PCSX2 enters the final frontier of compatibility by supporting over 99% of all PS2 games
It’s almost incredible to say, but PlayStation 2 emulation is still a thing. PCSX2, one of the most complex and ambitious emulation projects ever conceived, has achieved a milestone that very few emulators can (or will ever) boast. Twenty-three years after the first official version was released, the original PS2 emulator can now offer near-complete compatibility with the entire library of games released for Sony’s legendary console. And the developers certainly don’t plan to stop there, as the project has recently undergone an almost complete overhaul compared to just a few years ago.
The last time I happened to talk about PCSX2 on these pages was in 2020, when version 1.6.0 was released. Five years later, the latest versions of the emulator are able to run over 99% of supported games in “playable” (98.44%) or even “perfect” state (1.23%). According to official compatibility data, PCSX2 now has major problems running only four games with their regional variants: DRIV3R, Final Fantasy XI, Marvel Nemesis – Rise of the Imperfects, and World Series Baseball 2K3.
As explained by the developers, the aforementioned games are truly extreme cases that require the – still nonexistent – emulation of official on-line servers (FF XI), or exploit the hardware in the original console in a way that is very difficult, or even impossible to replicate with a software emulator (Marvel Nemesis). These extreme cases aside, PCSX2 has now entered the project’s final frontier in terms of compatibility with the 2681 officially supported games in the PS2 library.
The last time I tried to play Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and other PS2 titles on my deceased laptop, PCSX2 had a rather complex interface and used a plug-in-based emulation architecture. In 2024, the developers released version 2.0 of the emulator bringing a series of radical changes to the project. PCSX2 now has a new interface based on the Qt framework, ditched plug-ins by integrating the individual components into the main code, includes a custom configuration system for every game, and much, much more.
For those, like me, who haven’t been following PS2 emulation for a while, PCSX2 2.0 feels like an alienating milestone. The developers are clearly still very much interested in achieving the project’s original goal, which is turning the dream of full PlayStation 2 emulation into a reality that’s attainable on modern PCs and operating systems. With PCSX2 2.2.0 and 2.4.0, the latest stable versions released so far in 2025, this team of madmen has added emulation of new PS2 peripherals, fixed graphics rendering in an impressive number of games, improved performance with Direct3D 11 graphics libraries, and more.
For some time now, I have been the happy owner of an original DualShock 3 controller, which I purchased with the aim of (re)playing FromSoftware‘s entire Soulsborne series starting from the very beginning – namely Demon’s Souls for PS3 – after sweating blood on Elden Ring for a few years. The DualShock 3 still is an ideal compromise for those looking for an official PlayStation controller that can both interface with modern machines more or less painlessly, and support now-defunct technologies like PS2 and PS3 pressure-sensitive buttons. Considering the progress made by the PCSX2 team, now I feel compelled to make use of this new purchase and finally play some PlayStation-exclusive classic (God of War…) in its original version.