The PS4 is already capable of emulating PS2 games and we are so calm here. The company has confirmed in Wired that it is working on emulation technology that allows it to bring PS2 games to PS4, but has not wanted to give more details.
The funny thing is that, on the other hand, there is a PS4 pack with the ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ that includes four classic ‘Star Wars’ games, three of which are from PS2 … and run under emulation. Why isn’t Sony shouting this from the rooftops?
At Digital Foundry they have been testing these games (‘Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter’, ‘Star Wars: Racer Revenge’ and ‘Star Wars: Bounty Hunter’. The fourth is the ‘Super Star Wars’ from SNES), which come in form of downloadable code included in the aforementioned special PS4 pack of ‘Star Wars Battlefront’ , and they have sufficient evidence to ensure that, indeed, they are games that work under a PS2 emulator on PS4. Here’s a video:
The highlights about the first analyzes carried out by Digital Foundry with the first PS2 games emulated on PS4 are these:
- The Start and Select buttons are mapped to one side and the other of the DualShock 4’s trackpad and it turns out that third parties cannot access the console’s operating system to do this.
- As in the PS2 emulator on the PS3, in this case a system is running that emulates the PS2 memory cards.
- Every time one of these games is started, the rescaled PlayStation 2 logo appears.
- All on-screen messages about buttons to press refer to the PS2 controller.
- PS2 titles came in all kinds of resolutions, although 512×448 and 640×448 were the most common. The emulator appears to offer a native resolution of 1292×896, with two black bands at the top and bottom of the screen hitting 1080p.
- The visual quality of the games seems to have been improved substantially and they move more smoothly.
Emulation is not the same as backward compatibility
The arrival of an emulator of these characteristics to PS4 is something quite fat and I wonder again why there are already three games that make use of this system, although it is not the definitive one, and Sony has not made any kind of announcement in a big way . It is also unclear to what extent the arrival of backward compatibility to Xbox One has been able to influence Sony’s strategy in this regard.
What should be emphasized is that we are facing two very different systems . What Microsoft has done is offer the opportunity to play Xbox 360 games directly on Xbox One in both physical and digital formats. It is enough to have the originals to continue enjoying them in the new console at no additional cost.
Sony’s proposal, unless the company decides to overturn its plans in an act of madness, goes through charging for these emulated classics . Having to its credit a service like PlayStation Now, where you have to pay to access streaming PS3 games, it would be a bit strange if with PS2 titles the focus changed enough to offer backward compatibility in the style of Microsoft or Nintendo. Everything indicates that PS2 games can be purchased on the PSN to be downloaded and played on PS4 thanks to the new emulation system.
We will have to wait for Sony to decide to explain everything in detail. The first news regarding emulation on PS4 came at the beginning of last year and look, here we are with three perfectly playable PS2 ‘Star Wars’ games on their new console and the company stating that it is working on it and that it does not have nothing more to say for now.
- Sony might be working on a PS1 and PS2 emulator for PS4
- Playstation Now versus Xbox 360 backward compatibility, an uncomfortable reality
- Star Wars: Battlefront presents its Season Pass content and the return of Super Star Wars
