Yes, you are reading correctly. Emulators can now be installed on the new Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S , and in addition to offering incredible performance, the installation process appears to be fairly straightforward. You can perform two different methods, and today we are going to show you the simplest and the one that could cause the least problems.
Emulators on Xbox Series X
As has happened on countless occasions, when we talk about emulators we must inevitably talk about RetroArch, and that is exactly what you will find in this article. The intention of this guide is none other than to install the famous emulator manager in the memory of the console, but taking into account that it is not an officially compatible program with the console (Microsoft does not allow emulators in its Store), you have to make some adjustments to get it.
One option is to register your console with a developer account, something that will allow you to install unsigned code. This process is completely valid and legal, so you will not have to have for the security of your Xbox, however, it requires additional steps and a little more annoying, so we will opt for the second method.
How to download RetroArch on the Xbox Series X
In order to download RetroArch directly in our console without having to activate the developer mode, we will simply have to ask the developer who distributes it for permission, and in that case, it seems that someone has been quick and is offering just this.
Through a Google Docs form, it is registering all the requests of the users, which must leave a note of the email with which they log in to Xbox and the username in Discord to be able to take a look at the forum where they are sharing impressions by all interested parties and where all the details of the installation are reported.
This form is supposedly reviewed every 24 hours, so you will have to wait a bit until your request is registered. But registered for what? The answer is very simple. If your account is not registered, you will not be able to download the files necessary to start the whole process. As we have commented, you will have to wait about 24 hours to be able to download the files, since otherwise the links will return an error.
Installing the packages
To get the packages that you will have to install, you will have to visit the link that we leave you below from the Edge browser of the console. Thus, you can go directly to the program that is hosted in the Microsoft Store, but that you can only download if your account is registered as previously indicated.
The programs that you will download in the links that you will find on the web, will be RetroArch, Ppsspp and an FTP application that you will need to pass content to the console. If your account is correctly registered (that is, they have accepted your request for the form), you will be able to download the three applications without problems.
How are the roms copied?
With everything installed, the first thing you will have to do is open RetroArch and go to the updates option to update each and every one of the program’s components. After that, you will have to download to your computer a BIOS pack that they share from the official Discord and that you will have to manually pass through the FTP application that you have previously installed.
With the FTP application you will transfer the downloaded BIOS and the ROMs you have at home, some files that from here we cannot help you on where to find them.
Is this whole method legal?
At the moment, it seems that the creator of this method has taken advantage of a vulnerability in the Microsoft Store to sneak a retail version of RetroArch without having to activate the developer mode. What it does is use the UWP version of Retroarch to cast it as a private app that doesn’t need Microsoft’s approval. That said, for now the ball is in Microsoft’s court, which must decide whether to knock down the application or if, on the contrary, it leaves it so that each one can do what they want with it. Time will tell.
As always, the use of each user will remain within each one, so its misuse will fall on each user who installs it.