More than 70 classic games are coming to Xbox, some with performance improvements

76 new games will be added to the Xbox backward compatibility library today during Microsoft's 20th anniversary Xbox event, including the complete Max Payne franchise, the F.E.A.R series, various Star Wars games, and more. Some of these classics will also enable FPS to increase, and all of them will benefit from Auto HDR, according to Xbox.

Peggy Lo, Xbox's compatibility program head, said during today's presentation that Microsoft would be adding more games to the Xbox backward compatibility program. This comes as a bit of a surprise, as Xbox said in 2019 that it has no intentions to expand the back compat library. Continued community requests for older titles, as well as the major 20th-anniversary celebration, appear to have persuaded Microsoft to open the floodgates once more.

Here’s the full list of games that you can now play on Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S:

• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
• Aces of the Galaxy
• Advent Rising
• Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
• Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
• Bankshot Billiards 2
• Beautiful Katamari
• Binary Domain
• Black College Football Xperience: Doug Williams Ed
• Cloning Clyde
• Conan
• Darwinia+
• Dead or Alive Ultimate
• Dead or Alive 3
• Dead or Alive 4
• Death by Cube
• Disney Universe
• Disney’s Chicken Little
• Elements of Destruction
• F.E.A.R.
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• F.E.A.R. 3
• F.E.A.R. Files
• The First Templar
• Gladius
• Gunvalkyrie
• Islands of Wakfu
• Lego The Lord of the Rings
• Manhunt
• Max Payne
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
• Max Payne 3
• Mini Ninjas
• Mortal Kombat
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• MX vs. ATV Alive
• MX vs. ATV Untamed
• NIER
• Novadrome
• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
• Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
• Otogi: Myth of Demons
• Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors
• The Outfit
• Outpost Kaloki X
• Quake Arena Arcade
• R.A.W. - Realms of Ancient War
• Red Dead Revolver
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
• Ridge Racer 6
• Rio
• Risen
• Risen 2: Dark Waters
• Rock of Ages
• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
• Scramble
• Screwjumper!
• Secret Weapons Over Normandy
• Skate 2
• SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam!
• SpongeBob’s Truth or Square
• Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition
• Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
• Switchball
• Thrillville
• Thrillville: Off the Rails
• Time Pilot
• Time
• Splitters 2
• Time
• Splitters: Future Perfect
• Toy Story Mania!
• Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment
• Viva Piñata: Party Animals
• Warlords

All of the Max Payne games, Timesplitters and its sequel Future Perfect, 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand, Manhunt, Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe, and Skate 2 are among the games on the list that have piqued my interest. Unfortunately, 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand is still unavailable for purchase on the old Xbox marketplace, at least for the time being. If you receive a disc copy, however, you can now play it on your Xbox Series X.