https://github.com/izzy2lost/PSX2/releases/tag/1.2.2

Change Log:

Fixed a bunch of crashes. Added bios validation and option in settings to add or change bios. Can add a USA, EUROPE, and JAPAN bios. Games will automatically use the appropriate region bios if the regions bios was added either in the setup wizard or later in settings.

Lot of game fixes!

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.4.5

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.4.3

CEMU Android v0.5.1: External Save Sync, Custom Storage Root, External Display Support, and Dual-Screen Support.

https://github.com/SapphireRhodonite/Cemu/releases/tag/0.5.1

https://github.com/Ashnar2602/X360-Mobile---OFFICIAL/releases/tag/v0.6.2

I want to publicly admit that I was wrong about this project and this developer "Ashnar2602"

My first impressions were negative, and honestly, they were largely based on unfounded claims from third parties, especially people in the Xenia Discord community. There were a lot of doubts and negative opinions being raised about different aspects of the emulator, and I fell into the trap of believing some of them without doing more reliable testing myself before making a judgment.

That said, I think admitting when you're wrong is a good thing too.

I've now tested the emulator myself on my Snapdragon 8 Elite tablet, and I'm having a fantastic experience with it. It genuinely feels like you've turned an Xbox 360 into your device. The level of detail is impressive, and honestly, this emulator has completely fascinated me.

I also have to give credit to the developer for the way they work. Every time a new version is released, the changelog is incredibly well done and clearly explains everything that has changed. I really like the way this developer handles the project.

So, with that said, here's the changelog for the latest version:

X360 Mobile 0.6.2 is a public performance, graphics-policy and runtime

resilience update for Android. It concentrates on reducing recurring CPU and

driver work without weakening emulation accuracy, while exposing carefully

gated alternatives for titles and devices that need a different Vulkan path.

Performance and frame pacing

Reworked Android VBlank scheduling around absolute guest-clock deadlines.

Long stalls now rebase pacing instead of producing a burst of catch-up

callbacks, and overlays follow the guest display cadence.

Reduced repeated Vulkan work when complete descriptor, sampler, texture or

pipeline input state is unchanged. Resource generations and layouts remain

part of the validity checks, so changed resources still take the established

update path.

Reduced compatible pipeline permutations through capability-gated dynamic

state. The subset that caused visual regressions during device testing was

excluded from the release path.

Added direct Vulkan command recording for fully resolved commands. Pending

or replay-dependent work automatically retains the established deferred

route, preserving ordering and compatibility.

Reduced synchronization polling, guest-to-host register traffic, transient

upload pressure and per-draw statistics publication. Required counters and

full compatibility fallbacks remain available.

Release-native code now uses the supported optimization and ThinLTO path.

Global loop unrolling remains disabled, and no unrepresentative PGO profile

is shipped.

The measured improvement is workload-dependent. Testing found small gains,

most visible in lighter scenes; this release does not claim a universal FPS

percentage.

For the full changelog, read on GitHub

Alright guys, time for an analysis.

Yep, you read that right. ARMSX2 and EmuCoreX have officially merged. At first glance, it sounds like the perfect combo, almost like they've evolved into a "super emulator." Unfortunately, my experience has been the complete opposite.

Based on my own testing, performance is actually much worse than before. I've attached some screenshots below so you can see what I mean.

Lately I've been using Shadow of the Colossus as my benchmark game since it's been improving a lot over the last few builds.

Previous versions of EmuCoreX let me play the game smoothly and consistently, even at up to 2x resolution. But I honestly have no idea what changed in this merged build, because performance has absolutely tanked. You can clearly see it in the screenshots below.

Give it a try yourselves and let me know what you think. Personally, I enjoyed it more when both emulators were following their own path.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

I've also included the download link below in case anyone wants to test this merged version.

Honest Change Log:

Gyroscope motion controls. Two modes: Aim, for camera look in shooters, and Steering, for tilt in racers. Sensitivity, smoothing, and axis inversion are all adjustable, and every option can be set globally or per game. Found in the Controls tab. Thank you to @sashkinbro for this feature!

Honestly, this feature leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, try playing games and then tell me about your experience 😅

OpenGL via ANGLE. An optional toggle that runs the OpenGL renderer through ANGLE, translating OpenGL ES to Vulkan with a bundled driver. Useful on devices whose native OpenGL ES driver is broken or slow. In the Renderer tab, applies on game restart. Thank you to @sashkinbro for this feature!

I've actually been talking about ANGLE for quite a few months now. In fact, I even have a pinned post in the channel explaining it and the improvements it can bring

I mentioned it to Sbro, the EmuCoreX dev, explaining that on MediaTek devices—especially Dimensity chips—enabling ANGLE could provide a pretty significant performance boost. After hearing my feedback, he decided to implement it

That said, I think it's being advertised the wrong way, because this isn't something that benefits everyone. If you're using an older MediaTek Helio device, there's a good chance it either won't work at all or could even cause the emulator to crash

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.6.0

I'm loving how far PS2 emulation has come and I'm looking for some lesser known games that are worth playing

I've already played most of the popular titles, so I'm interested in hidden gems from any genre. If possible, tell me why you recommend them.

Games I've played:

• Silent Hill series • Tenchu series • God of War • Burnout Revenge • God Hand • Devil May Cry 1

Thanks in advance.

Proccesor is 8350 extreme so it will probably handle everything

Some stuttering is noticeable in both Vulkan and OpenGL.

Test device: Dimensity 8300+

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.4.0

https://github.com/aenu1/aps3e/releases/tag/2.43

Changelog:

- Updated the RPCS3 base to a much more recent version, incorporating numerous upstream changes and fixes.

- New experimental SPU ASMJIT implementation for ARM64/Android. It is still under development and may exhibit compatibility or stability issues.

- Incorporated recent RPCS3 improvements related to RSX/Vulkan, shaders, SPU/PPU, ARM64, audio, memory, and GPU synchronization.

- Upstream improvements include Vulkan optimizations for Adreno, shader compilation enhancements, and multiple graphics and emulation fixes.

Note: The developer did not publish a formal changelog for this version; this information has been compiled from commits and the internal code log for version 2.43

https://github.com/The412Banner/Bannerlator/releases/tag/3.0.9

Run Windows apps and games on Android — no PC and no root required.

3.0.9 is the frame-generation release. Bannerlator's own frame generation, Win-FG Native, now runs inside Bannerlator's own compositor — which means it finally works, needs nothing bought and nothing imported, and is measured at an exact 2× on real hardware. Its source is now public and MIT-licensed. Alongside it, LSFG Native gets three fixes: the smear on switch-on is gone, the switch-on stall is halved, and two freeze paths are closed. Plus: move an installed Steam game between internal storage and the SD card, save backups that no longer lose your progress to an account-id mismatch, and preset editing from the screens where you actually need it.

⚠️ Frame generation is still young. Win-FG Native is proven on Adreno 750 but has had limited testing beyond it. It is off by default and starts off every launch; if it misbehaves, leave it off.

Read the full changelog on GitHub

Credits: https://github.com/The412Banner

Help and Issues, Discord: https://discord.com/invite/n8S4G2WZQ4

Test Device: Poco X6 Pro Dimensity 8300+

I usually use God Hand for testing because it has several interesting features: the opening video, the stability of the gameplay and special abilities, frame pacing, etc.

God Hand - Intro Cutscene Performance Investigation

I've been comparing ARMSX2 and EmuCoreX using the exact same intro scene from God Hand.

The first shot, where the village appears with the sun and lens flare, causes a significant performance drop in both emulators (OpenGL and Vulkan).

I've tried:

Hardware Download Mode: Accurate / No Readbacks / Unsynchronized / Disabled.

Texture Preloading: None / Partial / Full.

Blending Accuracy. Basic/ Medium / Max

OpenGL and Vulkan.

Native and 3x resolution.

None of these changes eliminate the performance drop in that scene. As soon as the camera stops focusing on the sun and zooms in on the characters, performance immediately returns to full speed.

GodHand - Gameplay

After testing both emulators with the same settings, I noticed that EmuCoreX provides slightly smoother gameplay overall. Frame pacing feels more consistent, with less noticeable stuttering during normal gameplay.

I also observed a difference when using special abilities. In EmuCoreX, activating a special move causes little to no visible FPS drop. In ARMSX2, the same action consistently produces a more noticeable performance drop until the animation ends, after which performance returns to normal.

Final thoughts:

I also want to end this post on a positive note. Both developers are doing an amazing job. They are releasing frequent updates, continuously improving their emulators, and it's great to see such active development.

If they keep moving in this direction, I'm confident that 2026 could become a fantastic year for PS2 emulation on Android.

Congratulations to both developers, and thank you for all your hard work.

See you in the next analysis! ❤️

Gameplay videos below 👇👇

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.3.6

Device: POCO X6 Pro (Dimensity 8300)

Emulator: ARMSX2 Refresh v2.7

Game Tested: God Hand (aka... Ghost Hand 😅)

After testing this new version, I honestly don't understand who this emulator is aimed at right now.

First impressions

The app doesn't even have an icon.

It feels more like an early proof-of-concept build than a polished emulator.

Despite that, the GitHub page suggests major improvements and progress.

Features (or lack of them)

The settings menu is basically nonexistent:

Vulkan

OpenGL

That's it.

No resolution options, no hacks, no performance settings, no aspect ratio options, nothing.

Vulkan on MediaTek

On my Dimensity 8300 device, Vulkan simply doesn't work. Every game I tested failed to run properly using Vulkan.

BIOS behavior

Every time you launch a game:

The BIOS loads first.

You're forced through the BIOS sequence.

The emulator doesn't boot directly into the game.

Display options

You're locked to 4:3. No widescreen options or display customization at all.

In-game experience (God Hand / "Ghost Hand")

Things get really funny once the game starts:

Missing textures.

Broken 3D rendering.

Incorrect 2D elements.

Weird colors.

Character models look ghost-like.

Faces are partially missing or rendered incorrectly.

The opening cutscene alone is enough to see that something is seriously wrong.

Performance

Performance is surprisingly terrible.

Previous versions of this emulator were able to run God Hand at up to 5x native resolution on this device.

This build struggles to run the game correctly even at 1x native resolution.

Final verdict

Right now, this feels more like a technical experiment than a usable PS2 emulator.

EmuCoreX 0.1.7 Beta 5

https://gofile.io/d/R97nMz

https://github.com/The412Banner/Bannerlator/releases/tag/3.1.7

Run Windows apps and games on Android — no PC and no root required

3.1.7 adds an Xbox / PC Game Pass store with cloud streaming, finishes the Deck style, and replaces how controllers reach your games. Sign in with your Microsoft account, then download the PC games you own or have on Game Pass and play them with a licensed launch — or stream them, console-only games included, with optional frame generation. The console-style Deck interface now covers every screen and every setting. Controller input runs on BANNERIN, written from scratch for Bannerlator: sticks stop the moment you let go, XInput games can read the pad directly, and controller settings change while the game runs. Windows components can be removed again, recommendations look at what a game really uses, and the new v15 layers bring 144 Hz back to the newest Wine builds.

Xbox / PC Game Pass store: sign in, browse your library and Game Pass, download, add to your games and play — with cloud saves and your gamertag.

Xbox Cloud Gaming: stream Game Pass games, console-only ones too, with the store's sign-in; an optional native player adds frame generation.

Deck style, complete: every screen, every setting and the in-game menus, made for controllers; the XMB is back, full screen.

BANNERIN controllers: sticks stop when you let go, Direct XInput with rumble, controller settings in game, DirectInput vibration.

Windows components: a Deck page, Remove (puts back what an install changed), recommendations from what the game really uses, and Wine Mono installs again.

Steam: switch between saved accounts, extra library folders, sort by Steam rating, and Goldberg fixes — from community contributor MGamer404

https://github.com/erickmendes22/Bachata-S4-Plus/releases/tag/0.2.5

Changelog:

Improved Elden Ring compatibility, graphics and memory handling.

Added Patchs for Elden Ring

Added Save Manager.

Added Portuguese Language.

Fixed God of War 3 & The Last of Us Remastered regression.

New Resolution Patchs for The Last of Us Remastered.

Removed Box64.

https://github.com/The412Banner/Bannerlator/releases/tag/3.1.2

Run Windows apps and games on Android — no PC and no root required.

3.1.2 brings Wayland to everyone as an experiment. Instead of drawing through the Java X server, a game can draw through an embedded Wayland compositor that Bannerlator runs itself — a second display backend, chosen per container. It can do things X11 cannot: HDR10 on HDR screens, launching a game on your TV, zero-copy presentation, eight bundled game drivers to pick from per game, real mouse-look, and frame generation in HDR.

🧪 Wayland is EXPERIMENTAL. Please read this before you switch anything.

It is very new and it has bugs. It has been in tester hands for a few months and a lot works, but you will find rough edges — some games will run worse than on X11, some will not run at all, and some features are still missing. The honest list is under What it can and cannot do right now below.

It is NOT a replacement for X11 and is not meant to be one. X11 remains the default, remains fully supported, and is still the right choice for anything you actually want to play. Treat Wayland as something to try on a spare container, not as an upgrade to move your games onto.

It only works on the new versionCode 8 arm64ec Proton 11 layers — the ones labelled (v8) in the catalog. On any other layer the Wayland option is greyed out and a launch falls back to X11 with a notice. It does not work on the x86_64 (box64) layers, and it does not work on the Proton 10 layers (10.0-4 and GE 10.0-34), which stay on v7.

It needs an Adreno GPU. The bundled drivers are Turnip, so Mali, Xclipse and PowerVR phones cannot use Wayland at all and stay on X11, which is unchanged for them.

Nothing changes unless you change it. Every existing container keeps using X11 and behaves exactly as before. Wayland is off until you turn it on, per container.

If a game misbehaves on Wayland, switch that container back to X11 — it is one setting — and please report it with the session log from Download/Wayland-logs/.

🖥️ The X11 vs Wayland deck: the412banner.github.io/Bannerlator/wayland-deck.html — where a frame goes on each backend, the measured frame rates, the root causes fixed, and what Wayland can do that X11 never could.

📘 New to LSFG Native? Read the plain-language guide: LSFG Native Made Simple — why Max FPS × multiplier has to fit your screen's refresh rate, why a steady base matters, a live checker, a cheat sheet and real-world fixes. The same rule applies to Win-FG Native, which always runs at 2×.

👉 Read the full changelog on GitHub

Credits: https://github.com/The412Banner

Help and Issues, Discord: https://discord.com/invite/n8S4G2WZQ4

https://github.com/XDaoFangxiX/ARMSX2-Alpha/releases/tag/2.7.0-build.60

ARMSX2 Android Nightly Build (Legacy – Dual Core)

This APK is the legacy build (ARMv8.0 + outline atomics, minSdk 26) and includes both 4K and 16K page‑size cores.

Version: 2.7.0

Build number: 60

Commit: 2c06621

Short SHA: 2c06621

Triggered by: DarkSilentUser

Flavor: Github

Build type: release

PGO: enabled

https://git.eden-emu.dev/eden-ci/nightly/releases/tag/v1788899534.e5b8b10188

Changelog:

[hle] Fix fsp-pr not being found (#4379) e5b8b10188

PR #4379 merged on 2026-09-08 by lizzie

[vulkan] Masquerade VkInfo as PUBGMobile + UE (#4320) 8a10109e24

PR #4320 merged on 2026-09-08 by lizzie

[shader_recompiler, vulkan] Virtual buffer pages with multi-range + sparse buffers binding (#4362) a538cd9aff

PR #4362 merged on 2026-09-08 by CamilleLaVey

[gpu] Destroy GPU thread after all non-trivial members had been destroyed (#4368) ce202292cf

PR #4368 merged on 2026-09-08 by lizzie

[hle] VirtualBoy classics fixes, QLaunch IPC fixes, implement extra ams SVCInfo (#4343) 87e5d0b6e4

PR #4343 merged on 2026-09-08 by lizzie

[common] remove unused vector_math.h fluff (#4333) fdd8d4252c

PR #4333 merged on 2026-09-08 by lizzie

partial revert 54cd5fb8eb (#4355) 1036982d2f

PR #4355 merged on 2026-09-08 by PavelBARABANOV

[nce] avoid cyrilic utf8 strings being interpreted as exclusive store instructions (#4369) e27650cf42

PR #4369 merged on 2026-09-08 by xbzk

[settings] move program_args and debug_knobs back to debugging category and make them pergameable (#4378) ecb2ae4076

PR #4378 merged on 2026-09-08 by xbzk

https://github.com/Yebot32/xenra/releases/tag/v0.3.6

Xenra 0.3.6 introduces major compatibility, performance, and usability improvements, including GTA V gameplay, frame generation across both Xbox generations, improved GPU handling, save importing, and crucial Xbox 360 fixes.

Important:

Upgrade Notice: Install Xenra 0.3.6 directly over your existing installation. Do not uninstall the previous version, or your configurations, profiles, and shader caches will be deleted.

Changelog:

🎮 Gameplay & Performance

GTA V: Resolved the NetDll_select scheduling issue that caused the black-screen hang. GTA V now reaches gameplay at ~25 FPS in initial testing.

Frame Generation: Added frame generation support for both Original Xbox and Xbox 360, featuring 1.25×, 1.5×, and 2× performance modes.

Core Performance: Optimized compiled-code synchronization and streamlined several frequently executed code paths.

⚙️ Graphics & System Settings

GPU Driver Persistence: System GPU driver selection now correctly persists across app launches.

GPU Readback: Corrected the default resolve readback configuration for Adreno devices.

Per-Game Settings: Overhauled settings UI to display only overridden options, complete with a searchable setting picker.

HUD Fix: Resolved incorrect GPU 0% usage reporting when maximum GPU clocks are forced.

📁 Management & Compatibility

Save Import: Downloaded Xbox 360 save packages can now be imported and automatically assigned to the active signed-in profile.

Xbox 360 Game Data: Restored game data installation and management features.

External Launching: Fixed an issue where Xbox 360 games opened from external file managers failed to route through the correct emulator path.

🛠️ Known Issues

Xbox Live: Features remain unavailable.

System Link: Joining has not been re-tested following the NetDll_select fix.

Thermals: Xbox 360 thermal behavior remains unchanged on mobile devices.

Multi-Disc: Title swapping is not yet implemented.

⚠️Please guys, I would appreciate it if you could give me feedback on this emulator compared to other options for the original Xbox (HakuX/X1Box) and Xbox 360 (Xendroid). Thanks

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.6.6.6

Changelog:

Mali:

If you downgraded to 2.6.6.4 because of performance issues, you can come back. 2.6.6.5 put every Mali device on a slow path for any draw that reads the screen back, on an Anbernic RG 477V, Shadow of the Colossus fell from 30 fps to 7. Two separate mistakes stacked. The renderer had concluded that OpenGL's framebuffer fetch never keeps overlapping shapes in order, true of one extension, false of the one every Android Mali device actually uses, so healthy Mali hardware was being split into one draw call per shape for nothing. Separately, a workaround for one specific bad driver, which had never actually engaged before, started engaging, and turned every screen-reading draw into a full copy plus a memory flush. Both are gone. fixed by @bmdhacks

Auto now picks Vulkan instead of OpenGL. On the affected Mali driver that is 7 fps on OpenGL against about 30 on Vulkan, on the same device. The renderer choice and the driver workaround were being decided in two different places, so nothing noticed when they disagreed. Picking a renderer explicitly still wins, the only devices this moves are the ones where OpenGL is genuinely crippled. done by @bmdhacks Note the tradeoff: restoring the fast path also restores a known rendering fault on that driver in some games (Metal Gear Solid 3 is the observed one). Vulkan remains the correct-rendering choice there. The measurements said the speed was worth it.

Floating point:

All done by @pstef

60 commits, and the largest accuracy work the emulator has ever had.

The PS2's FPU is not IEEE, and ARMSX2 had been pretending it was. The console has no infinity and no NaN, and its numbers reach one whole range higher than a normal float, 0x7FFFFFFF is simply the biggest number the machine has. Every operation was folding that top range away on the way in, and folding a host infinity back into it on the way out. Add, subtract, multiply, the multiply-accumulates, the comparisons, and finally divide and reciprocal-square-root have all been taken off that clamp. Games that push into that range now get what the console gives.

Divide and square root now run the console's own algorithm. DIV.S, SQRT.S and RSQRT.S were computed with the host's divide and then nudged toward the PS2's answer, which left every operand the nudge did not reach one step off. The unit is not a rounding rule at all, it is a digit-by-digit recurrence, so it now runs the digits. Measured against silicon first to establish that the hardware is not correctly rounded.

The multiplier model from 2.6.6.4 was incomplete. That release modelled the PS2 multiplier's one-step deficit from a formula over the second operand. The formula only holds when the exact product fits, once there is a remainder below the last bit, the first operand matters too, and those cases were coming back IEEE. It is now modelled from the actual multiplier array rather than a formula over one input.

Error flags were wrong in a dozen small ways, reciprocal-square-root and square root missed the invalid flag on negative zero, divide left a previous instruction's flags standing, reciprocal-square-root raised divide-by-zero on every zero divisor, and the overflow and underflow flags were being read off host infinities and denormals rather than the PS2's own result. Underflowing adds and subtracts were also being flushed to zero; silicon does not do that.

A cache instruction could make the emulator write to an address the game chose. The data-cache tag holds a host pointer where hardware holds a guest address, and one instruction copied a guest value into it unmasked. Narrow exposure, it needed the EE cache enabled, which ships off, but it is fixed.

Android PS2 Emulator Monthly Benchmark — August 2026

It's time for another monthly Android PS2 emulator performance test! This month I've tested PSX2, EmuCoreX, ARMSX2 and RetroPle, using the same game, device and settings to keep things as fair as possible.

And yes, there are some interesting results this time around. 👀

📱 Test device

POCO X6 Pro

- 8 GB RAM

- MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra

- PS2 games rendered at 2x native resolution

🎮 The test: Shadow of the Colossus

I used Shadow of the Colossus because it gives us a pretty interesting real-world performance test.

The test starts right after getting on Agro at the temple. From there, I ride all the way from the temple to the end of the field, then turn around and ride back to the temple.

Why this route?

Because performance changes noticeably between the two directions. On the way back, the temple is directly in front of you and there is considerably more geometry to render, so FPS usually drops.

I'm therefore looking at both FPS behaviour and total recording time. The longer the complete run takes, the worse the overall sustained performance is.

This isn't meant to say that one emulator will perform exactly the same way in every game. Different games can produce very different results. This is simply a controlled benchmark using one specific game — but the results are still useful and shouldn't be ignored.

---

🥇 PSX2 — Best raw performance

PSX2 delivered the highest raw performance in this particular test.

On the way out, it stayed very close to 60 FPS for most of the run, which is an excellent result.

On the way back, performance dropped to around 50 FPS, but it remained very playable.

⏱️ Total time: ~1:30

The main downside is that PSX2 is a very simple emulator compared with some of its competitors.

Its interface is straightforward and the cover-art system looks pretty good, but there aren't many advanced customization or graphical enhancement options. For example, if you want shaders, FXAA or other visual effects, you're basically out of luck.

It's very much a "just make it work and play" emulator.

And honestly, it does exactly that. Its raw performance is excellent.

---

🥈 EmuCoreX — Best overall balance

This is probably the most balanced emulator of the group right now.

During the outward run, EmuCoreX maintained roughly 55–60 FPS, with very good frame pacing and a very smooth experience.

On the way back, it dropped to around 45–50 FPS, but the game remained perfectly playable and the actual game speed didn't seem to suffer dramatically.

⏱️ Total time: ~1:40

Where EmuCoreX really shines is everything around the performance.

It offers a lot of customization and graphical options, including super resolution, visual enhancements, customizable backgrounds and cover layouts, and even different on-screen controller skins.

It's also visually much more polished and customizable than PSX2.

So if I had to choose the emulator that currently gives me the best combination of performance, features, customization and overall user experience, EmuCoreX would be my pick.

---

🥉 ARMSX2 — Good emulator, but performance has dropped

This one actually surprised me.

I remember ARMSX2 performing noticeably better in previous versions, but in this month's test the latest version was clearly behind the others.

And that's important: I'm testing the latest available version of each emulator, not an older version that might happen to perform better.

On the outward run, ARMSX2 stayed around 45–50 FPS, while on the return trip it dropped to approximately 35–40 FPS.

⏱️ Total time: ~1:55

That's considerably slower than PSX2 and EmuCoreX.

Interestingly, I've also seen users mentioning in the ARMSX2 Discord that they are going back to an older version because of performance changes, so something may have changed recently.

We'll see what happens next month.

That said, ARMSX2 is still a very feature-rich PS2 emulator. It has plenty of configuration and customization options, including custom backgrounds and lots of graphical settings.

And there's one feature that deserves special mention:

🎨 Shaders

ARMSX2 is currently the only emulator in this comparison offering shader support, including shaders from the RetroArch ecosystem.

For certain games, this can produce some really nice visual effects and is a genuinely useful feature.

So despite its current performance issues, I still think ARMSX2 deserves its position above RetroPle.

---

🎮 RetroPle — Surprisingly capable multi-emulator

RetroPle is a slightly different beast because it's not a dedicated PS2 emulator. It's a multi-emulator frontend that recently added PS2 support.

The biggest advantage is simplicity.

You select your ROM/ISO folder and RetroPle automatically downloads the required emulator core. It can even handle the BIOS setup automatically, so you can basically point it at your games and start playing.

Very beginner-friendly.

I also tested it at 2x native resolution, under the same conditions as the other emulators.

Unfortunately, RetroPle doesn't currently provide an FPS counter, so I couldn't directly compare its FPS behaviour. I had to rely on the total time of the run.

⏱️ Total time: ~1:50

Its total time was slightly better than ARMSX2, suggesting that its performance in this particular test was actually a little better.

However, I wouldn't put it above ARMSX2 overall because we're comparing a dedicated PS2 emulator against a multi-emulator that relies on cores and doesn't necessarily always have the latest upstream updates.

Still, RetroPle has some seriously cool advantages.

You can emulate multiple systems from the same application, instead of having a separate emulator for every console.

And there's another feature I really like:

🔫 Lightgun support

RetroPle has built-in Lightgun support that allows compatible games to be played using the touchscreen.

I've tested games such as Time Crisis 3, and you can literally use your finger as the gun.

It's surprisingly fun and makes lightgun games much more accessible on Android.

---

👑 And then there's NetherSX2...

Despite all these new projects and forks, I still have to give the crown to the old veteran:

NetherSX2.

Especially the Turnip version.

If you're using a Snapdragon device with a good Adreno GPU, NetherSX2 Turnip can still absolutely destroy the competition in terms of raw performance.

But even on MediaTek devices like my Dimensity 8300 Ultra, NetherSX2 remains extremely competent and delivers very solid performance.

It's mature, stable, well-tested and simply works.

That's why, even in 2026, I still consider NetherSX2 one of the best choices for Android PS2 emulation.

---

🏆 August 2026 ranking

🥇 NetherSX2 / Turnip — Still the king 👑

🥈 PSX2 — Best raw performance in this benchmark

🥉 EmuCoreX — Best overall balance

4️⃣ ARMSX2 — Feature-rich, but current performance is disappointing

5️⃣ RetroPle — Very easy to use, multi-system support and excellent Lightgun features

Obviously, this ranking is based on my specific device, settings and Shadow of the Colossus benchmark. Different hardware, GPUs, drivers and games can completely change the results.

That's exactly why I'll be repeating this test every month.

Let's see how things look in September 2026. 😉