Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The ARMSX2 emulator for Android has just received its V1.0 release on GitHub, with a Play Store release coming later this week.
- The app differs from NetherSX2 due to its open-source nature and its use of a more recent foundation.
- NetherSX2 still offers better performance, though, while this ARMSX2 release had a major bug for some.
PS2 emulation on Android has been in a strange place since the pioneering AetherSX2 app was abandoned. Some developers took over this shuttered project and made impressive changes to it (resulting in NetherSX2), but the somewhat closed nature and aging foundation suggest this isn’t a long-term solution. Fortunately, the ARMSX2 emulator has been in testing for a while, and it’s finally received a version 1.0 release.
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The ARMSX2 development team released version 1.0 (and version 1.0.1) of the PS2 emulator on GitHub over the weekend, and the app is also supposed to be available via the Play Store. The store listing isn’t live as of writing but should be accessible later this week, according to an announcement on the emulator’s Discord channel.
This emulator uses a more recent version of the PCSX2 code for PC as its foundation, as opposed to the much older version underpinning NetherSX2. This should theoretically result in more fixes and optimizations for problematic games.
However, it’s also worth noting that PCSX2 uses x86-to-Arm64 translation in addition to emulation. This means you can expect slower performance than native PS2 emulators for Android, like AetherSX2 and NetherSX2. In saying so, the team says performance is subject to change as development progresses.
I gave ARMSX2 a quick try on two phones (the vivo X Fold 5 and X300 Pro), but was unable to play any game as the app simply crashed after choosing a game or running the BIOS. This wasn’t an exhaustive hands-on, though, as I only tried changing a few settings (e.g., BIOS, renderer). However, this seems to be a common issue right now, and the team is working on the problem.
The team also issued a rough roadmap for future developments. This roadmap places a high priority on fixing problems when using devices with Samsung Xclipse and Arm Mali GPUs, as well as updating to the latest PCSX2 core. A Material Expressive visual overhaul is also in the works, albeit as a low priority. That’s good news, as the current visual design is intuitive but rudimentary, save for some Expressive-style sliders.
Either way, we’re glad ARMSX2 is making major strides and that the developer is quickly tackling issues. NetherSX2 is still the more performant and compatible emulator at the moment, and runs on a wide variety of devices. However, ARMSX2 could be the better long-term solution for Android owing to its open nature and more recent foundation.
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