Home Gaming Here’s Windows 95 running on an Xbox One

Here’s Windows 95 running on an Xbox One

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w95

When I manage to get homebrew or hacks running on a device, the first thing I load up is Super Mario Bros 3 – always. Within minutes of Jailbreaking an iPhone 4 years ago, I was swinging my Tanooki tail and collecting coins in the sky. When I loaded up custom firmware on my PSP in the days of yore, the first thing I marvelled at was playing Nintendo games on Sony hardware.

When most tinkerer types get access to that sort of thing though, after they’re done with their “Hello Words” messages, of course, is to get DOS or Windows running. And that’s precisely what somebody’s done on the Xbox One, now that the console has become the promised Devkit. Universal Windows Platform apps can be built and run on the Xbox One (opening the gates for some interesting things on the console in the future, no doubt)

Here’s Windows 95 running on an Xbox One – through a UWP version of Dosbox. Is it useful? Perhaps; it looks like the wonderful SNES emulator ZNES is running and it could open the way to a ton of emulation-related projects of this ilk. Oh, and Duke Nukem 3D works too.

Here’s a look. It’s slow, yes, but that’s because it only uses the CPU interpreter says vcfan.

On March 31, Microsoft opened up UWP dev mode on the Xbox One to preview members – even if there is a huge caveat; developers aren’t able to publish games that way; those will still have to go through other channels.

Last Updated: May 18, 2016

17 Comments

  1. Pariah

    May 18, 2016 at 09:09

    But can it play Crysis?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Protector

      May 18, 2016 at 09:34

      Don’t be daft, it is an eggsbawks

      Reply

      • Pariah

        May 18, 2016 at 10:09

        But I like eggs.

        Reply

    • TwinStripeUK

      May 18, 2016 at 22:32

      Why would anyone want to?

      Reply

  2. VampyreSquirrel

    May 18, 2016 at 09:12

    But… Why?

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      May 18, 2016 at 09:23

      Why not?

      Reply

      • VampyreSquirrel

        May 18, 2016 at 10:14

        98 SE was better?

        Reply

  3. Ottokie

    May 18, 2016 at 09:28

    You can not have Win95 and not install Age of Empires

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Protector

      May 18, 2016 at 09:33

      ^This

      Reply

  4. HvR

    May 18, 2016 at 09:29

    Well technically he got DosBox running on Xbox not Win95

    Reply

  5. DrKiller

    May 18, 2016 at 09:39

    So random question.. Are NES/SNES and those emulators “illegal”? Are any emulators illegal?

    Reply

    • Ghost In The Rift

      May 18, 2016 at 09:46

      If there’s a emulator for current hardware that is still available on the market id call it “illegal”, like a NDS emulator.

      Reply

      • DrKiller

        May 18, 2016 at 09:48

        ah ok.. Thanks, was always wondering

        Reply

      • HvR

        May 18, 2016 at 10:01

        Pretty sure it is not illegal as long as you do not play pirated games on it.

        If you sell it M$ might be able to slap you with an patent infringement suit IF there patent covers enough bases.

        Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      May 18, 2016 at 10:29

      Emulators themselves are not illegal, as long as they’re not packaged with ROMS or official BIOSes of the systems they emulate.

      Reply

  6. That Guy Jon

    May 18, 2016 at 10:09

    I may just buy an Xbox One thanks to UWP!

    Reply

  7. crizz1066

    May 18, 2016 at 14:47

    Well poor little hamster inside the X1, probably couldn’t deal with anything else 🙂

    Reply

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