The development of the AetherSX2 emulator was suspended in 2023. Now users will get an up-to-date alternative.
ARMSX2 is a new fork of the PlayStation 2 PCSX2 emulator, created specifically for Android based on the current PCSX2 source code with an open GPL 3.0 license.
Unlike AetherSX2, which is based on an older version of PCSX2, the project offers a redesigned OpenGL renderer, which, according to tests, provides a performance increase of 15–40%.
Currently, ARMSX2 uses instruction translation from x86 to ARM64, which temporarily reduces performance compared to native ARM64 emulators such as AetherSX2 and NetherSX2. Development is ongoing, and in the future it is planned to add functions to simplify user migration from other versions.
ARMSX2 test builds are already available on the official server on Discord. The release of stable version 1.0 along with the source code on GitHub is expected soon.
Compared to AetherSX2, the new project demonstrates greater potential and may take its place as the most modern and productive solution for PlayStation 2 emulation on Android after the optimizations are completed.
