Emulation What is the best PS2 emulator for Android?

[Nikokaro]

Does anyone know which is the best (I mean mainly fastest, though not really the best graphically or audio-wise) PS2 emulator for Android devices? Keep in mind that both my smartphone and tablet are 3 or 4 years old. In particular I would like to play Super Robot Taisen Original Generations, a tactical-rpg game (english patched) not really 3D, rather with isometric maps and 2d anime interludes, so not very hardware demanding.
Thanks.

 

[Arcade2019]

AetherSX2. Older version without the ads the Play store one has.

 

[HextarVigar]

AetherSX2. Older version without the ads the Play store one has.

Considering there's something like two emulators for the PS2, it shouldn't be a huge effort to find the right one.

 

[Hayato213]

Probably AetherSX2

 

[Nikokaro]

Considering there's something like two emulators for the PS2, it shouldn't be a huge effort to find the right one.

Strange! This site mentions as many as ten:
https://www.javatpoint.com/best-ps2-emulators-for-android
You must have missed a few along the way, I suppose.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

Strange! This site mentions as many as ten:
https://www.javatpoint.com/best-ps2-emulators-for-android
You must have missed a few along the way, I suppose.

That list isn't all PS2 emulators, it includes PSP and PS1 emulators for some reason. Also includes the shady DamonPS2, which was notorious for (potentially/allegedly) commercializing PCSX2 code.

 

[Nikokaro]

AetherSX2. Older version without the ads the Play store one has.

For some strange reason I can't install it. At the end of the installation process it tells me that the application is not installed, without specifying the reason, both with the newest and the oldest (alpha) version. Could it be that Android 8 is too old?
Downloaded from this site:
https://aethersx2.en.uptodown.com/android/versions
since the Google play page does not open for me, more precisely the application closes immediately with error message.
Do you have a viable alternative?

 

[BigOnYa]

For some strange reason I can't install it. At the end of the installation process it tells me that the application is not installed, without specifying the reason, both with the newest and the oldest (alpha) version. Could it be that Android 8 is too old?
Downloaded from this site:
https://aethersx2.en.uptodown.com/android/versions
since the Google play page does not open for me, more precisely the application closes immediately with error message.
Do you have a viable alternative?

Just fyi, I just downloaded this from your link, and it installed fine, I'm on a fire tablet 10.

 

[Nikokaro]

Just fyi, I just downloaded this from your link, and it installed fine, I'm on a fire tablet 10.

Okay. Thanks for the information, chief. I just read on Google Play that this app is not compatible with my device, so I installed Play!, which is newer, under development, and so less compatible.
I will then have to download the ISO that I am interested in: almost 2 GB uncompressed.

 

[SylverReZ]

Not a fan of emulation on Android, you'd get better performance on a PC nonetheless.

 

[Nikokaro]

Not a fan of emulation on Android, you'd get better performance on a PC nonetheless.

You are right. I basically don't use any PCs anymore except in my office. I prefer portable devices for gaming. Maybe I should buy one of those infamous thin, ultralight Chromebooks.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

You are right. I basically don't use any PCs anymore except in my office. I prefer portable devices for gaming. Maybe I should buy one of those infamous thin, ultralight Chromebooks.

A Chromebook is yet another system with a lot of artificial limits.

With enough time and energy I can drill a hole into a concrete wall with a screwdriver. Opening a canned food is possible by poking a lot of holes with a screwdriver.
Why have other tools when anything can be done with a screwdriver?

Maybe because another tool will perform better on some tasks?


My big PC tower with all the peripherals won't perform good at taking it with me anywhere I go. And a puny phone won't perform good at being a full-fledged computer (although some do offer being docked to keyboard, mouse, monitor and are powerful enough by now).

Niko, you are making it hard for yourself rejecting having a decent PC.
============

Anyway. You should verify if your phone can handle the APK you downloaded. In my painful investigations (trust me I suffer from dealing with Android) I've encountered arm64-v8a versions being automatically selected while older (weaker) devices such as mine need the old armeabi-v7a.

===========

This message has been sent from a Samsung SM-T550 (tablet from year 2015) running Android 11 using the armeabi-v7a version of Kiwi browser... and a physical keyboard of course.

See here: arm64-v8a packages will not install or work:

 

[Arcade2019]

Okay. Thanks for the information, chief. I just read on Google Play that this app is not compatible with my device, so I installed Play!, which is newer, under development, and so less compatible.
I will then have to download the ISO that I am interested in: almost 2 GB uncompressed.

If you join Discord there is a channel with the latest non-advert version. Try this - https://www.aethersx2.com/archive/?dir=android/alpha

 

[Nikokaro]

If you join Discord there is a channel with the latest non-advert version. Try this - https://www.aethersx2.com/archive/?dir=android/alpha

As mentioned above, I have already tried the latest version as well as the first, older version, and they do not install on my device. In fact, Google Play says this one is not compatible: I think the culprit is the older arm-v7 processor, as already specified by another user. I have installed Play! which should have no problem with the aforementioned SRT OG, as soon as I find time to download it from my smartphone.

 

[Nikokaro]

I take advantage of the previous user's silly/senseless bump to take stock of the situation. So the title I was interested in turned out to be almost 5GB in size (only 1.6GB compressed), a size that far exceeds the free space available on my tablet, so I'm giving it up. I'm afraid I'll have to make do with the two far more modest, frugal and portable GBA titles.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

So the title I was interested in turned out to be almost 5GB in size (only 1.6GB compressed), a size that far exceeds the free space available on my tablet, so I'm giving it up

Why always throw the towel right away?
Just plug in an SD card.

Spoiler

I know you always reject all of my suggestions. →

 

[Nikokaro]

Why always throw the towel right away?
Just plug in an SD card.

Hi. At the moment I have no free SD cards. The one already inserted in the tablet is dedicated to my collection of books in .PDF format and does not have enough free space anyway.
I took a look with Isobuster at the contents of the ISO, but it has few files (videos or dummy file) that can be deleted, and they are small in size, so I would still save little space by deleting them or compressing the iso.
So yeah, I'm throwing in the towel! To hell with the PS2!

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Hi. At the moment I have no free SD cards. The one already inserted in the tablet is dedicated to my collection of books in .PDF format and does not have enough free space anyway.

How about getting a cheap NAS?
I'm really concerned reading about your overly casual approach of not backing up data -- again. A collection of eBooks stored on a single SD? These things go bad all the time for no reason.

So yeah, I'm throwing in the towel! To hell with the PS2!

There is a another device that will perform way better than an outdated Android tablet regarding playing PS2 games:

Spoiler: You will never guess it

A real PlayStation 2.
Big surprise, huh?

 

[Nikokaro]

There is a another device that will perform way better than an outdated Android tablet regarding playing PS2 games

True. I admit that I have thought about a real ps2. On eBay you can find some in good condition at very good prices, with several auctions available. But on second thought, I would hardly play with it. If you remember, a few months ago I received an N64 with 10 cartridges as a gift, which just sat there where I put it, due to lack of time and real interest. As already mentioned I prefer portable consoles, for convenience and for quick and occasional gaming.

Edit:
Regarding backing up the books, you are right. In fact, they are also stored in my prehistoric Windows XP.
I recently did an interesting test with an 8 GB SD card I had in my DS Lite: this contained a corrupted file, with a name with random characters, gibberish as they say, of unreal size (of several gigs) but causing no problems. So I copied all the roms to a new SD and deleted that file on PC, then ejected it via secure eject function. Guess what happened? The entire SD wiped out, unreadable by PC and requiring formatting. I tried the DOS function "chkdsk d:" but it was unreadable from there as well (raw filesystem or similar). Let this be a lesson to all those with the same problem.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

(raw filesystem or similar)

That is what MS Windows says when not detecting a filesystem.

What did you expect when writing to a partially corrupted filesystem? At least you copied your files before writing to that SD →

Let this be a lesson to all those with the same problem.

The lesson is in my signature.

If you remember, a few months ago I received an N64 with 10 cartridges as a gift, which just sat there where I put it, due to lack of time and real interest.

Such a great console… →→

I prefer portable consoles, for convenience and for quick and occasional gaming.

Looks like getting a handheld gaming PC, like there are too many right now, would be the solution for you. Mobile gaming. Quickly picking up occasionally… and a full PC (at least I hope so) for tasks where a phone is just the wrong tool.