The PlayStation 2 emulation scene has just seen the arrival of a new surprise contender. AetherSX2 is a PS2 emulator that runs on Android devices, and is set to release relatively soon. It comes from a new developer named Tahlreth, and while very little is known about the history of how AetherSX2 came to be, certain YouTubers have been given a alpha build of the emulator to show off the performance of PlayStation 2 games. Titles like Devil May Cry, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, and Final Fantasy X are shown off, even running at fairly smooth framerates. The emulator is said to perform best when used with phones that have Snapdragon SoCs, and has wide compatibility with the PS2's library.

A beta build is planned for release sometime soon, where users will be able to get it from the Google Play Store and test it out, prior to a full launch.

Source

What is it?​

AetherSX2 is an emulator of the Sony PlayStation 2(TM) / PS2(TM) console for the Android platform. You can play games which you have dumped from disc on your portable device.

What are the requirements?​

The PS2(TM) is an extremely complex piece of hardware, with many very powerful components, even for today. You need a high end device to achieve good performance.

We recommend at least a Snapdragon 845-equivalent device. This means 4 large cores (Cortex-A75 level). If you only have two big cores (e.g. Snapdragon 700 series SoCs, you should not enable multi-threaded VU, and performance will suffer as a result). Devices with Mali or PowerVR GPUs will run the app, but performance will be much lower than Adreno GPUs, and the Vulkan renderer will not be available. This is because they are missing a critical feature (dual-source blending).

If you want to use the app on a slower device, you can try it, but games will run slow, especially heavier titles. You can try underclocking the CPU by setting the cycle rate to a negative number, and the cycle skip to a positive number in System settings, but this will cause games to lag internally at best, or crash at worst.

Expectations.​

This is a free app, worked on as a hobby in the developer's free time. At the time of writing, it is in very early stages and missing many useful features, however is usable for playing some games.

It is not going to be perfect, far from it. I will continue to improve it when I have time, but please remember this is not my job, and to have realistic expectations, especially if you do not have a high end device.

As it is an early preview, you should save your game regularly in case of crashes.

 

[Kioku]

What an interesting bit of news. Will this be the Drastic of PS2 emulation?

 

[TheCasketMan]

Hopefully we get a Windows port.

 

[Flame]

i hope this gets good real soon. im too lazy to hook up my PS2 to my TV right now.

 

[NoNAND]

i hope this gets good real soon. im too lazy to hook up my PS2 to my TV right now.

Yeah same

I sold my PS2 btw

 

[Plazorn]

Switchroot?

 

[AngryCinnabon]

If this is legit Damonps2 will rot in hell, just as that malware mess of stolen pcsx2 code should.


Although according to some info i saw on the "Official Page" for Aethersx2 on r/emulationonandroid this may also be using pcsx2 code, but within the license guidelines.
EDIT: to rectify this comment i found the post on reddit i was talking about and found the github link, it *could* be a pcsx2 fork or maybe our dev here is just a madlad who made their own implementation.
FINAL EDIT: So it's a fork, but a fully approved by the PCSX2 Team one, unlike a certain piece of paid garbage that i'm gonna just pretend doesn't exist as it's gonna fall into the void of neglect now, I'm going on a limb and saying if they trust and support AetherSX2, we have all the reason in the world now to do the same.

This is your totally unprofessional, one-time and unofficial PS2 Emulator reporter Cinna signing out; have fun playing your PS2 collection when this releases!

 

[Scarlet]

Yeeessssss, finally I can play Persona 3 portably!

 

[AngryCinnabon]

Yeeessssss, finally I can play Persona 3 portably!

*insert p3p joke*
(wait that's the point of your comment isn't it.)

FES is better for the most part anyways though

 

[sudeki300]

hopefully this will be the saviour for ps2 emulation on Android phones

 

[Scarlet]

*insert p3p joke*
(wait that's the point of your comment isn't it.)

FES is better for the most part anyways though

Yeah I want to get into Portable but FES is just so nice. Best opening theme of any game I've played too (Tales of Zestiria a close second!).

 

[N10A]

Yeeessssss, finally I can play Persona 3 portably!

AND persona 4!

 

[AngryCinnabon]

Yeah I want to get into Portable but FES is just so nice. Best opening theme of any game I've played too (Tales of Zestiria a close second!).

Yeah, i usually don't think much of game openings but damn FES is amazing with it!

 

[Deleted member 388531]

If this is legit Damonps2 will rot in hell, just as that malware mess of stolen pcsx2 code should.


Although according to some info i saw on the "Official Page" for Aethersx2 on r/emulationonandroid this may also be using pcsx2 code, but within the license guidelines.
EDIT: to rectify this comment i found the post on reddit i was talking about and found the github link, it *could* be a pcsx2 fork or maybe our dev here is just a madlad who made their own implementation.

it's definitely a fork

 

[AngryCinnabon]

it's definitely a fork

Yeah, 99% likely, just legal and respectful unlike damon.

 

[theeternal92]

Hope this emulator turns out well. I'd love to replay Shadow Hearts again.

 

[Brawl345]

Sketchy af. No download? No code? Just the GitHub page with no screenshots or anything? GitHub account created 6 days ago? Why is this news? This smells like stolen code.

 

[AngryCinnabon]

Sketchy af. No download? No code? Just the GitHub page with no screenshots or anything? GitHub account created 6 days ago? Why is this news? This smells like stolen code.

Shady or not it's a hot subject, PS2 Emulation is already somewhat messy on PC so mobile users have one of two options atm, use an extremely slow and heavily WIP safe emulator (Play!) or use a shady, paid and very likely malicious but much more (in comparasion) efficient hackjob (DamonPS2). Time will tell if this is just fluff or an actual step in the right direction, but it's noteworthy either way imo as it's promising a lot of things if true.

 

[Scarlet]

Sketchy af. No download? No code? Just the GitHub page with no screenshots or anything? GitHub account created 6 days ago? Why is this news? This smells like stolen code.

Seeing it in action could give it a bit of credibility:

 

[HellGhast]

Sounds cool. If thIs is legit then its gonna be a nice app