The Xbox Series X/S dev mode has enabled emulation aficionados to run PlayStation 2 games on Microsoft’s new consoles, and they run surprisingly well.
In a video posted on YouTube, Modern Vintage Gamer showcased several PS2 games running on the Xbox Series S, including God of War, Silent Hill 2, and Ico. Without further ado, check out the video below.
Modern Vintage Gamer used RetroArch emulator to run the aforementioned games on Xbox Series S. He previously managed to run Nintendo GameCube titles on the console via RetroArch.
RetroArch’s PS2 emulator is currently a preview build so there are a lot of bugs to deal with. Modern Vintage Gamer said that it took him quite some time to get things up and running, and at one point he almost gave up. However, the results seem worth the hassle and demonstrate the potential of RetroArch once the kinks are ironed out. As the YouTuber noted, it’s impressive that for a meager $299, a Microsoft console can run PS2 classics, and the emulation is expected to get even better over time. We also learned that the Xbox controller can map to the PS2 controller “almost one to one.”
As far as the games are concerned, a number of Atlas’ Japanese shoot-em-ups run almost flawlessly and so does Timesplitters 2, although there are some noticeable texture issues here and there. Ico runs “great” with no noticeable issues and a “smooth and steady frame rate.” God of War apparently held up its frame rate “99 percent” of the time as well.
Check out the video above for more games.
