Today we are checking out the PlayStation 2 emulator AetherSX2 on the GPD XP. We will be trying a bunch of random games and see how well they perform.
We are testing the latest version from the Google Play Store, version 11002, which was released on December 21st 2021. Vulkan is not supported on the GPD XP as it uses a Mali GPU, so we are using the OpenGL renderer. Using OpenGL means that the “dual source blending” feature is not supported, and the emulator takes quite a performance hit without it. Many PS2 games are running at around 50% speed as a result. There are, however, still some full speed and playable games, but the majority will run slow.
AetherSX2 is in a very early stage and I would expect performance to increase over time as the developer works on adding new features and optimising the emulator. Considering the emulator has only been available for around a month, 2022 should bring some exciting improvements!
You can learn more and buy the GPD XP here. You can browse our range of retro gaming handhelds here.
