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This new Xbox 360 emulator for Android runs much better than I expected
Not bad at all for a project that’s been out for less than a month.
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Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
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- A new emulator called XenDroid delivers surprisingly solid Xbox 360 emulation on Android.
- We were able to play games like Call of Duty 2, Forza Motorsport 2, and Project Gotham Racing 3.
- You’ll need a device running Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 silicon or higher for best results.
We’ve already seen the first Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 emulators running on Android, but we’ve seen a couple of huge developments in the last few months. However, a new Xbox 360 emulator is making waves in recent weeks.
XenDroid was first released on GitHub a few weeks ago (h/t: EmulationOnAndroid and Modern Vintage Gamer), and it looks like a major step forward for Xbox 360 emulation on Android. According to the XenDroid GitHub page, it was initially conceived as a fork of the pioneering aX360e emulator. The developer later decided to rebase the app on the Xenia Edge PC emulator project.
The creator suggests a Snapdragon Gen 2 (ostensibly Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) chipset as the minimum, along with Adreno 740 graphics or higher. The app also supports custom Turnip GPU drivers, and the developer suggests the Whitebelyash or StevenMXZ drivers. In other words, don’t expect good performance/compatibility if you have a device with MediaTek, Samsung Exynos, or Google Tensor silicon.
I tried out a few games on XenDroid using my AYANEO Pocket S Mini, which features a Snapdragon G3X Gen 2 chipset. It’s clear that some games don’t work, but I was still surprised with the performance and compatibility at this stage. Games like Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Forza Motorsport 2 all ran with playable or mostly playable performance. Meanwhile, Skate 3, Fable 2, and UFC 2010 were mostly slow-motion affairs with varying degrees of glitches. Finally, Trials HD had severe graphical glitches.
However, your mileage might vary based on tinkering or your own device. For example, Fable 2 seems to run mostly fine on higher end hardware. The developer also recommends disabling the “Readback Resolve” toggle for improved performance, although some games need this option for accurate rendering.
Setting up the app is easy as well, and you don’t need any firmware from an Xbox 360 console. I also found that the app worked just fine with my handheld’s integrated physical controls. It does seem like the emulator doesn’t read files in nested folders, though. So you might have to place all your game files in the same root folder.
Nevertheless, I’m really encouraged to see major progress being made when it comes to emulating Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Android. The aPS3e emulator debuted as the first significant PS3 emulator on Android last year, while the same developer released aX360e. We also saw the RPCSX-UI Android PS3 emulator a year ago, as well as the X360 Mobile and ARMSX3 apps in recent weeks. So while it’s still early days for emulating these games on your Android device, we’re definitely seeing big steps.
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