The Xbox brand kicked off in 2001 with an enormous black box that proved Microsoft could hang with the major console players just fine. However, the Xbox 360 was the hardware that revealed Xbox had the potential to dominate the space, thanks in part to hits like Halo 2 and Gears of War. Microsoft, frankly, has been trying for a repeat performance ever since.
Many of the games from the Xbox 360 era are rightly remembered as classics. But there are other amazing titles — the platform’s true hidden gems — that deserved much more attention and acclaim than they ever received. Here are 10 near-perfect Xbox 360 games nobody played.
10
Ridge Racer 6
Released: Nov. 22, 2005
There was actually some drama around Ridge Racer 6, one of Xbox 360’s first games. It was a solid racing game, but also the next entry in a popular PlayStation franchise, and released exclusively on Microsoft’s new console. Unfortunately for Namco, it faced a lot of competition from other titles in the launch lineup, including the excellent Project Gotham Racing 3 from Microsoft, as well as Need for Speed: Most Wanted from Electronic Arts. Those other games overshadowed Namco’s potential hit, at least in North America.
9
Lost Odyssey
Released: Dec. 6, 2007
Mistwalker released two ambitious JRPGs for Xbox during the Xbox 360 era, and Lost Odyssey was the second of those titles. It’s an epic JRPG, considered by those who played it a strong competitor to the best the Final Fantasy series had to offer. But Xbox 360 fans weren’t huge on the JRPG, overall, and many of the genre’s fans were content to play other quality titles available on the PlayStation 3. For those reasons and others, Lost Odyssey is remembered today as a genre gem, despite not finding the audience it deserved when it was needed most.
8
Blue Dragon
Released: Dec. 7, 2006
Mistwalker’s first release was Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360, a bit of a surprise given founder Hironobu Sakaguchi’s history with PlayStation and Nintendo. The game featured beautiful character design from Akira Toriyama (Dragon Quest) and music from Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), with Hironobu Sakaguchi at the project’s helm. Despite that pedigree, the game struggled to find the large audience Microsoft must have expected. It is currently available to purchase on the Xbox store, but otherwise has largely been forgotten despite scoring well with critics at launch.
7
Project Sylpheed
Released: Sep. 28, 2006
Game Arts (better known for Lunar: Silver Star Story and Grandia) and Seta (a prolific NES and SNES developer) partnered for Project Sylpheed, a successor to the former’s Silpheed franchise (which at one time was popular enough that the first game appeared as part of the Sega Genesis Mini 2 lineup). It featured expansive environments and an ambitious plot with strong voice acting, though the shooting could turn repetitive thanks to a relative lack of mission variety. Still, it was a solid game for people who just wanted to blow things up in space, provided they could get past the complex control scheme.
6
Infinite Undiscovery
Released: Sep. 2, 2008
Infinite Undiscovery is one of the most interesting JRPGs of its time, which shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, given that it was developed by Microsoft Game Studios Japan working with tri-Ace (the Star Ocean series). The story stars a young man named Capell, who finds himself involved in an epic plot of the sort one might expect from the genre. One central detail is somewhat less expected: the moon itself has apparently been bound to the planet’s surface. Now the people living on the planet’s surface are enduring devastation as crops whither and animals die. Active battles with four party members, along with beautiful environments, make it a game to remember. Fortunately, Microsoft has since made it backward-compatible for Xbox One.
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5
Beautiful Katamari
Released: Oct. 16, 2007
The Katamari series originated on the PlayStation 2, and became a surprise hit for Namco. Beautiful Katamari was an Xbox 360 exclusive, offering beautiful visuals made possible by the newer hardware. As the Prince, players roll objects into massive clumps, which somehow will right the balance of the universe or some such thing. It’s all very silly, but that’s the point. Games in the series are reliably relaxing, held together by hummable soundtracks and delightful whimsy. Sadly, the niche title went unnoticed by a lot of players, who rewarded more conventional play mechanics.
4
Magna Carta 2
Released: Aug. 6, 2009
Magna Carta 2 is an RPG from Korean developer SoftMax. It’s the followup to Magna Carta: Tears of Blood on PlayStation 2, which was the first console entry in a short-lived RPG series that started on Windows PC in 2001. In the new game, which served as the final entry in the franchise, players take part in turn-based combat that occurs within the field, without transitions to some other location. Combat features timing-based attacks and chains, which turn the multi-character party into a powerful weapon when properly utilized. The game featured beautiful environments, along with character designs by artist Hyung-tae Kim, who later directed Stellar Blade.
3
Culdcept Saga
Released: Nov. 22, 2006
Culdcept Saga is the fourth proper entry in the long-running franchise, and the first appearance on Microsoft hardware. It functions as a board game mixed with a card game. Characters known as Cepters roll dice and advance along a game board, securing property and charging fees to anyone else who lands there. Ownership of a given space can be challenged with a battle, allowing powerful players to claim those spaces for their own. To win, a player must secure mana and bring it back to the place where the game began. It’s a unique concept with a lot of niche appeal. If you’d like to try something a little newer in the series, Culdcept Begins was released July 16 on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, and a Windows PC port is due this year.
2
Bullet Witch
Released: Jul. 27, 2006
Cavia is best known for its work on the Drakengard games, which were the basis for the original Nier. The developer also produced several light gun shooters in the Resident Evil franchise. At the time Bullet Witch released, Cavia was in its most productive period. The game featured stylish visuals reminiscent of Devil May Cry (and later, Bayonetta). There’s a focus on giant monsters and destruction in urban environments, with a little magic thrown in the mix to keep things interesting. It is very much a product of its time, and the heavy focus on action and enemy mobs might not be for everyone, but it’s well worth a look. The Xbox 360 version has disappeared from the marketplace, but a Steam port was released on Apr. 25, 2018.
1
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights
Released: Apr. 20, 2006
N3: Ninety-Nine Nights is a fantasy brawler published by Microsoft and developed alongside Phantagram and Q Entertainment. That second collaborator is best known for Lumines and the Meteos games. Games about eternal battles between good and evil might not seem like an obvious subject for one of the studio’s early games, particularly ones that come packed with enough action to compete with the Dynasty Warriors games. But the three teams involved made the design work, aided by gorgeous visuals and a system that graded player performance to encourage replay. A sequel was developed by feelplus and published by Konami, but its darker artwork didn’t hold the same appeal as the first game and the franchise stalled.
