox games of all time

The original Xbox, released in 2001 by Microsoft, marked the start of our current era of gaming, which is defined by the big three console makers and Steam. The Xbox managed to gain enough of a foothold to get multiple follow-up consoles, in large part thanks to a library with some fantastic games in it, including several games that were exclusive at the time. While Microsoft in 2025 seems to be starting to exit the console market, the original Xbox featured some truly revolutionary titles. While some of the games on this list were available on multiple consoles, some extra weight was given to exclusives. Some of these games are also backward compatible on Xbox Series X|S.

10 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

An impressive open-world RPG for the time

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind might not be the series' favorite, with that honor going to either Oblivion or Skyrim, but it's an incredibly impressive and deep RPG experience, especially on the original Xbox. A first-person experience, Morrowind still features completely free and open exploration, which gets tightened a bit in future games to provide slightly more direction, but its openness is what makes it special. Like many of Bethesda's games, it bit off more than it can chew, resulting in some bugs and glitches. Even with those issues, the expansive world and branching story paths felt incredible back in 2002.

9 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Ubisoft used to make games besides Assassin's Creed and Far Cry

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was a reboot of the original series, and the second 3D game in the series. It follows the Prince, who has to help save his kingdom after an evil villain tricks him into unleashing the Sands of Time, which turns the citizens into possessed monsters controlled by the villain. It takes full advantage of the hardware, creating large 3D environments to adventure through. While it's primarily an action-adventure game, it also features plenty of 3D platforming, keeping inline with the main gameplay elements of the series, while expanding the narrative and visuals. It's an excellent game, and hopefully the remake Ubisoft announced will actually release someday.

8 Project Gotham Racing 2

Before Forza Horizon, there was Project Gotham Racing

Project Gotham Racing 2 is an arcade-style racing game from Bizarre Creations, published by Microsoft. Racing in Project Gotham Racing 2 has a unique double goal system, where you not only need to win races to unlock new ones and advance, but also earn enough points while racing by performing certain feats. It features over 120 different cars and tons of customization options, and it is widely regarded as the best racing game on the original Xbox. It has the Kudos World Series, which features different circuits designed for different kinds of cars, allowing you to work through different classes and continually unlock new vehicles. It also had time attacks and an Arcade mode, which included a variety of different medals for different races and challenges.

7 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

One of the best open-world games of all time

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is widely considered not only the best of the GTA III trilogy, but the best game in the series overall. Its influence on open-world games still dictates the way those games are made and designed, and the heights they aspire to hit. You probably don't need me to tell you what makes Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas special, but the controls and activities present in the game blurred the lines between a focused narrative game and a sandbox life sim. Being set in basically modern times when it was released also let it feel tapped into the culture with its radio stations and portrayal of life. While there's nothing wrong with the Xbox version, it came almost an entire year after the PS2 version released, which is enough of a reason to keep it from being higher on this list.

6 Psychonauts

Double Fine Productions' mind-bending platformer rules

Psychonauts is a 3D platformer from Double Fine Productions. While the studio is now well-known for its off-the-wall games, Psychonauts was its first release, but founder Tim Schafer had some notoriety from working on Lucas Arts adventure games like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. The 3D platformer has a funny and compelling narrative, following Raz as he breaks into the Psychonauts' camp to try and join their team, only to discover that the other campers have had their brains stolen. Raz has to use his psychic powers to dive into people's minds, creating both compelling narrative threads and wacky levels to platform through. While its legacy with the original Xbox is a bit strange, with Microsoft dropping out as the publisher only to buy the studio later on, the game debuted on the Xbox and is a critical darling.

5 Ninja Gaiden Black

A hard-as-nails action game before it was cool

Ninja Gaiden Black, a slightly improved version of Ninja Gaiden that was released shortly after the original version, is the best action game on the console. The fast-paced action games feature linear levels and an over-the-top narrative, but that just plays into the incredible combat. Unlike modern difficult action games, that follow the Soulslike formula, Ninja Gaiden Black is incredibly fast, and requires you to keep up combos to avoid getting attacked, instead of dodging or parrying as the main method of self-preservation. Ninja Gaiden Black packs in the two free downloadable packs that were released for the original version, alongside an easy mode and ultra-hard mode. There is also a new missions mode outside the campaign, focused on small arenas and racking up high scores.

4 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Bioware's incredible Star Wars RPG

Prior to Disney buying Star Wars, there was a plethora of Star Wars games, including games set during the Old Republic, which are set thousands of years prior to the films. The best among the bunch is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, an RPG based on Dungeons & Dragons systems, but set in the Star Wars universe. You play as an amnesiac, who ends up recruiting a band of misfits as you explore the galaxy and attempt to save the Jedi Order. You can build your character in any way you want, focusing on lightsabers and the force or pistols and persuasion. You can also choose to be light or dark-sided, and while some of those choices feel a bit cartoonish by modern standards, the story is still some excellent Star Wars storytelling. It contains some wild twists, and its status as an Xbox console exclusive helped sell at least a few Xbox consoles.

3 Fable

Peter Molyneux might have made promises he couldn't deliver on, but the game is still pretty great

Fable is the goofy, British RPG from the now defunct Lionhead Studios. Its fantasy story feels quaint on purpose, taking a more small-scale and silly fantasy approach. The combat is real-time third-person, and you have a ton of control in terms of customizing your character and choosing to be a hero or villain in the story. There are tons of side activities or just strange mini-games you can go participate in while children in town heckle you, calling you a "chicken-chaser." It's a game that has a wholly unique vibe, and removed from the overpromising and underdelivering of Peter Molyneux at the time of release, it's a fantastic RPG.

2 Halo: Combat Evolved

It changed console shooters forever

Halo: Combat Evolved is a landmark game for Xbox and video games in general. For Xbox, it served as the killer launch game that made it, so people had to buy an Xbox, giving Microsoft a foothold in the gaming industry for the following two-and-a-half decades. Halo: CE did not invent the dual-stick control scheme for first-person shooters on consoles, but it is the first game to do it well enough to make it the standard control scheme for first-person shooters on controller since. Of course, neither of those things would be true if the sci-fi game didn't feature massive sprawling levels, fluid shooting, great vehicles, and two different enemy factions that function completely differently.

1 Halo 2

Adding an electric guitar to a theme has never felt this good

Halo 2 is a bit controversial of a game, at least as number 1 on this list. The reason being is that the ending of the campaign is a cliffhanger, providing an unsatisfying conclusion to the story, which would later be finished in Halo 3. However, the campaign kicks ass outside of that, adding dual wielding for some guns, letting players use the Energy Sword that was present in the first game, but not usable, and having the Arbiter as a playable character. However, Halo 2 is incredibly important because of its multiplayer. Halo 2 is the first prominent example of a console game having matchmaking built into the game. Previously, third-party services would have to be used, resulting in rough lag and bad experiences. Halo 2 used the brand-new Xbox Live to have multiplayer built in, changing the console landscape forever. The importance of that helps it take the top spot, but it also helped that the Halo 2 multiplayer experience was incredible, with great maps and a soft-leveling system, giving some sense of progression.

The Xbox was home to some incredible games and exclusives

It's hard to argue with a line-up that includes Halo: CE, Fable, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Psychonauts. At a time when it was far more financially viable for both the console makers and developers to have console exclusives, the original Xbox came out of the gate swinging with some incredible games. While Xbox is on the verge of losing its foothold as a console maker in the industry, its easy to see why the original Xbox was able to make a splash.