The Best PS2 Emulator: PCSX2 Download and Configure

Although companies like Sony and Microsoft are already finalizing the launch of new generation consoles, the truth is that the video game sector has not innovated for a long time. Except for a few new IPs, most companies are out of ideas, releasing two-decade-old games remastered or copying each other into massive multiplayer games. This has made the Old School movement have grown exponentially in recent years. With it, many veteran players turn their backs on new games and new consoles and seek to remember old times by going back to the past. Retro is fashionable.

ps2 emulator

There are retro consoles that are very easy to emulate. No one will have trouble emulating a NES, a SNES, a Game Boy, a Sega, and even a PlayStation. However, when we get to the PlayStation 2 , things change. This console is over 20 years old, and for many it is one of the best games it has ever had. If we have the PS2 stored we can play it without problems (the truth is that it is a very durable console), but finding units for sale is difficult. And much more to find games.

Therefore, one of the ways to recall old times with this console is to use emulators. And one of the best emulators to emulate this console is PCSX2.

PCSX2 - Jugar Burnout

PCSX2: the best PS2 emulator

Its development began in 2002, although it wasn’t until 2007 when it started to be more or less playable. As of today, this emulator still has active support and its developers continue to update the core of the emulator and optimize its operation for all the games that exist for this emulator.

This emulator is characterized by being programmed to work through plugins. In addition to the official plugins, any developer can create their own plugins to improve their operation or simplify the options. Anyway, the most complete and best performing offer are the official ones, so we do not recommend changing them for others.

To be able to work, this emulator must load the BIOS of the PS2, and as a result of it, load the game in question. Although for legal reasons this emulator does not include any BIOS (we must search for it and download it ourselves), it allows us to load the BIOS that we want, being able to use different versions and the BIOS from different regions.

PCSX2 - Cargar BIOS

Set up PCSX2 without headaches

Emulate a PS2 smoothly and smoothly, the truth is that it is not easy. If we have a high-end computer we can do it, but if our computer is not exactly new, the truth is that we may have serious problems when running this emulator. Especially if we do not know how to configure it.

Within the PCSX2 options we will find an infinity of parameters that we can customize. With them we can adjust the operation of the CPU, the graphics, the sound, customize the plugins and a large number of other options. Very complicated options that, frankly, we should not modify.

Without going into the infinite configuration options that this emulator offers us, we can find a switch called “Preset”. Thanks to it we will be able to quickly switch between 6 different emulator configurations, giving more or less priority to fidelity versus quality.

If we place the mouse on the preset bar we can see a description of what each of these adjustments does.

PCSX2 - Configurar Emulador PS2 Preajustes 4

In this way we can choose the level that best suits the gaming experience we want to have and adjust the performance of the emulator depending on the hardware of our PC.

If we want to be able to manually modify the PCSX2 settings, then we must uncheck the “Preset” box to unlock all the options and configure the PS2 emulator to our liking.

Configure remote

As we have seen, we do not have to configure much at the emulation level, but we would be interested in configuring the controller with which we are going to play. If we connect a PS4 controller to Windows, the controls will be adjusted by default. But if we connect another controller, or we want to play with the keyboard, then we must go to the Settings> Controls section, and from there customize it as we want.

As we see, as in the rest of the emulator configuration, even to configure the command we can find an infinity of options and parameters.

Download PCSX2

This emulator is completely free and open source for all users. We can find the latest available version of it at the following link .

The emulator is available for Windows, Linux and macOS, so we can use it without problems in any operating system we want. In addition, being open source, if we want we can adapt it ourselves to other platforms.

Of course, in order to load the games we must have the BIOS in our possession. And since the distribution of these is not legal, we will have to find them ourselves.

Minimum and recommended requirements

The emulator developers assure that in order to use this emulator we must meet the following simple requirements:

  • Processor with SSE2 support (Pentium 4, Athlon64).
  • Graphics with Pixel Shader model 3.0 support and 2 GB of video memory.
  • 2 GB of RAM.
  • Windows XP SP3.

However, with that hardware the truth is that many games are not going to work at all well. Therefore, if we really want to make the most of this emulator, we have to meet, at least, the recommended requirements:

  • Intel Core i3 / 5/7 4th Gen or AMD FX-8350 processor.
  • Graphics with DirectX 11 support and 2 GB of video memory.
  • More than 2 GB of RAM.
  • Windows 8.1 x64

Thus, if we comply with the recommended requirements that the developers indicate, we can play at a speed of between 45 and 50 FPS, totally suitable to play.