Most (old) games that require DirectX 6.x or 7.x might work with DirectX version 8.x by applying a patch for that specific game/app however DirectX 9.x support for most of those older games unfotunately not available anyhow.

1 more reason for me to hate M$ is the fact that they are not making DirectX 10 update for Windows XP even though they could just to be able to sell more copies of Astala Vista!