An emulator is a program that allows you to run games belonging to a different platform, on a normal PC. It is therefore id a software that makes the computer believe to be something else, it copies the architecture of the system you are trying to emulate and makes it compatible with the games developed for that platform.
Console emulators are available for free and are developed by enthusiasts who want to continue playing the old games bought several years ago, on the computer.
The most famous emulators for Nintendo, Playstation and Sega consoles are listed on another page with all their history.
In this post we see three emulators for PlayStation that allow you to play games on CD of the Sony console, directly on the Windows pc .
The old Sony PlayStation consoles have entertained many video players, breaking every sales record (at the time) and marking important pages of the playful video history between 1998 and 2010.
Consoles such as the PlayStation, the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3 will remain forever in the memories of those who experienced that era, but also those who tried the PSP portable console, the only one capable of making the overwhelming power of portable consoles a little Nintendo.
But if we wanted to play the titles of these now old consoles on a modern PC, what can we use "> ePSXe .
We download the right version for our operating system and start the executable directly, since the program does not require installation.
The wizard window will open to assist the user in configuring the emulator; we click Configure to find ourselves in the various plugin configuration windows.
The former is perhaps the most important, because it is that of the original PS1 BIOS .
This BIOS is copyrighted and not available for download, but you can get it from the Internet or by copying the BIOS from a working PS1).
In any case, the program offers a rudimentary BIOS (HLE BIOS) to test the functionality of the emulator anyway (it is not suitable for games).
We select the right BIOS to use and click on next to configure the various plugins as per the list below:
- Video Plugin : Pete's OpenGL2 GPU Core
- Audio Plugin : ePSXe SPU core
- CD player plug-in: ePSXe WNT / W2K core
Finally, configure the controller in our possession with the dedicated tool and click Finish to confirm the configuration.
We will find ourselves in the main screen of the emulator.
To start a game we can use the item File -> Start CDROM if the game is present on an optical medium or File -> Start ISO if the game is saved as an ISO image file.
Most of the games for the PlayStation will start with the default settings; if you notice graphic problems or glitches you can configure the settings of the graphic plugin in Configure -> Video .
We can quickly configure this plugin using the quick buttons at the bottom left Fast (greater compatibility) or Good (higher graphic quality), so as to obtain the suitable configuration for any game.
The list of games compatible with this emulator can be found here -> ePSXe compatibility list .
PlayStation 2 emulator
To emulate the games of the PlayStation 2 we can use the PCSX2 program, available for download here -> PCSX2 .
Once you have downloaded the right version for our operating system, install it and start the program by looking for it in the Start menu or among the installed programs.
Also in this case the emulator will start with a configuration wizard, so as to correctly adjust all the program settings.
We click Next to find ourselves in the plugin configuration screen.
Make sure to use the right ones to be able to correctly emulate all games:
- Video Plugin: GSdx latest version (AVX)
- Audio Plugin : SPU2-X
- CD player plug-in : cddvdGigahertz
We leave the other plugins as we found them and click Next .
The emulator will now ask us for a PS2 BIOS in order to function properly.
As already seen for PS1, this BIOS is copyrighted so it cannot be downloaded together with the emulator, but we can find it on the Internet or obtain it from a real working PS2.
Once the BIOS is selected, all you have to do is press Finish to finish the configuration.
The emulator startup window will now open, with the logfile on the right.
We can safely close the window on the right and keep only the emulator window active.
To start a game just click on the CDVD item and select ISO (if the game is in ISO image format) or Disc (if the game is on optical media); made the choice select the item System -> Start from CDVD (fast) to start the game correctly.
The vast majority of PS2 games will run regularly without further changes or settings.
The game chosen jerks, does not work or shows graphic errors ">
The items that we can modify are:
- Renderer : we choose OpenGL (hardware) to improve the speed of the emulation, Direct3D 11 (hardware) to obtain higher quality.
- CRC Hack Level : if we use OpenGL we select Partial .
- Blending Unit Accuracy : we set None on slower and Medium PCs on all medium and high-end PCs.
The list of games compatible with this emulator can be found here -> PCSX2 compatibility list .
PSP emulator
To emulate the PSP portable console we can use the PPSSPP emulator, available for download here -> PPSSPP .
Once downloaded just click on the executable to start the emulator immediately (no installation required).
Compared to the other emulators this is already ready for use, no special configurations are required.
To start a game, simply use the file manager integrated in the interface to find the ISO file or the CSO file to play with the emulator.
No download of any BIOS is required, since the operating system is perfectly emulated without the need to recover other system files.
All the games currently available for PSP can be emulated with this program, therefore it is not necessary to act on the settings to run the games.
PlayStation 3 emulator
Finally we show you the most recent emulator, the one to emulate the PlayStation 3 console (albeit with many limits, at least in its current state of development).
We can download RPCS3 for free from here -> RPCS3 .
We download the executable and start it directly, since the program does not require installation.
At the first start a warning window will warn us of the need to download the PS3 Firmware to make the emulator work; we click on I Have read the QuickStart and finally on Continue .
We first install the PS3 firmware by downloading it from here -> Update Firwmare PS3, and using the File item -> Install Firmware in the program.
Once the right firmware is installed we can start the PS3 games using the Boot Game button (present in the interface) or by clicking on File -> Boot game .
The emulator is compatible with ISO format games and allows you to play a fair number of titles, even if the emulation is still quite rudimentary, so the problems can be really numerous (you just have to wait for the development to be able to play more and more titles without problems).
We only use this emulator if we really need to play some PS3 titles, since right now it is still better to bet on a real console in order to play all the titles correctly.
