Emulation What is the best PS2 emulator for Android?

[KleinesSinchen]

@Nikokaro solved this problem on a little newer hardware, also with NetherSX2 if I remember correctly… while to my disappointment refusing to consider

Spoiler: the most obvious solution for playing PS2 games

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Have to say: The thread title obviously caught the interest of general search engines. 5000+ views already

 

[Nikokaro]

Hi @KleinesSinchen and everybody. Yeah, I was only interested in playing SRW series titles: the english translated version of SRW OGs, on a mediocre snapdragon 679, via NetherSX2 of course, works great. Moreover on the same phone I can also play SRW GC (en patched) perfectly via Dolphin, to my great satisfaction.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Moreover on the same phone I can also play SRW GC (en patched) perfectly via Dolphin, to my great satisfaction.

Currently I'm too depressed to do anything productive like preparing pictures. You just have to imagine a photo of a real GC or Wii at this point.

But to be serious: I'm really happy that you found a way that works for you!

One more thing, just for completeness and saving me from searching things up: How to setup NetherSX2? Is it complex?
A few weeks ago, when I tried myself, I just downloaded AetherSX with Aurora Store for a quick test (which wouldn't work anymore since it was remove from Play Store).

And no, I have no plans to use it myself (just to get an app on my tablet again, which gets stubbornly stuck until removing with ADB). Just interest in the complexity.

 

[Nikokaro]

One more thing, just for completeness and saving me from searching things up: How to setup NetherSX2? Is it complex?

AetherSX2 needs to be modified with the NetherSX2 patch in order to play offline with all options turned on. Yeah, it is very complex to set: there are a myriad of options regarding 3d graphics to set. On Snapdragon 800 you will be able to play safely with the default settings. In my case, I had to simplify the graphics resolution to the bare minimum, but the result is still very good, and on a small smartphone screen you will not notice any substantial difference.
I attach for your convenience the two prepatched versions, which are now freeware.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/43jndohw2grvjx2/Nethersx2.7z/file

 

[Marc_LFD]

AetherSX2 needs to be modified with the NetherSX2 patch in order to play offline with all options turned on. Yeah, it is very complex to set: there are a myriad of options regarding 3d graphics to set. On Snapdragon 800 you will be able to play safely with the default settings. In my case, I had to simplify the graphics resolution to the bare minimum, but the result is still very good, and on a small smartphone screen you will not notice any substantial difference.
I attach for your convenience the two prepatched versions, which are now freeware.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/43jndohw2grvjx2/Nethersx2.7z/file

Thanks a bunch, downloaded those APKs already.

I know emulating PS2 on Samsung A52s is sluggish so I won't try it, but on a Pixel 7a (gonna buy) runs more or less smoothly.

Never imagined I'd end up playing Dreamcast, GCN, and PS2 via a phone.

By the way, what's the best Saturn emulator? That's one console I'd like to play, but it's a pain in the ass to get the games to work.

Thanks.

 

[Nikokaro]

By the way, what's the best Saturn emulator?

IDK! ...

 

[_47iscool]

The NetherSX2 version. And if you need space, remember that CSO and CHD are supported.

 

[Marc_LFD]

AetherSX2 needs to be modified with the NetherSX2 patch in order to play offline with all options turned on. Yeah, it is very complex to set: there are a myriad of options regarding 3d graphics to set. On Snapdragon 800 you will be able to play safely with the default settings. In my case, I had to simplify the graphics resolution to the bare minimum, but the result is still very good, and on a small smartphone screen you will not notice any substantial difference.
I attach for your convenience the two prepatched versions, which are now freeware.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/43jndohw2grvjx2/Nethersx2.7z/file

I tried the newer APK you uploaded and works wonderfully, I loaded up Tekken 4 and played smoothly on my Pixel 7a.

128GB might seem like a lot of storage, but for folks that store games it fills up quite quickly. And too bad it has no SD Card slot, dang. Oh well.

Thank you for the APK.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

128GB might seem like a lot of storage, but for folks that store games it fills up quite quickly.

DVD images are big – even huge for their time.

Maybe, just maybe, a phone is not the best device for emulating DVD based consoles. *Looks at 3.5" HDDs*

And too bad it has no SD Card slot, dang.

Yeah, why is that?
Why do expensive phones have not expandable storage while most cheap phones do? And if there are two models with different memory size the bigger one is not just a bit more expensive… the difference allows buying a stack of micro-SD cards.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Maybe, just maybe, a phone is not the best device for emulating DVD based consoles.

It is now, just got to keep it from filing up the storage.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Man, just played a bit of PS2 on my Pixel 7a with the Backbone One and it was awesome, it felt like I was using a PlayStation device to play it.

$200 for a streaming device? No, thank you. My phone can do a hell lot more.

 

[BuddhaHunterMac]

Definitely need to upgrade phones to run me some sweet PS2 on the go

 

[zero577]

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:
View attachment 413584

How to get that old armeabi-v7a version

Post automatically merged: Dec 13, 2024

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:
View attachment 413584

I realized now that my architecture is armv8l
Is there a version for it ?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

How to get that old armeabi-v7a version

Post automatically merged: Dec 13, 2024

I realized now that my architecture is armv8l
Is there a version for it ?

Hard to answer to that. What architecture do you have now. The two merged posts are contradicting.

Highly unlikely that 32 bit (armeabi-v7a) devices are supported by any PS2 emulators. I doubt these CPUs are strong enough for PS2 emulation.

arm64-v8a is the default nowadays and any package you download should have this

A quick search for the term armv8l delivered something like "64 bit CPU in 32 Bit mode."
See:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions...e-and-what-does-armv8l-exactly-means#73696522
====

I'm not sure why you quoted my post, as I'm the one preferring the real PS2 over emulators.

Maybe @Nikokaro still knows what packages worked best but you will need a reasonably powerful Android device for even trying.


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As this thread is very successful (>30000 views) search engines redirect here. It would be nice if anybody knowing the current state added information which PS2 emulator is a good choice right now -- I mean keeping this thread somewhat up to date.

 

[Nikokaro]

I have already posted above the only pre-patched versions of AetherSX2 available. In any case, a recent 64bit version of Android and a Snapdragon 600 are required for just enough performance by adjusting some options appropriately (but for heavy 3D games it is absolutely not enough).