Could an NES emulator be supported in a weird, semi-official capacity on Xbox One? We’re not quite sure yet, but I think we’re about to find out. With Microsoft pushing the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) across Xbox One and Windows 10, devs are now able to develop UWP apps that can be published directly on Xbox One – they just have to pass certification. Nesbox, an independently developed NES / SNES / Genesis / GBA emulator suite, just passed certification.
Nesbox is already being downloaded and used on Windows 10, and it’s only a matter of time before it’s up and running on Xbox One. We’ll be very interested to see what happens here. Emulators, of course, are perfectly legal, and the dev has not provided anyone any means by which users can procure ROMs. We all know how protective Nintendo is, though. It’s hard to imagine that Nintendo would allow this to go on for very long when it derives revenue from its Virtual Console titles and is currently marketing the upcoming NES Classic Edition. We’ll let you know how the story unfolds, but in the meantime, you may want to keep an eye out on the store.