The Xbox One now has a port of LibRetro, called Retrix. Thanks to the hard work of @Absestos , they've ported some of the LibRetro cores to UWP, which both Windows 10 and Xbox One users can use. You can currently emulate games from a wide range of systems, like the NES, SNES, GBA, Sega Genesis, PlayStation 1, with even more additions planned in the future, like N64 and Dreamcast. Retrix also allows for 2 player support, as well as savestates. The project is still early in development, but has come a long way in a short amount of time.

The caveat to being able to access this, is that users will need a Developer Account, for their Xbox One. The process is simple, but requires $19.99 to activate, permanently. You then receive 3 slots to register any accounts to. You can do that by following this link.

I personally tried out the emulator myself, using the following games.

SNES:
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island: Works fullspeed, but crashes at random
Contra III: Runs well, but experiences slowdown during explosions
Secret of Mana: Works fullspeed
Super Mario World: Works fullspeed

GB/GBC/GBA:
All GameBoy and GameBoy Color games crashed the program.
Sonic Advance 3: Runs fullspeed.
Pokemon Fire Red: Does not boot.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: Runs fullspeed.
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones: Runs fullspeed.

Master System:
All attempted titles besides Sonic Chaos resulted in a black screen.

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive/CD:
Sonic 3: Runs fine except when you lose rings, which causes slowdown
Road Rash: Runs fine until you get hit, and the game has a runtime error
Sonic CD: Works fullspeed
Shining Force CD: Works fullspeed

Steps on how to enable developer mode on your Xbox One

1. Obtain a developer account.
2. On your Xbox One, install the free "Dev Mode Activation" app from the Xbox store
3. The Xbox will then give you a 6 digit code, on your computer, go to the Dev Center hub on Microsoft's site, and put the code in there.
4. Your system will confirm the activation code, and prompt you to restart into Developer Mode

How to sideload Retrix and use it

1. After the above steps, the console will be in Developer Mode. You will then see your Xbox One's IP on the home menu.
2. Type this IP into your browser, which will take you a hub page. You can upload the .APPX for Retrix here. It'll install to your Xbox, and you'll be good to go.
3. PlayStation and Sega CD games require BIOS. You'll need these to play games from either of those systems.
4. Get a USB with a roms folder on root, put any roms and BIOS files there.
5. You're done! Select a given system from Retrix's menu, and load your rom, and it will boot.

Discussion Thread

Development Fundraising

Github

 

[wiired24]

can't you also run the libretro port on Windows 10, though, because of UWP?
Granted, x86 RetroArch would probably be the better choice to use on W10 (or any PC) but the option for UWP should still be there.

Yeah you can run RetriX on Windows 10 as well I was just meaning in regards to "Developer mode" and the schism that applies to the Xbox One whereby you must put it into dev mode to sideload homebrew apps. PC's can just run anything you throw at them since their obviosuly not a console and not locked down by default

 

[kingtut]

Just for the heads up, hackinformer wrote an article about retrix. That should get us some views @Absestos

 

[wiired24]

Just for the heads up, hackinformer wrote an article about retrix. That should get us some views @Absestos

As did team xecuter http://team-xecuter.com/ RetriX is being talked about all over the interwebz

 

[kingtut]

As did team xecuter http://team-xecuter.com/ RetriX is being talked about all over the interwebz

is there a way we can point them to the fund me page?

 

[wiired24]

is there a way we can point them to the fund me page?

They have a link to where you can donate to the developer in the article

 

[Selim873]

Seems like there's still a lot of work to do on it, and $20 is a bit steep just for this. Looks cool, anyway!

The way I see it, $20 and you have the permanent ability to push homebrew apps that wouldn't be allowed onto the store. There probably won't ever be a way to do something similar without a console in developer mode. With other consoles, usually you would have to buy a game to enable an exploit, a lot of times spending more than $20.

EDIT: Also, will this have any effect on playing games online, etc.? Or could you restart in stock mode to do that?

Either way, I hardly use my Xbox One at all. This would be a GREAT way for me to give me some time to use it! I personally want to keep my Nintendo Switch clean of homebrew as my Vita already has Henkaku and 3DS with Boot9Strap. The Xbox One gives me something for the TV.

 

[wiired24]

The way I see it, $20 and you have the permanent ability to push homebrew apps that wouldn't be allowed onto the store. There probably won't ever be a way to do something similar without a console in developer mode. With other consoles, usually you would have to buy a game to enable an exploit, a lot of times spending more than $20.

EDIT: Also, will this have any effect on playing games online, etc.? Or could you restart in stock mode to do that?

You can just restart into developer mode to play your retail games online. Dev Mode has no effect on playing games online.

 

[Selim873]

You can just restart into developer mode to play your retail games online. Dev Mode has no effect on playing games online.

Great! I bought a license and switched to dev mode and got Retrix to run. My retail games (Digital) didn't appear in the dev home though, but it still shows the same amount of HDD space used. I switched back to retail and they reappeared. Is that normal? I don't mind switching to Dev Mode to use homebrew and back to retail to access my XOne games, but it'd be nice to have everything in Dev Mode.

 

[kingtut]

Great! I bought a license and switched to dev mode and got Retrix to run. My retail games (Digital) didn't appear in the dev home though, but it still shows the same amount of HDD space used. I switched back to retail and they reappeared. Is that normal? I don't mind switching to Dev Mode to use homebrew and back to retail to access my XOne games, but it'd be nice to have everything in Dev Mode.

It is also guaranteed not to brick or ban your system since it is officially licensed by Microsoft. last may they already announced that Linux is officially coming to xbox one

 

[wiired24]

Great! I bought a license and switched to dev mode and got Retrix to run. My retail games (Digital) didn't appear in the dev home though, but it still shows the same amount of HDD space used. I switched back to retail and they reappeared. Is that normal? I don't mind switching to Dev Mode to use homebrew and back to retail to access my XOne games, but it'd be nice to have everything in Dev Mode.

That's completely normal. Yeah you do have to switch back to retail mode when you wanna play your retail games but thankfully it's very trivial and doesn't take long. Also welcome to the scene I'd like to point out that apart from RetriX there is a pretty decent amount of homebrew available. You can download the official client here https://github.com/wiired24/ProjectPegasus. It contains every single emulator/piece of homebrew the scene currently has available right now. The way it works is simple. You just run the .exe and select what you want to download. You will then get a .APPX file which you will sideload to your Xbox One console. RetriX has yet to be added but it will be added in the near future once more cores are added and things stabalize a bit more. Have fun and Enjoy