PlayStation emulators

PlayStation

Developer	Sony Computer Entertainment
Manufacturer	Sony Electronics
Type	Home video game console
Generation	Fifth
Release date	PlayStation JP: 3 December 1994 NA: 9 September 1995 EU: 29 September 1995 AU: 15 November 1995 ZA: November 1996 HK/SG/TH/MY: December 1996 TW: December 1997 PS One JP: 7 July 2000 NA: 19 September 2000 EU: 29 September 2000 HK/SG/TH/MY/TW: November 2000 IND: 24 January 2002 KR: 22 February 2002
Discontinued	WW: 23 March 2006
Successor	PlayStation 2
Emulated	✓

For emulators that run on the PlayStation 1, see Emulators on PS1.

The PlayStation (also reffered to by the shorthand PS1, and by the PSX codename) is a fifth-generation console released by Sony Computer Entertainment on December 3, 1994, in Japan and September 9, 1995, in the US, and retailed for $299.99 ($634 in 2026). It had an R3000 CPU at 33.8688 MHz with 2 MBs of RAM and 1 MB of VRAM. It used a proprietary MDEC video compression unit integrated into the CPU, allowing for playback of full-motion video at a higher quality than other consoles of its generation. It had better stereo sound than that of other stereos at that time.

The PlayStation was particularly attractive to developers because of the relative ease of programming and the low cost of CD-based media. Sony also had a more inclusive policy towards third party developers, resulting in more third party games than the Nintendo 64. A PlayStation CD had a maximum capacity of 600MB, while the N64's was limited to 64MB.

PlayStation emulation has been available since the late 1990s, and was generally better than the comparable Nintendo 64 offerings despite the use of a plugin system. The plugins and emulators were often closed-source, rarely updated, and of questionable accuracy, but new offerings emerging starting in the mid-2010s offer high accuracy, many enhancements over the original hardware, or both.

Emulators

Name	Platform(s)	Latest version	Arcade variants	Hardware features and peripherals	Enhancements	Compatibility	License	Active	Recommended
x86
DuckStation		Preview Latest Older builds for obsolete hardware	✗	~	✓	99.17% 1199 out of 1209 reported titles 113 issues (unofficial) 98.89% 1780 out of 1800 reported titles Alternative maintained list	CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Source-available)	✓	✓
Mednafen		1.32.1 Beetle/Beetle HW	✗	~	~	?	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
XEBRA		[2]	✗	~	✗	?	Proprietary	✓	~
BizHawk (Mednafen)(MAME)		[3] Dev builds	~*	~	✗	? (Core dependent)	MIT GPL	✓	~
PCSX-ReARMed PCSX-R/PGXP (Obsolete)		PCSX-ReARMed PGXP build (Obsolete) PCSX-R SVN builds (Obsolete)	✗	~	~	? (Plugin dependent)	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	~	~
SwanStation		libretro core	✗	~	~	?	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	~
ares		git Artifacts v148	✗	✗	✗	1.13% 100 out of 8870 reported titles	ISC (Permissive)	✓	WIP
PCSX-Redux		Dev Builds	✗	~	✗	?	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✗ (WIP)
psxe		[4]	✗	?	?	?	MIT (Permissive)	✓	✗ (WIP)
ScePSX		[5]	✗	?	?	?	MIT	✓	WIP
ProjectPSX		git	✗	?	?	?	MIT	✓	✗ (WIP)
hpsx64		[6]	✗	?	✗	?	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	WIP
NO$PSX		2.2	✗	~	✗	?	Proprietary	?	✗
MAME		git artifacts [7] libretro core	~*	~	~	?	GPLv2 BSD-3-Clause	✓	✗
ePSXe		[8]	✗	~	~	? (Plugin dependent)	Proprietary	✗	✗
PSXACT		git	✗	✗	✗	?	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✗	✗
Rustation		git(Rustation NG) git	✗	✗	✗	?	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	~[9]	✗
Avocado		git	✗	?	~	70.05% 262 out of 374 reported titles	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	~	✗
pSX		1.13	✗	✗	✗	?	Proprietary	✗	✗
Bleem!		1.6b	✗	✗	✗	?	Proprietary	✗	✗
SSSPSX		0.0.34	✗	✗	✗	? (Plugin dependent)	Proprietary	✗	✗
PSXeven		v0.19	✗	✗	✗	?	Proprietary	✗	✗
ARM
DuckStation		Beta git 0.1-5494 0.0.1.02 Pyra	✗	~	✓	99.17% 1199 out of 1209 reported titles	Proprietary	✓	✓
Mednafen		Beetle/Beetle HW (This is port of Mednafen PSX core to the libretro API.)	✗	~	~	?	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
XEBRA		[10]	✗	~	✗	?	Proprietary	?	~
ares		git Artifacts v148	?	?	?	?	ISC (Permissive)	✓	✗
PCSX-ReARMed		libretro core 0.1 Pyra	✗	~	~	?	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	~
SwanStation		libretro core	✗	~	~	?	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	~
ePSXe		[11]	✗	~	~	? (Plugin dependent)	Proprietary	✓	~
MAME		libretro core	~*	~	✗	?	GPLv2 BSD-3-Clause	✓	WIP
Avocado		git	✗	?	~	?	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	~	✗
FPse		[12]	✗	?	~	? (Plugin dependent)	Proprietary	✓	✗
Manic EMU		[13] git	?	?	?	?	AGPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	?
Provenance		[14] git	?	?	?	?	?	✓	?
Console
DuckStation		20221203-uwp git	✗	~	✓	99% 1199 out of 1209 reported titles	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
Official Sony emulators		r13 (PS2) 6.60 (PSP) 4.82 (PS3) 2.60 (PSVita) SYRUP (PS4/PS5)	✗	~	~	99% 1354 out of 1367 reported titles (PS3) 90% 479 out of 530 reported titles (PSP) 51% 213 out of 413 reported titles (PS4/PS5)	Proprietary	~	✓
PCSX-ReARMed		[15]	✗	~	~	65% 214 out of 327 reported titles	GPLv2 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
SwanStation		libretro core	✗	~	~	?	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	~
WiiSXRX		git	✗	?	✗	?	GPLv3 (Copyleft)	✓	✓
Bleemcast		?	✗	✗	✗	?	Proprietary	✗	~

Comparisons

For accuracy tests comparison of these emulators, see Emulation accuracy#Further reading.

DuckStation

Quickly became a top contender on the basis that it has high compatibility and a built-in modern QT GUI. Its stated goal is to be "as accurate as possible while maintaining performance suitable for low-end devices." While PCSX-R has long dethroned ePSXe in features, DuckStation is the first to address all the shortcomings of plugin-based offerings thus far, as all of its features are available out-of-the-box, and no configuration is necessary to get games running outside of obtaining the original system firmware. Duckstation has lots of modern enhancements built-in and supports some of the hardware features, peripherals. An Android version is also available, although it doesn't have feature parity with the desktop builds.

SwanStation

A hard fork and open-source Libretro core implementation of DuckStation for RetroArch. It could be considered as separate emulator at this point, so there is no point in chasing after any kind of upstream and it is under development. Recommended to use standalone DuckStation but if you really want to use a libretro core for PlayStation 1 emulation it's a good option along with beetle PSX and PCSX-ReARMed libretro cores. Since standalone version is significantly more actively developed, some enhancements and hardware features haven't been implemented in this one. However, because it's a libretro core, you can still leverage some of the libretro enhancement features with this core specifically.

Mednafen

Is heavily focused on accuracy, and also it has very good compatibility. It's even been known to outperform Sony's official PlayStation emulator in some of the accuracy tests. However, there are a few hurdles to using it; it requires a specific BIOS for each region, and the program interfaces from a shell only; it has no GUI. You can still drag-and-drop CUE files into the executable to load games, and the program will log errors to a text file called stdout whenever a crash happens. External GUI launchers are available.

Beetle PSX

This fork by the RetroArch developers has several experimental modifications and enhancements that aren't present in the standalone version, including a widescreen hack, CPU overclocking for smoother framerates, and increasing the internal resolution up to 8x. Increasing the resolution carries a heavy performance cost, however, since graphics are rendered in-software, an alternative core exists for hardware rendering. See this 2018 guide for setting up Beetle HW in RetroArch. Needs high-end specifications to run at full speed for Android and iOS devices.

XEBRA

An emulator made in Japan that also has high compatibility though games that require subchannel data are not supported. It is heavily focused on accuracy similar to Mednafen. The UI is in English, but because it's not the developer's native language, some of the naming conventions may seem weird compared to other emulators (for example, the BIOS is referred to as OSROM). Luckily, there's a guide that helps explain how each option works. Also supports some of the hardware features and peripherals which is not found in other recommended emulators.

BizHawk

Uses two cores ported from Mednafen for PlayStation emulation: "Octoshock" core (by zeromus) and "Nymashock" core (by CasualPokePlayer). BizHawk emulator is accepted by Speedrun community and actually more preferred compared to other recommended emulators because: it's more suitable for catching those who try and pass off RTA runs as TASes. The "Nymashock" core is more preferred between the two, with public talks about removing the "Octoshock" core. Further that only Mednafen and BizHawk accepted for certain games like CTR.

ScePSX

Core code based on ProjectPSX.

NO$PSX

Has two versions, but standard users will want to use the cut-down gaming version. Made in the same style as NO$GBA, where it handles the PocketStation, it offers decent compatibility with very low-spec requirements – the programmer's philosophy is to deliver a working application out of the box.

PCSX

PCSX is a playstation emulator by the same team that announced the first Playstation 2 emulator.

PCSX-Reloaded

An open-source, plugin-based emulator based on PCSX-df, itself based on PCSX. It is no longer recommended, as DuckStation has all the same benefits as PCSX-R without needing to use forks or old plugins.

PCSX-ReARMed

An ARM fork whose biggest draw is its NEON software renderer, which is both fast and accurate and can render at higher resolutions without resorting to HLE plugins. It was given the seal of approval by Sony after being used in the official PlayStation Classic emulation box.

PCSX-Redux

Latest iteration of PCSX, but dropped the plugin system to create a single monolithic codebase that handles all aspects of PlayStation emulation. Heavily focused on development, debuggability, and reverse engineering, but still perfectly usable to run PlayStation 1 titles. PCSX-Redux also supports OpenBIOS - a free, truly open source bios replacement for the PS1, which works on the real hardware and emulators.

MAME

By nature of supporting arcade systems similar to the PlayStation, MAME's "Sony PlayStation" driver (psj) is considered "preliminary", but it works; it can boot to the BIOS and launch games but expect bugs, especially between hardware revisions. The MAME project as a whole remains active, but there's no incentive for any of its developers to work on the PS1 driver.

ePSXe

Despite having widespread name recognition, it is unfortunately not an emulator we recommend using on PC anymore. The source code is closed, meaning development is beholden to the original developers. Updates have brought it on par with PCSX-R, but that isn't enough. They are also selling a paid Android port.

PSXfin

A simpler emulator with a lot of compatibility issues. Development has been halted, and it remains closed-source. It's really only useful for very old toasters.

Avocado

Was slated to become an open-source, full-system emulator like DuckStation, with the caveat being that it could load games without a BIOS. That never panned out, as development has largely stopped.

Backwards-compatible emulators

PCSX2

This emulator supports PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility hardware feature. However, one thing to note is that backward compatibility in the original PlayStation 2 hardware didn't cover all the games in the PlayStation 1 library, and naturally these limitations carry forward to PCSX2's emulation, on top of that PCSX2's backwards compatibility emulation still not perfect at the moment.

See PlayStation 2 emulators hardware features and peripherals section for more information.

RPCS3

This emulator supports PlayStation 3 backwards compatibility hardware feature. However there is no PocketStation communication and ps1_emu support at the moment, only ps1_netemu is supported. Tweet from 6 May 2019: "RPCS3 supports Sony's PS1_netemu as of today. PS2emu is not yet supported. Both these emulators are present in the PS3 Firmware for backwards compatibility." ps2_emu used for PlayStation 2 emulation, ps1_emu used for disc based PlayStation games and ps1_netemu for PlayStation Classics from PSN.

See PlayStation 3 emulators hardware features and peripherals section for more information.

Consoles

• POPS (short for PlayStation On PSP System) is Sony's official PS1 emulator for their PlayStation Store releases. It utilizes EBOOTs, a form of binary file for PSP, instead of BIN/CUE disc dumps, which can be made using a converter if desired. Compatibility is very high due to similar hardware design; although the GPU is emulated, the CPU is close to the PS1 and would naturally speed up performance on its own. It includes support for multi-disc games (within the one EBOOT). Only the native PS1 resolution is supported, with games being stretched to fit the screen as the user wishes.

• PCSX-ReARMed is only available on consoles as a libretro core (e.g., RetroArch). It can run on various handheld consoles with fairly strong specs, like the PlayStation Vita, the Nintendo 3DS, and the Nintendo Switch. This emulator in the libretro build initially used the P.E.Op.S. graphics plugin (reasonably accurate, but slow) from the mid-2010s to 2019; now it uses a port of PCSX4ALL's Unai renderer, which is less accurate, but much faster (e.g., 10-20 FPS faster). The CHD compression format, which shrinks disc images into more manageable sizes, is enabled on this emulator on the 3DS. These images will load and run much faster than '.bin/.cue' files - greatly reducing framerate dips, i.e., in FMVs & loading zones.

• PS2PSXe is an unofficial PS1 emulator for the PS2. However, compatibility is very low. Double disc swapping (using the same method as a real PS1) is required for PS2s with model numbers SCPH-100xx - SCPH-390xx.

• The PlayStation 3 has a built-in software emulator with very high compatibility, which is used for PS1 releases on the PlayStation Store and for handling PlayStation CD-ROM discs.

• WiiSX is a port of PCSX to the Wii. Compatibility is fairly low due to the weak power of the Wii and the differing hardware designs that make PowerPC requirements a little stronger. It's generally not worth using since it doesn't get updated.

Enhancements

Side note: Please don't bump/spam GitHub threads/issues and feature request pages.

Name		DuckStation	Mednafen	XEBRA	BizHawk	PCSX-ReARMed	SwanStation
Controls	Input lag-mitigating technique	✓	~	✗	?	?	?
	Mouse injector compatible	✓*	~*	✗	?	✓*	?
	Turbo button	✓[16]	✓	?	?	?	?
Graphics	Parallel/Precision Geometry Transform Pipeline	✓	~	✗	?	?	?
	Pre-rendering anti-aliasing (MSAA, SSAA)	✓	?	✗	?	?	?
	Ray tracing (DXR, VRT and MRT)	Implementing ray tracing in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future. However you can try "Screen-Space Ray Traced Global Illumination" shader using ReShade. See here and here
	Resizable internal resolution	✓	~	✗	?	✓	?
	RTX Remix	Implementing RTX Remix technology in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future. Besides, DuckStation already supports most of RTX Remix features such as texture replacement and post-processing effects etc. On top of that you can use ReShade for post-processing and unofficial fork for taking 3d screenshots.
	Scaled dithering Scales the dither pattern to the resolution scale of the emulated GPU. This makes the dither pattern much less obvious at higher resolutions.	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Texture filtering (Nearest-Neighbor, Bilinear, JINC2, xBR) Textures on the PlayStation are typically displayed with "blocky" edges due to lack of texture filtering. This enhancement is software-based solution that can significantly enhance texture appearances.	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Texture replacement	✓	~	✗	?	✗	?
	True color debanding Applies modern dithering techniques (performed during rendering as opposed to a post-processing step) to further smooth out gradients when true color is enabled. You can use one of the existing deband post-processing shader for this, but this one works with internal rendering which makes it both faster and more precise. No loss of detail occurs, and no tweaking of thresholds is required.	✗	?	?	?	?	?
	True color rendering In practice PlayStation games stored colour in 15 bits. 24 bit colour mode was mostly used for still images. This enhancement forces the precision of colours output to the console's framebuffer to use the full 8 bits of precision per channel. It is useful especially on non-CRT displays, producing nicer looking gradients.	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Widescreen hack	✓	~	?	?	?	?
Performance	Frame generation technologies (LSFG, DLSS-G, XeSS-FG and AFMF)	Implementing frame generation technology in an emulator is unfortunately quite challenging and unlikely to be feasible in the near future, however post-processing techniques such as motion interpolation is quite possible. Input latency will be a crucial factor, but its impact likely varies depending on the specific technique employed, it's recommended to use after applying the "Internal Framerate Hack" and "skip presenting duplicate frames option". While AFMF or LSFG could be used with DuckStation or Mednafen, please be aware that some visual glitches and artifacts may occur at this time.
	Internal frame rate hack	✓	~	?	?	?	?
	Overclock	✓	~	✗	?	✓	?
	Preload optical disc image to RAM For users with sluggish multi-platter HDDs or plagued by horrible seek times, this enhancement might offer smoother experience, potentially reduced power consumption; it also shines when disc images reside on a network drive. Although keep in mind that preloading image would take some time, and it will require additional amount of RAM capacity.	✓	✓*	?	?	?	?
	Rendering latency reduction technologies (LatencyFleX, Reflex, Xe-LL and Anti-Lag+)	While most emulators offer frame pacing or framebuffer latency control options, implementing rendering latency reduction technologies isn't currently feasible. This is likely doesn't offer enough benefit to justify the development effort.
Post-processing	AI-powered filter compatible (Freestyle)	?	?	?	?	?	?
	Down-sampling (Box and Adaptive) In some scenarios, you can consider this option as an 979. In mixed 2D/3D games, where some elements might be inherently pixelated (2D) and others might have smoother textures (3D), Downsampling can create a more visually consistent look by softening the pixelated elements. But 3D games already utilize techniques to create smooth textures and avoid a pixelated look. Downsampling in this case would simply blur the image unnecessarily and potentially reduce image quality.	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Filters	✓	✓	?	?	✓	?
	Inverse tone mapping compatible	?	?	?	?	?	?
	Post-rendering anti-aliasing (FXAA, TXAA and MLAA/SMAA)	✓	✓	?	?	?	?
	Post-rendering scaling (Sharp bilinear, Lanczos and FSR 1)	✓	✓*	?	?	?	?
	Shader chain	✓	~	✗	?	✓	?
Quality of life	Automatic emulated controller connect/disconnect Automatically connects or disconnects emulated controllers when a new or current controller is connected or disconnected.	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
	Automatic region-switching	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Automatic updater	✓	~	?	?	?	?
	Big Picture Mode	✓	~	?	?	?	?
	Built-in cheat manager	✓	✓	?	?	✓	?
	Built-in custom resolution/CRTSwitchRes For using this on Windows OS you need CRT Emudriver. Another option is using EDID editor tool such as "Custom Resolution Utility".	Exclusive to libretro cores and GroovyMAME at the moment. Also there is a project for achieving software emulators like libretro cores and GroovyMAME send the raw RGB data over a network to a core running on MiSTer, it basically turns the MiSTer into a GPU for the emulator allowing for easy setup and use with CRT TVs/Arcade monitors.
	Built-in memory card manager	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Built-in mod editor and manager	✗	✗	✗	?	✗	?
	Built-in patch manager	?	?	?	?	?	?
	Capable image format support	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Command line options	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	On-screen display Showcases messages, controller input state which is useful for speedrunners, performance data, active settings, and various notifications.	✓	✓	?	?	?	?
	Pause/resume emulation	✓	✓	?	?	?	?
	Per-game profiles	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Portable and Stealth Useful enhancement feature for non-personal computer use or plug-and-play scenarios. However, it still requires necessary prerequisites and dependencies for your operating system.	✓	✓	?	?	?	?
	Streamable compression format	✓	~	✗	?	✓	?
	Variable refresh rate compatible	✓*	~	?	?	✓	?
TAS features	Fast-forward/turbo speed	✓	✓	?	?	✓	?
	Frame step (forwards and backwards)	?	?	?	?	?	?
	Macros/Scripts/Lua	✓	✗	?	?	✗	?
	Movie recording/playback	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Rewind	✓	✓	?	?	✓	?
	Save states	✓	✓	?	?	✓	?
Misc.	AI service With the help of OCR and other techniques, the AI service can provide a live translation of a game, or text-to-speech capabilities for the visually impaired among other things, either on demand or automatically.	Exclusive to libretro cores at the moment.
	Debug features	✓	~	✗*	?	~*	?
	EmuVR support	Exclusive to libretro cores at the moment.
	Free Look Free Look is a enhancement feature that allows manipulation of the in-game camera.	PlayStation did not have hardware support for a Z-buffer or floating-point operations. However, the system used various techniques to giving the appearance of depth[17]. You can use cheat menu for certain games to use Free Look.Also you can use dedicated tools like Spyro Scope or DuckStation 3D Screenshot build.
	FreeSurround Converts stereo sound to surround sound.	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Netplay Shouldn't be confused with PlayStation Link, see Hardware Features and Peripherals for more information.	~	~	✗	?	✗	?
	PSF player Direct loading of Portable Sound Format (psf) files.	✓	?	?	?	?	?
	RetroAchievements	✓	~	✗	?	✓	✗

Parallel/Precision Geometry Transform Pipeline

PGXP (Parallel/Precision Geometry Transform Pipeline) is an enhancement for PlayStation emulation that produces high precision fully 3D geometry data that was not available on the original console hardware.

Features

• High Precision Vertex Data (more stable geometry)
• Reduced Triangle Culling (more detailed models)
• Perspective Correct Texture Mapping (reduced texture distortion)

First, it introduces subpixel precision to eliminate the wobbling polygon issues. Second, it adds perspective correct texturing to stop the ‘texture warping/dancing’ issues.

• For mednafen, PGXP only available to libretro's "beetle-psx-hw-libretro" (mednafen_psx_hw_libretro) core but comes with significant issues.
• Recommended to use DuckStation for PGXP; otherwise use the mednafen standalone or Beetle SW (mednafen_psx_libretro).
• For PCSX-Reloaded, PGXP only available with PGXP build.

Hardware features and peripherals

Side note: Please don't bump/spam GitHub threads/issues and feature request pages.

Name				DuckStation	Mednafen	XEBRA	BizHawk	PCSX-ReARMed	SwanStation
Hardware features	CD player			✓	?	?	?	?	?
	System BIOS			✓	?	?	?	?	?
Peripherals	Bandai Robot Model Kits			✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
	Controllers	Analog Joystick		✓	✓	?	?	?	?
		Dance Dance Revolution Dance Mat		?	?	?	?	?	?
		Densha de Go! Controller		✓*	✗	?	?	?	?
		Dual Analog Controller		✓	✓	?	?	?	?
		DualShock		✓	✓	?	?	?	?
		Fishing	agetec fishing rod (SLUS-00063)	?	?	?	?	?	?
			ASCII fishing rod (SLPH-00100 + PS2 version with new mode switch)	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Bandai fishing rod (BANC-0001)	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Hori fishing rod (HPS-97/HPS-98)	?	?	?	?	?	?
		Jogcon		✓	?	?	?	?	?
		Light gun	GunCon Namco's light gun; NPC-103.[18]	✓*	✓*	?	?	✓*	?
			Konami Justifier[19]	✓	?	?	?	?	?
		Mouse		✓*	✓*	?	?	✓*	?
		Musical game controller	Beatmania controller	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Guitar V-Pick	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Maestro Music baton	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Martial Beat Controller	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Paca Paca Passion rhytmpad	?	?	?	?	?	?
			Pop'n Music Controller	✓*	✓	?	?	?	?
			Tambourine controller	?	?	?	?	?	?
		Namco Arcade Stick		?	?	?	?	?	?
		neGcon Namco's unconventional twisty racing-game-oriented gamepad; NPC-101.		✓*	✓*	?	?	✓*	?
	i-mode adapter			✗	✗	✗	?	✗	?
	Link Cable			✗	✗	✗	?	✗	?
	Multitap			✓*	✓*	?	?	✓*	?
	PocketStation connectivity			✗	✗	✓	?	✗	?
	Unlicensed	Datel Memory Drive		?	?	?	?	?	?
		DexDrive		~	✗	✗	?	✗	?
		GameShark		?	?	?	?	?	?
Misc.	Development kits			✓	?	?	?	?	?
	Disc scratch Similar to cartridge tilting on cartridge-based systems, people intentionally scratch their discs to make a particular glitch work more reliably.[20]			✗	✗	✗	?	✗	?
	Dolby Surround			?	?	?	?	?	?
	Pressure-sensitive inputs			?	?	?	?	?	?

PSX Logo Screen and System Menu emulation using SwanStation core

PlayStation Link

List of games compatible with the PlayStation Link Cable

The PlayStation Link Cable (SCPH-1040) is a peripheral cable for the PlayStation console. Utilizing the serial I/O port found on the back of most PlayStation models, it allows for two consoles to be connected in order to play compatible multiplayer games on separate consoles.

Densha De Go! controller

Also available for the Nintendo 64, Densha De Go! is a Japan-only train simulator released by Taito that is compatible with an optional special controller. No emulator is known to support it.

Datel Memory Drive

Datel Memory Drive is a rare floppy disk drive which plugged into the PS1 memory card slot and let owners store game saves on cheap and plentiful 3.5-inch floppy disks without fear of running out of space on their memory cards.

Bandai Robot Model Kits

A series of customisable toys-to-life robot figurines built of plastic pieces that came with ZXE-D: Legend of Plasmatlite. Players could build a real-world model of the robot they wanted to use with the included plastic pieces in the game set. A special interface that plugged into the PS1’s twin memory card slots recognized the different body parts and represented your robot model on the screen. See an unboxing video. It may sound similar to Skylanders, Disney Infinity, or Nintendo’s Amiibo toys, but this Japanese original preceded those modern brands by at least 15 years while still allowing far more creative flexibility. No emulator currently supports the feature.

CD player

PlayStation CD player supports Audio CD and PlayStation format CD-ROM. However there is only one PlayStation model can play VCDs, and that is the PlayStation SCPH-5903, released in Asia only, see here and here. They're hard to find and expensive. Also there is a third-party peripheral called Gamars Movie Card (similar to Dreammovie for Sega Dreamcast) gives you the ability to play Video CDs (VCD) through your PlayStation and it is compatible with all types of PlayStations (PAL and NTSC), this third-party peripheral is very user friendly as it works by just attaching the unit to the back of the PlayStation. A number of PAL region games use LibCrypt protection, requiring additional CD subchannel information to run properly.

• Duckstation has Audio CD and CD-ROM support so you can boot directly your physical discs but there is no VCD support at the moment. Also there is no capability for handling the LibCrypt protection even if you're using one of the capable image format that supported by the emulator, so you need .SBI files alongside the disc image for those PAL games.[21]
• Swanstation libretro core has issues with CD-ROM support at the moment.
• PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 (backwards compatibility) have support for Audio CD and PlayStation format CD-ROM discs but no support for Video CD/VCDs.

See this dedicated page for more information about home media playback support for emulation softwares.

See Ripping games.

Arcade variants

There were numerous PlayStation-based arcade systems. Most PlayStation-based arcade games extended the system in different ways. They often had more RAM, ran at higher clock speeds, had additional sound hardware, added additional I/O, and/or used ROM or Flash media rather than CDs. The Konami Twinkle games have a separate DVD player controlled via a serial link to provide background video/audio.

Namco System 10, Namco System 11 and Namco System 12

Namco System 11/12 is an arcade system based on Sony Playstation hardware, with surface-mounted ROM chips as storage rather than CD-ROM.

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core and ZiNc provides support for this variation.

 The first batch of Namco System 10 games have been emulated with 0.254 version.
 Two quiz games (Derby Quiz My Dream Horse, and Kaiun Quiz) running on Namco’s System 12 are now working with 0.258 version.

Capcom ZN-1 and Capcom ZN-2

Capcom ZN-1/2 is an arcade system based on Sony Playstation hardware, with ROM chips as storage rather than CD-ROM and an extra Capcom Qsound chip for audio.

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core and ZiNc provides support for this variation.

Konami Twinkle

Konami Twinkle is an arcade system based on the Sony PlayStation hardware. It was designed for the Beatmania IIDX series games. It has an HDD for storing audio and a DVD player for full-motion video.

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core supports this variation, but the full-motion video won't be shown in the game because the DVD video decoder is yet to be emulated. However, A fork of MAME reads mpg videos as background animations from iidx_videos folder under the root folder of MAME (like how LaserDisc game emulators work), which would solve the issue of lacking full-motion video at the sacrifice of orthodox emulation.

Konami System 573

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core provides support for this variation.

Konami Bemani System 573 Analog

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core provides support for this variation.

Konami GV & Baby Phoenix

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core provides support for this variation.

Konami GQ

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core provides support for this variation.

Taito G-NET

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core provides support for this variation.

Taito FX-1A and Taito FX-1B

MAME including BizHawk's MAME core and ZiNc provides support for these variations.

 MAME Developer "cuavas" comment about ZiNc emulator: "No-one should be using ZiNc any more. MAME now does everything ZiNc did better, and supports more games."

MAME 0.289 compatibility status for all these variations

• KONAMI System 573
  
• KONAMI Twinkle
  
• namco System 10
  
• namco System 11
  
• namco System 12
  
• Capcom ZN-1/2
  
• Taito G-Net
  
• Konami GQ
  
• Konami GV & Baby Phoenix
  
• Taito FX-1A and Taito FX-1B

Game-specific features

Name		DuckStation	Mednafen	XEBRA	BizHawk	PCSX-ReARMed	SwanStation
Bemani Jam Sessions	LAN	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
	Separate windows	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Capcom QSound		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Card reader/writer		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
DVD player		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Fishing controller		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Flash Card		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Hard drive		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Karaoke		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Lamps and LED lights		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Light gun		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Link cable	LAN	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
	Separate windows	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Memory Card slot		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Satellite Terminal		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Trackball		✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗

Emulation issues

Rendering quirks

Left: Native resolution and unblended dithering.
Right: Higher internal resolution and no dithering.

Jittering in games can stick out more when using higher internal resolutions. This full-color GIF may require you to view its page to see the animation.

The PlayStation takes shortcuts when rendering as a result of making most of the hardware available. This can cause some quirks that become even more noticeable when the internal resolution increases.

Polygons may jitter as a result of low-precision, fixed-point (to the native resolution) math, but this is mostly unnoticeable at native resolutions. Emulators that can increase the internal resolution of games have attempted to fix this.

There is no z-buffer in the hardware. This can cause things like polygons to pop over others; the limbs of Tekken characters are a good example of this. It is theoretically possible to implement this, but it wouldn't be accurate to the hardware.

When perspective correction isn't applied to textures, certain viewing angles can make them distorted, more so when an object is near the edge of the camera up close. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is particularly infamous for texture distortion, most noticeably in the training level where floor textures appear wavy at oblique angles; developers usually mitigate this by adding polygons to walls, floors and other scenery, but at the cost of filling the PlayStation's geometry rate. In DuckStation, at least, this problem has been solved.

Many PlayStation games dither to varying degrees due to having a low color depth. On most TVs, this dithering would blend in order to make new colors and smooth gradients. Plugin-based emulators usually have graphical plugins that use a 32-bit color depth, which removes dithering, while software-rendered plugins and emulators tend to retain it. While higher color depth can be considered an enhancement since it results in less noise and smooth gradients, some think of dithering as seen on real hardware as added shading and texture, especially on untextured polygons. The emulators that use software rendering and can increase the internal resolution of games can retain dithering for the shading and texturing aspect, and it's made more subtle by shrinking the artifacts.

Less-notable games using special peripherals

ZXE-D: Legend of Plasmalite requires the use of a special peripheral to play the game. It is a robot with connectable parts that plug into the memory card slot, which is then replicated in the game. No emulator has ever focused on it, probably due to a number of reasons:

• It's not a well-known game.
• No third-party controller and memory card connector has gotten support from emulators the same way that Nintendo's official GameCube controller adapter has.
• To emulate this purely in software means it has to be reverse-engineered, which can take a bit of time.

CD format

PS1 games use the CD-ROM XA (eXtended Architecture) format, which is based on CDi and allows developers to use both CD-ROM and CD-DA (audio) tracks on the same disc.

Certain image formats and CD dumping methods don't support this format correctly and end up with the CD-DA tracks missing or corrupted, hence no audio. The ISO format in particular only stores the content of a CD-ROM filesystem and cannot store CD-DA tracks at all. So it's generally a very bad idea to use ISO for PS1 games (even though it should work for single-track games). Even running an ISO file based on a PS1 game (i.e., Ridge Racer, Tomb Raider 1-2) with CD-DA audio may often cause an emulator such as ePSXe and other peers to freeze and/or hang up, especially during loading of a saved data or in-game levels and transactions.

• However, a mounted image (Using Daemon Tools), running from a CD-ROM or using the Mooby2 plugin can solve these CD-DA problems. The MDS/MDF format is good for backing up the CD-DA, audio-equipped PS1 games. However, the best Image format for any PS1 game is the CUE/BIN format. The reason being that almost all the burning programs can read it, and the relevant patching programs (i.e., PPF-O-Matic) are designed for that format. Clone CD images in IMH/CCD format provide another ideal option as it has virtually the same structure as CUE/BIN format (The IMH file is the same data as a BIN file at the hex level). However, the available burning programs are largely unable to read Clone CD format. ISObuster and ImgBurn are good tools for some of the aforementioned notes.

• The European regional versions of many PS1 games tended to have copy-protection embedded, so they could cause problems with backing up images. These game backups could cause hangs or show a black screen infinitely in a typical emulator. An easy way to avoid that problem is to try the US regional versions. Another way is to patch it using a .sbi file which contains the protection information needed to run the game, see #CD player section for more information about this.

The perfect solution possible, at least for the ePSXe emulator—and perhaps other similar plugins-based emulators—would be (No virtual drive mounting needed)::

1. Use the Mooby2 2.8 CD-ROM plugin, and uncheck 'subchannel reading' in the plugin's settings.

(Just in case: also make sure 'repeat all cdda' is checked, and 'cdda volume' is set to something like 50 or 60, or else you won't hear anything.)

2. Launch the game with File → Run CDrom (browse, find and select your CD image as the window pops up.)

It's recommended you use the Eternal 1.41 sound plugin with default settings along with this. The SaPu CDRom Plugin v.1.0/1.3 is good if you're running official CDs. It especially works well with Daemon Tools Lite or Alcohol 120% when mounting an image.

• If running ePSXe or a similar emulator on an old Windows OS (E.g., 9x, ME, 2000, XP), use ForceASPI to initialize the ASPI layer (For your disc drive) and a plugin like P.E.Op.S. CDR Version 1.4 plugin or similar. Then set the plugin to "W2K/XP IOCTL scsi commands" before running your PS1 CDs.

For more information about PlayStation hardware and reverse engineering;

• MVG: Why PlayStation 1 Graphics Warped and Wobbled so much, How the Sony PlayStation PS1 Security was defeated, Why did the PlayStation 1 have so much Dithering?, How the Sony PlayStation Net Yaroze DevKit brought Indie Game Development to Consoles
• Rodrigo Copetti: PlayStation Architecture analysis
• Technology Connections: Sony's Clever but Flawed PlayStation Copy Protection--And How They Might Have Fixed It
• PSDevWiki: PlayStation 1
• consoledev: PlayStation 1
• psx-spx.consoledev.net
• no$psx: Playstation Specifications

See also

• DualShock/Dual Analog Controller and PlayStation Controller

Resources

• PlayStation DataCenter - Tons of PS1-related things. Emulator files like plugins, game manuals, game configurations, and many tutorials are just some of the things you'll find here.
• ReDump PS1 USA set.
• PS1 Strengths and Weaknesses vs. N64 and Sega Saturn (Journal feature at www.Racketboy.com. October 17th, 2017.)
• Graphics comparison table (for Saturn as opposed to PS1, N64, Sega Model 2 arcade hardware and 1995-era PC)

References

Sony(edit)

• Consoles: PlayStation • PlayStation 2 • PlayStation 3 • PlayStation 4 (PS4 Pro) • PlayStation TV • PlayStation 5 (PS5 Pro)
• Handhelds: PocketStation • PSP • Vita • PS Portal
• Arcade: Namco System 10/11/12 • Capcom ZN-1/ZN-2 • Konami Twinkle • Konami System 573 • Konami Bemani System 573 Analog • Konami Bemani System 573 Digital • Konami GV & Baby Phoenix • Konami GQ • Taito G-NET • Taito FX-1A/FX-1B • Konami Python 1/Bemani Python 1/Python Satellite Terminal • Konami Python 2/Bemani Python 2 • Namco System 246 • Namco System 256 • Namco System Super 256 • Namco System 147 • Namco System 357 • Namco System 359 • Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade variant