Suggestions about Xbox Series S: I have to decide if it worths buying it for my needs

Hello!

I'm creating this post as a follow up of one I created around 3 years ago.

Won't repeat the whole story, you can find the completely discussion in the below link:

https://www.epforums.org/showthread....-One&p=1940490

If you want a brief recap of the thing:
The first thing I'm interested to is to play Panzer Dragoon Orta - which is an original Xbox exclusive - that in past was possible to play on Xbox consoles only, then GTA 4 and 5 and I also want to have a fine emulating machine at the same time.

In the past discussion, while I was oriented on a 360 for it being less expensive and having a large homebrew scene for emulators, I was discouraged to buy it for its poor performances especially with the original Xbox emulation.. And directed to an Xbox one, that anyway I decided to discard because in order to allow the emulation of past consoles in it, it required a dev kit that once enabled makes it lose access to the native retail games of the console.. So it was one or the other: emulate could be possible only by sacrificing Panzer dragoon and GTA, both the things together was not an option.

In these years, many things have changed. I can play Panzer dragoon Orta on my PC (with a low framerate of 30-40fps, but at least it goes) and a new Xbox generation is out there.. And that's why I'm here now: today I found a video of a guy who was showing how much Xbox one series S is an emulator powerhouse with the retroarch (even some PS2 games worked at full speed) and in the video he said that the dev kit mode can be disabled and enabled whenever you want, so - he didn't explicitly state it - but my impression was that it's sufficient to disable it to regain access to the retail games again

So, going to my questions, if I buy a Xbox series S, will I:
1. be able to enable and disable Dev kit mode easily whenever I want so to play both retail games and emulators in retroarch?
2. Play Panzer dragoon Orta and both GTA 4 and 5?

Thank you in advance for your time!

Dev mode activation isn't free on Xbox One and I'm guessing series X/S is the same.
M$ have disabled a lot of dev activations because of people submitting stuff to the store they shouldn't be (maybe some of those have been activated again idk).

You don't need dev mode for RA.
I have RA retail version on my Xbox One S without dev mode (I downloaded it from the store).


The 3 games below I have retail physical versions that I use on my Xbox One S:
GTA5 has an official release on Xbox One.
GTA4 Xbox 360 version is backwards compatible on Xbox One (I have complete edition)
Panzer Dragoon Orta original Xbox is backwards compatible on Xbox One.

Backwards compatibility list for series X/S is the same as Xbox One. Xbox One games also work on series X/S.


Edit:

Just a note about any console without disc drive (digital only versions):
You might be thinking it's a cheaper option but you're potentially restricting yourself with game availability. If a title is removed from the store then you can't purchase and install it.
If you have the disc version then you can download and install even if the title isn't available for digital purchase.
Some games aren't available for digital purchase in some regions. There have been cases of games removed temporarily... I can't recall which ones now.

A note about disc games:
Every example of different region disc game (titles on the BC list obviously) I have tried actually works. Even Japanese games.

Hi, deadlegion and thank you for the reply!

I didn't mean that devkit is free, I know I have to pay for it.

What I mean is that for the feedback I had 3 years ago about One, once you buy and enable dev on it, access to retail mode is lost forever.. While the guy who reviewed the Series S told it's possible to disable it at will, so my question is: does it mean that I can disable it and play retail games any time and then enable it again and emulate?

From what you are saying, I understand you recommend me a One over a series S because 1. Series S doesn't have physical drive and 2. I can emulate with retroarch on the One without the Devkit, so essentially I can play both the retail games and emulators.

Still, I'm reluctant to buy the old gen console now..

A couple of follow up questions: are all the Series S without physical drive? How runs Retroarch on the one? For example, does it handle PS2 emulsions (like series S can, as shown in the video I watched yesterday)?

Thank you again

As far as I know series S is digital only, but maybe I'm wrong.
It also has inferior hardware compared to series X... slower gpu, less ram... it isn't just series X without optical drive, only really the CPU is the same from what I understand.


As for buying an older console, I don't think it makes a huge difference at this point especially since you are only looking at series S.
The current gen consoles appear as faulty units on ebay etc all the time anyway. There isn't much in the way of new titles just for the current gen consoles.

That's why I mentioned last gen, you are looking at a budget console anyway (series S) but it doesn't even have an optical drive. You would be tying yourself to digital purchases only and whatever is or isn't available on the store.

Dev activation can't be bought by just anyone with money. There's a little more to it than that.
Plus I did mention M$ had a crackdown of sorts on dev accounts.

Hello and thank you again for your time!

Guess I won't buy a Xbox this time.. and again just like 3 years ago.. And probably never then. I will just wait for original Xbox emulator on PC gets to full speed to play Panzer dragoon Orta.

I already have a Nvidia shield and a modded Wii U and both the devices are pretty good for emulation.. For the rest, I will use the PC and that's it.

Cheers!