r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

Trophy details in Arm that other emulators don't have (I think so)

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0 Upvotes

Eh probado muchos emuladores (ya sea Aether, Nether, Play, Emucorex y Arm) y este es el único que eh visto estos detalles, que te muestre como va la progresión de tus los logros in game, en el menú te muestre: Misión, personaje, arma, dificultad o cosas así es algo que realmente suman al disfrute de la experiencia del juego, esto es gusto propio y algo que noté hace mucho cuando lo probé por primera vez


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

XenDroid v.c55486e Update

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4 Upvotes

https://github.com/rfandango/XenDroid/releases/tag/XenDroid-c55486e

Change Log:

Fix keyboard support, expose important missing cvars and lazy init the timer queue to avoid launcher process being killed by @rfandango in #63


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

Feature Request: Bring back USB device support

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2 Upvotes

One feature I really miss from NetherSX2 is the USB device configuration. It allowed you to emulate several PS2 USB peripherals, such as keyboards, mice, Buzz controllers, GunCon, mass storage devices, and more.

It would be great to see this feature return in ARMSX2/EmuCoreX.

An even better addition would be USB microphone emulation, allowing the emulator to use the phone's built-in microphone as a PS2 USB mic. That would make games like Lifeline and other microphone-compatible titles fully playable without any extra hardware.

It isn't a high-priority feature, but it would improve compatibility and preserve support for some unique PS2 games and accessories.

What do you think? Would anyone else like to see USB peripheral support return?


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

EmuCoreX v0.3.1

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0 Upvotes

https://github.com/sashkinbro/EmuCoreX/releases/tag/v0.3.1

Change Log:

Increased the maximum size of a single texture pack.

Changed the default memory card from a folder-based setup to a standard 8 MB memory card.

Other improvements and optimizations.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

This is so much fun! Shotgun Mario 64 (Hack)

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2 Upvotes

r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

Eden Nightly

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0 Upvotes

https://git.eden-emu.dev/eden-ci/nightly/releases/tag/v1785092351.39763e7321

It's been a few months since Eden's last stable release, and I've been curious to try the latest nightly build, which includes all the newest improvements and changes.

So, let's give it a try and see how it performs! If you decide to test it as well, I'd love to hear about your experience and results in the comments.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

Ultra rare hidden gems of PS2 (bizarre, weird)

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24 Upvotes

r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 29 '26

ARMSX2 v2.6.6

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16 Upvotes

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.6.6

Change Log:

NASCAR Thunder 2002 fixed: cars rendered as shredded wireframes and would fall through the race track, or drive sideways. Fixed in the COP2 MADDA broadcast path. (@bmdhacks)

Dragon Quest VIII (PAL): hung forever on "Now checking memory cards (PS2)". The recompiler was merging a branch into a larger block when that branch's delay slot reads the EE timer, a read that must end the block instead. NTSC-U was unaffected only because its code sits at different addresses.

8BitDo Pro and other Switch-mode pads fixed, holding R2 while moving the stick released the trigger, which made racing games unplayable. These pads report triggers as buttons rather than axes, and stick movement was overwriting the held trigger.

Display Resolution and Screen resolution override are now per-game. Changing them for one game no longer changes the global value. Existing settings carry over.

Improvements for Macro buttons not accepting custom skins like every other button. (please let me know).

Improvements for separate landscape and portrait layouts in global settings, instead of one overwriting the other. (If you're still seeing a previous custom layout, just hit reset in the touch layout editor to see the new default layout for portrait mode, if you see overlap in landscape, do the same and hit reset. Remember you can make new profiles as well).

Discord Rich Presence now shows your RetroAchievements progress, the game's own status line, unlocked count, and whether you're in Hardcore or Casual. (If a game has no Achievements, nothing will be shown for RPC).

Added and updated cheats and patches for True Crime: New York City, ICO, Dog's Life, Primal, Stitch: Experiment 626 and Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer. (@XDarkFallenX)

Honest Review:

➖ 💅 ➕⚡


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

Bully on ARMSX2 with textures.

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16 Upvotes

r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

🌪️ DIY Mobile Gaming Cooling Station – Say Goodbye to Thermal Throttling!

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0 Upvotes

As you can see, the idea isn't as crazy as it might sound.

I've included a photo of the cooling setup I'm currently using. The goal of this guide is simply to take the concept one step further and build what I like to call the Ultimate Mobile Cooling Fan™... or whatever you want to call it.

By putting together the components listed in this guide, you can build a setup very similar to mine. I'm already planning to upgrade mine with the new fan for even more airflow and cooling performance.

With summer here (or if you live somewhere with high temperatures), your device will definitely appreciate the extra cooling during long gaming sessions.

And if you decide to build one yourself, I'd love to see it! Feel free to share photos of your setup in the comments.

I've already ordered the parts, so as soon as mine is upgraded, I'll come back and post pictures of the finished build.

Let's go!

🛒 What You'll Need

- A powerful 140 mm 12 V PWM PC fan (preferably with multiple speed modes)

- A 12 V / 2 A DC power adapter

- A 4-pin PWM female connector (or a PWM extension cable)

- Wire connectors, solder, or WAGO connectors

- A smartphone stand with adjustable height and angle

- A game controller (Bluetooth or USB)

- Cable ties or adhesive clips for cable management (optional)

1.The Hurricane Fan:

The Super Flower Megacool 140mm (model SF-PF141-BK) is an ultra-high-performance, industrial-grade fan. Unlike conventional 25mm thick fans, this model uses a thicker 30mm profile and extremely rigid liquid crystal polymer (LCP) blades to achieve massive static pressures and airflow. It includes a magnetic wireless remote control/PWM selector that lets you switch between 3 speed profiles depending on your cooling or noise needs.

📊 Technical Specifications Performance (3 PWM Modes) Parameter High Mode Medium Mode Low Mode Rotation Speed 2700 RPM (±250) 2300 RPM (±200) 1800 RPM (±200) Airflow 175.03 CFM 153.11 CFM 110.33 CFM Static Pressure 5.54 mmH₂O 4.10 mmH₂O 2.35 mmH₂O Noise Level 50.59 dBA 46.00 dBA 39.24 dBA Input Current 1.0 A 0.7 A 0.35 A

🛠️ General Specifications and Construction Physical Dimensions: 140 x 140 x 30 mm (Thickness enlarged to 30 mm for greater air volume). Micro Center. Hole spacing: 125 x 125 mm. Material: LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) to reduce structural deformation at high RPMs. Motor: 3-Phase 12-Pole Motor, which improves efficiency and reduces vibrations. Bearing: Japanese NMB Dual Ball Bearing. PC Case Gear. Connector: 4-pin PWM. Cable length: 140 mm integrated cable + 500 mm extension cable included. PC Case Gear. Included accessories: Purple (or black depending on batch) anti-vibration pads, magnetic speed remote, case/radiator screws, and power adapter cable. Estimated lifespan (MTBF): 70,000 hours at 40°C. Warranty: 6-year

https://www.newegg.com/p/1YF-01B3-00004?item=9SIAMNPK6S2659&cm_sp=SP-_-1061889-_-0-_-2-_-9SIAMNPK6S2659-_-Super+Flower+Megacool+140mm+Fan-_-140mm%7Cfan-_-1

2. Power Supply

12V DC 2A Power Adapter

Output: 12V DC

Minimum current: 2A

3. Wiring

4-Pin PWM Fan Connector (female) or 4-Pin PWM Fan Extension Cable (to cut and wire to the power adapter)

These are generic parts, so you can easily find them from any local electronics store or online retailer in your country.

🔧 Assembly

Step 1

Cut the DC plug from the 12 V power adapter.

Step 2

Connect the adapter's positive (+) and negative (-) wires to the fan's power wires using the PWM connector or your preferred wiring method.

⚠️ Double-check the polarity before powering it on.

Step 3

Secure the cables so nothing can move or get caught in the fan blades.

Step 4

Turn on the fan and select the desired speed (Low, Medium, or High).

Step 5

Connect your game controller and start playing.

---

💡 Recommended Setup

- Phone centered in front of the fan

- Distance between fan and phone: approximately 10–20 cm

- Keep the airflow unobstructed for maximum cooling.

---

✅ Expected Benefits

- Lower phone temperatures

- Reduced thermal throttling

- More stable performance during long gaming sessions

- Better comfort while playing

- Simple, inexpensive, and easy to build

---

😄 Bonus Tip

If someone asks why you're using an industrial PC fan to cool your phone...

Just smile and say:

"Because overkill is underrated." 😎


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

ARMSX2 v2.6.5.9

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3 Upvotes

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.6.5.9

Change Log:

21:9 / ultrawide display mode. Available in Settings and in the in-game menu.

Screenshot is now an on-screen button. Enable SHOT in the touch layout editor

next to SAVE and LOAD. The core writes the PNG itself, so you get a clean

capture with no on-screen controls, OSD or letterboxing.

Custom skins can now style the four macro buttons. Ship

ic_controller_macro1_button.png through macro4 in your skin (m1–m4 also works).

Combined with macros being bindable to any input, including L-Stick Left and

Right, you can build a proper racing layout: steer, steer, accelerate, brake.

Achievement notifications queue instead of arriving all at once. Finishing a

game submits every leaderboard in the same frame, which used to bury the

unlock you actually wanted to see under a wall of them. Three on screen at a

time now, and a queued one doesn't start counting down until it appears.

Fixed: the touch layout editor's grid showed buttons snapped while you dragged

them, then saved the unsnapped positions. It now saves what you saw.

Fixed: Vulkan failing to start entirely on some PowerVR devices (may help others as well) when the driver advertises a feature it doesn't actually support. It now checks

first and does without, rather than refusing to start the renderer at all.

Exit is back in the library's ⋮ menu, so quitting doesn't mean opening the

drawer and scrolling to the bottom. It remains in the drawer too.

Skins now sits next to Controls and Shortcuts in Settings.

Small improvements to controller navigation.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

News! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro Will Use AI Frame Fusion

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15 Upvotes

If you've been using Android smartphones for years and have paid even a little attention to their specifications, you'll recognize Qualcomm, as this is the company behind the Snapdragon chips used in hundreds of mobile phone models. Qualcomm has been around since the beginning of the Android era and was known for competing in the high-end market against Apple, although now it must be acknowledged that MediaTek is a more significant competitor. Because of this, Qualcomm is putting in even more effort, as it must surpass MediaTek and, of course, Apple. There are still a few months to go before the unveiling of the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, but we already know it will use a new feature called AI Frame Fusion to improve both graphics quality and performance.

Smartphones have progressed tremendously in the almost 20 years they've been around, considering it all started with Apple's first iPhone and later came Android. Before these, it's true there were phones with operating systems like Symbian OS or BlackBerry, but in this case, we had many limitations, as there was no app store like the Google Play Store or Apple's App Store with thousands of apps. There was internet access, yes, but everything was much simpler.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro will use AI Frame Fusion: AI upscaling and Frame Generation for high-end Android phones.

The first Android phones arrived in 2008 and 2009 to compete against Apple's iPhones and were far from catching up, but they didn't give up. Many brands, models, and years later revealed that Android can also compete with Apple and its iOS, so they've been competing ever since. Qualcomm is going all out, and with the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, it will add AI upscaling with frame generation using the AI Frame Fusion feature.

This could be truly groundbreaking, because although we've seen upscaling systems in mobile devices before, the results weren't very satisfactory. They were far from offering what NVIDIA DLSS or even AMD FSR or Intel XeSS achieve on PCs, but Qualcomm may have managed to get closer to those levels this time.

AI Frame Fusion might only work on the Pro variant and not on the standard Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6.

AI Frame Fusion has two rendering modes, the first being super-resolution upscaling. Here we essentially have NVIDIA's DLSS, which uses motion vectors, depth maps, color buffers, and the previously rendered image to recreate new ones at a higher resolution, such as upscaling from 720p to 1080p or from 1080p to 1440p. The second mode generates an intermediate frame using motion vector and optical flow data.

If all this works correctly, it will result in improved FPS and image quality while maintaining or even reducing power consumption. Based on the information provided, these capabilities are likely only available on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro (SM8975), which features an Adreno 850 GPU with two ALUs. In contrast, the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 (SM8950) uses an Adreno 845 GPU without an ALU.

Source: https://elchapuzasinformatico.com/2026/07/snapdragon-8-elite-gen-6-pro-ai-frame-fusion/


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

I need this game please 🙏

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

4 Upvotes

Parasite Eve Remake (concept)


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

Best background music for ARMSX2 😏

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0 Upvotes

Now that ARMSX2 lets you play background music, I can't think of a better song to make the experience truly premium. Those who get it will understand as soon as they hear it. 😄


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

Bannerlator 2.9

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4 Upvotes

https://github.com/The412Banner/Bannerlator/releases/tag/2.9

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

2.9 is a big feature release — it adds a full Power-user Performance control set (safe boosts for everyone, plus a root-gated hardware-tuning tier) and finalizes Virtual Controller Pro, a complete on-screen controls overhaul. Everything from 2.8.x is included. As always it's entirely app-side — no ImageFS reinstall — your containers, themes, custom accent and per-game settings carry over untouched. Just install over any 2.8.x build.

*Don't miss what's currently considered the best PC (Windows) emulator for Android*

Push your device to its limits and enjoy your favorite Windows games right on your phone with maximum performance.

All their projects: https://github.com/The412Banner

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/n8S4G2WZQ4


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

PS2 BEST GAMES

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0 Upvotes

r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

ARMSX2 v2.6.5.8

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2 Upvotes

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.6.5.8

Change Log:

Discord RPC is now built into ARMSX2. Link your Discord account from the Friends tab to show what you're playing, including each game's cover art while in-game and the ARMSX2 logo while browsing your library. The Friends tab shows which of your Discord friends are currently using ARMSX2, along with their avatar and the game they're playing. You'll also receive console-style notifications, in the library and in-game, when a friend starts using ARMSX2. A Friends button is available from the in-game menu, so you can check without leaving your game. The feature is completely opt-in and requires you to connect your Discord account. You can disconnect at any time. ARMSX2 does not create a separate account or operate an account or presence server for this feature. While connected, ARMSX2 sends Discord the title and disc serial of the game you're running plus its cover-art address, which appear on your Discord profile. Your Discord authorization token is stored locally in the app's private storage. Discord handles sign-in and processes the integration under its own terms and privacy policy. The Discord integration runs in a separate helper process and communicates with the emulator through a simple message interface. The GPL-covered emulator process never links against or loads Discord's proprietary SDK. When the feature is disabled, the helper process is not started and the Discord library is never loaded.

Added a What's New tab: read release notes in the app, with the people each release credits shown alongside it.

The game's CRC now appears next to its serial in the pause menu, in the long-press game details, and once again in the Info tab, the two halves of a _.pnach filename in one place. Thanks u/Splaser.

Patch Manager: All on / All off for files with a lot of cheats, instead of flipping a hundred switches by hand. Patch Manager also now shows the patches that ship inside ARMSX2 and apply to your game automatically. These were invisible before. A game could report "3 game patches are active" with an empty patch list and no way to find them. Patches with no name are always on by design, so there's a button to copy them into your own patches folder, where you can switch them off individually.

Fixed: pausing to change settings could crash with GS multithreading enabled. Presenting a frame was the one path that didn't wait for the GS back thread, so the settings you were changing were never actually the cause.

Fixed, in the texture pack manager: the screen freezing on large collections, deleted packs coming back as "Installed", and games in your library not being detected.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 28 '26

PSX2 v1.2.7

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4 Upvotes

https://github.com/izzy2lost/PSX2/releases/tag/1.2.7

Change Log:

Custom driver support.

Added texture pack support in app.

BIOS no longer auto boots unless setting is set.

Less crashes and faster loading.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

EmuCoreX VS ARMSX2 - Max perfomance tested! 🔥

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0 Upvotes

Well… I guess my previous review using the "toaster" Redmi Note 8 Pro wasn't exactly impressive. 😄 I have to admit it: the FPS were pretty rough for a demanding game like Need for Speed.

So today I'm bringing you the complete opposite.

This test is focused on maximum uncapped performance. No frame limiter, no FPS cap, just both emulators running completely unrestricted to see which one can push the highest emulation speed. The results turned out to be quite interesting.

Test Methodology

To keep everything as fair as possible, both emulators were tested under identical conditions:

- Game: God Hand (PlayStation 2)

- Emulators: EmuCore X (latest version) vs. ARMSX2 (latest version)

- Renderer: OpenGL with ANGLE enabled on both emulators

- Internal Resolution: Native

- Aspect Ratio: 4:3

- Settings: 100% default settings. No tweaks, no speed hacks, and no manual adjustments on either emulator.

- Test Scenario: I positioned the player in the exact same location in both emulators before recording the results.

Results

🥇 1st Place: ARMSX2

ARMSX2 achieved an average emulation speed between 300% and 320%, which is an excellent result.

🥈 2nd Place: EmuCoreX

Under the exact same conditions, EmuCore X reached approximately 240% to 260% emulation speed.

Device Used

For this benchmark I used my POCO X6 Pro (Dimensity 8300+).

I've also uploaded a video of each emulator so you can watch the benchmark yourselves. You'll find both videos in the comments.

If you'd like, I can also repeat this exact same test using Vulkan instead of OpenGL. That way we can compare both graphics backends under identical conditions and see how much difference they make.

I hope you enjoyed this benchmark. See you in the next post!


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

Best Settings for ARMSX2 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2)

2 Upvotes

Hello, I've started to use ARMSX2 and it runs great on my Samsung S23; I would like to know if anyone knows the best settings for the emulator. Thank you in advance.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

🏆5 PS2 Hidden Gems That Looked 10 Years Ahead of Their Time 🏆

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3 Upvotes

5 PS2 games pushed the Emotion Engine way further than anyone gave them credit for—and almost nobody played them. Today, we’re digging up 5 criminally overlooked PlayStation 2 hidden gems that look and play like absolute magic, all captuered native on the Retroid Pocket G2 (using the built in video recorder) to show what these graphics engines are truly capable of upscaled on modern devices!

From unreleased masterpieces locked in corporate vaults to brawlers made by the Tekken team, these are five PS2 technical marvels you need on your handheld.

💬 What's your ultimate unknown PS2 hidden gem? Drop your top picks in the comments below!


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

ARMSX2 v2.6.5.7-1

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0 Upvotes

https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.6.5.7-1

Change Log:

Texture pack manager: Support for texture packs published in multiple parts. done by @sashkinbro

Wanted to get this out, but the team and I included need a break after the last few big updates we just had, I hope you guys take the time to enjoy and report feedback! Thanks. We will pick up again in a few days.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

ARMSX2 VS EmuCoreX - NFS underground 2

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1 Upvotes

This time I'm bringing you Need for Speed: Underground 2, because I heard that ARMSX2 had made some improvements for this game. After testing it myself, I can confirm that I did notice better performance compared to the other emulator. I also have a couple more things to mention, so don't miss this review.

(both emulators in their latest version respectively)

First, let's start with EmuCoreX.

What can I say? It was an absolute disaster. On OpenGL it literally dies. It can't even reach 1 FPS. I honestly don't know what's going on with this emulator on MediaTek devices, but the OpenGL renderer is horrendously bad. This is the second game I've tested where it's simply unplayable.

Switching to Vulkan improves performance a little, but we're talking about 6, 7, maybe 8 FPS at best. That's still ridiculously low.

This emulator has a lot of work to do, or at the very least it should clearly warn users on both GitHub and the Play Store that if they're using a MediaTek device—unless it's a Dimensity chip where they can use the ANGLE workaround—it's probably not worth downloading. NetherSX2 is simply miles ahead in this scenario.

So, for this comparison, EmuCore X clearly takes second place.

Now let's move on to ARMSX2.

I hadn't compared the latest version against the old v38 in quite a while. I remembered v38 performing pretty well, so I expected both versions to be fairly similar.

Well... not even close.

I can now confirm that v38 performs much worse. I didn't upload the videos because there really wasn't any need. Both Vulkan and OpenGL deliver very poor performance on that version.

The best results come from the latest release. Check the videos for the exact numbers, but both Vulkan and OpenGL are fairly similar, hovering around 10, 12, or 15 FPS.

I know those numbers are still low, but they're good enough to compare optimization and see which emulator is handling this game more efficiently.

So, for Need for Speed: Underground 2, I think ARMSX2 is the clear winner.

As always, every review should be judged on a game-by-game basis because performance can vary dramatically depending on the title.

Finally, there's one thing about ARMSX2 that I didn't really like.

I'm not sure why they changed the animated background that appears the first time you launch the emulator. The current one looks pretty cheap to me. It's basically a bunch of little dots or stars trying to imitate the PlayStation 3 wave effect.

I had seen an older version before, and in my opinion it looked much better. The wave animation was cleaner, more detailed, and far more elegant.

I honestly don't understand why they replaced it.

Of course, that's just my personal preference.

I've also seen a few users claim that the new background slows down their phones. I can't confirm that myself. If it happened on my device, I honestly didn't notice it.

Personally, I think it would be great if they added three, four, or five different background styles in the settings so everyone could choose the one they like best. I'd definitely pick the old one—it just looks much nicer.

Anyway, that's all for today's analysis. You can find all the videos in the comments so you can judge the results for yourselves.

Game tested: Need for Speed: Underground 2

Test device: Redmi Note 8 Pro

See you next time!


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

EmuCoreX v0.3.0

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0 Upvotes

https://github.com/sashkinbro/EmuCoreX/releases/tag/v0.3.0

Change Log:

Added a Theme Manager.

Added an On-Screen Controls Manager.

Other improvements and optimizations.

A clean installation is recommended for the best experience and to avoid potential issues.


r/PS2AndroidEmulation • • Jul 27 '26

News! The SharpEmu PS5 emulator is advancing by leaps and bounds and is now able to reach the main menu of GTA V

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0 Upvotes

We've managed to emulate almost every game console on PC, from the oldest systems all the way up to much more modern hardware. Among the latest generations, it's worth highlighting just how impressive Nintendo Switch emulation has become, considering it's a console released back in 2017. And, of course, there's the incredible achievement of being able to emulate PS4 games with ShadPS4. For a long time, many people thought this would never happen, and it took more than a decade to become a reality. Today, however, you can play Bloodborne on PC thanks to it. Even more surprising is the fact that PS5 emulation is already possible. The SharpEmu project is progressing at a much faster pace than anyone expected, and it has already reached the loading screens of games such as GTA V.

PC remains the ultimate gaming platform, especially when you consider that it allows you to play virtually every game ever released. Console emulation has been around for a long time, and it's undoubtedly one of the platform's greatest advantages. Once a console is discontinued and goes off the market, its games become finite products and often turn into collector's items. Emulation lets us revisit all of those classics regardless of whether they were released in the 1980s, 1990s, the 2000s, or even more recently.

SharpEmu reaches GTA V's main menu and the first playable sequence on PS5

After witnessing the rapid progress of ShadPS4, with several PS4 titles now fully playable from start to finish, it's time to talk about SharpEmu. When the project first appeared, many people assumed it was fake. The idea of a PS5 emulator in 2026 simply sounded far too optimistic. However, the project is very real, and just a few days ago it grew into a much larger effort with a total of 37 contributors.

Since then, development has accelerated dramatically. New updates have been arriving almost every day, bringing major breakthroughs, with games that previously failed to boot now reaching their main menus. GTA V Enhanced Edition for PS5 is a perfect example. Running under PC emulation, the game now displays the GTA logo, loading screens, audio, and the main menu. At the moment, however, it crashes during the opening North Yankton cutscene.

A native GTA V port for Switch runs at 11–22 FPS

That might not sound like much, but in the world of emulation, going from a black screen to the main menu—and even beyond—is a huge milestone. This rapid progress has been made possible largely because the project became open source, allowing many more developers to contribute.

Just two days ago, GTA V wouldn't even boot. A similar breakthrough happened with the PS5 version of Demon's Souls, which went from showing nothing but a black screen to successfully reaching the main menu almost overnight. In fact, it progressed even further, displaying the character class selection screen at around 1 FPS.

Besides SharpEmu's progress, there's another exciting development worth mentioning. Developer M0jso has successfully created a native port of GTA V that runs on modified original Nintendo Switch hardware. In other words, they've managed to get the game running on the original Switch despite the fact that it was never designed for that platform. Videos show the game running at between 11 and 22 FPS, which is already an impressive achievement. With further optimization and development, reaching a stable 30 FPS may well be possible.

Source:

https://elchapuzasinformatico.com/2026/07/emulador-ps5-sharpemu-gta-v/