Best PS2 Emulator Android Apps of 2024

If you’re looking for the best PS2 emulator Android apps available right now, you’re in luck. In this article, we’ll be breaking down all of the best options that you can use to emulate your favorite PlayStation 2 games and play them on your Android smartphones and other Android devices.

It needs to be mentioned that there are tons of Android emulators available for all kinds of systems, however, the PS2 is a bit more limited. A big reason for this is the level of performance that most PS2 emulators are able to achieve on smartphones.

The graphics that Sony was using on the PS2 back in the day compared to consoles like the N64 are significantly higher in terms of resources necessary to run those games. While there may not be endless PS2 emulators for Android like there are for systems like the NES or Game Boy, rest assured that the ones that do make this list are top-notch and good quality.

What Is The Best PS2 Emulator for Android?

The PS2 console was incredibly successful and is one of the most popular consoles of all time. Let’s get into which PlayStation 2 emulators we recommend you check out to play your favorite games like Final Fantasy, THPS 2, and more.

AetherSX2

• Free version
• 4.4 star rating
• Contains ads
• The emulator is licensed under BY-NC-ND 4.0

It’s no surprise that AetherSX2 made the top of this list. This emulator made its debut not too long ago actually. Back in 2021 it was first released onto the Google Play Store and since then has become one of the best PS2 emulators available on Android. It should be noted that recently the app listing has been updated and the name and contact information has been changed to reflect the app’s new developer.

Although the app has changed developers recently, recent reviews are all still very good. With over 5 million installs and counting, AetherSX2 has managed to maintain a 4.4 star rating.

A BIOS image is required to play games and it’s recommended that users dump the image from their own console using a program like Biosdrain.

For best performance, it’s recommended that you use a rather high end Android phone or tablet to emulate so that your games run smoothly. Otherwise you’ll likely run into some performance issues.

You’ll want to use a device that has at least a Snapdragon 845 or equivalent and contains 4 cores.

Some notable features of the emulator are:

• Full-on system emulation
• OpenGL, Vulkan, and software rendering
• Can upscale games up to 1080p+
• Widescreen patches for games that don’t have native support
• Save state availabilities
• Support for touchscreen controls and external Bluetooth controllers
• Load games directly from ISO file formats, CHD, CSO, and even disc images
• Custom settings for individual games possible

Play!

• Free version
• Ad free
• Still under active development

The Play! PS2 emulator app is a newer addition to the scene and has had a bit of a rough start. Being a newcomer competing against AetherSX2 isn’t easy. Because it’s still rather new and trying to get its footing, you’ll notice that its ratings and reviews aren’t the greatest.

The app’s description states that this emulator is still under active development and “will probably not work with all your favorite games”. There is a compatibility list for users to check to see which games the app can currently run. You can find the compatible games list on their GitHub here on the Issues tab.

Their website claims that nearly 40% of the PS2 library is now in a playable state.

The Play! emulator is still actively being maintained and updated by the developer and their website posts notes logging each update as it’s released. If you’re someone who enjoys supporting the underdog and wants to see more PS2 emulators on the scene, Play! is definitely worth checking out.

It’s great to see the level of passion that the team behind Play! is putting in to make the emulator as great as it can be.

We’re sure that in no time it’ll be on par with AetherSX2.

DamonPS2

• Free version
• Contains (a lot of) ads
• In-app purchases
• Privacy concerns regarding users’ personal data

Those who have been in the PS2 emulator scene for a while might remember the DamonPS2 app. Oh, how the great have fallen. Once heralded as the go-to Android app for PS2 emulation, the DamonPS2 emulator has now fallen by the wayside.

Not only is it overridden with ads, but there have also been some rather concerning things brought up by the community regarding this emulator.

The app itself is closed source meaning that we can’t take a peak under the hood to see what’s really going on in there. While this isn’t necessarily concerning at face value, the app’s v3.0 update began requiring users to be connected to the internet in order to use it. Around this time, the app also began asking users for permissions to their contacts and location data.

Some very obvious red flags to be aware of and definitely things that make this app seem a bit shady. In case that wasn’t enough to make you raise your eyebrows, DamonPS2 allegedly stole code from the developer of the PCSX2 emulator which is hands down the most popular PS2 emulator available.

Back in 2018, the developers of PCSX2 put up a blog post on their website stating that the DamonPS2 emulator was using stolen code in their app. Shortly after this post went live, the DamonPS2 emulator was removed from the Google Play Store. As you can now see, the DamonPS2 emulator is now back up and the PCSX2 emulator has since removed the blog post from their website so its likely that the whole issue got squashed behind closed doors.

That being said, the DamonPS2 emulator definitely has a spotty track record and it’s for all of the above reasons that we recommend you consider using one of the first two emulators on this list instead.

In case everything we already mentioned wasn’t enough, the DamonPS2 emulator just simply isn’t up to snuff with the other PS2 Android emulator apps in terms of performance. Many users complain in their reviews about the ads and subpar UX of the app, but also about how badly games run on their devices.

Summary

If you’re looking for an Android PS2 emulator, we recommend you check out either the AetherSX2 or Play! app. Both are great emulators for any mobile Android device and have solid performance on most phones and a decent level of compatible games.

We don’t recommend trying the DamonPS2 emulator, but at the end of the day, it’s ultimately your call.

No matter what you end up choosing, you should now have everything you need to go out and get down on your favorite PS2 games wherever you go. Have fun!

Also be sure to check out our guide on how to set up and use PCSX2 cheats on the emulator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is There Any PS2 emulator for Android?

There are multiple solid options for emulating PS2 games on Android devices. Both the AetherSX2 and the Play! app are both great emulators. The AetherSX2 emulator is a bit more mature and can run more games from the PS2 library, but the Play! app is regularly being updated by the developers and has continued to improve and get better over the years.