The best PS2 emulator on Android can now make performance tweaks for you

ARMSX2 is arguably the best PS2 emulator on Android, and that’s largely due to a steady stream of updates. It turns out that the project is celebrating its one-year anniversary, and the team has released a significant update to mark the occasion.

ARMSX2 v2.9 has been released on GitHub and the Play Store, and brings some noteworthy features and improvements. Perhaps the standout feature is Automatic Performance Tuning, as the emulator can now make several changes in the background to improve speeds.

“A new option watches what holds a game back and tries the settings that can help: the resolution, blending, the texture download mode, the GS back thread and the emulated CPU’s clock. It keeps a change only when the game got faster, and remembers it for that game,” reads an excerpt of the changelog.

Either way, this is a very useful addition on paper if you’re struggling to get smooth performance or even playable speeds on your device. Of course, it’s worth noting that Automatic Performance Tuning can’t perform miracles, so you’re likely out of luck if you have a low-end device in the first place. But it’s probably still worth trying this option anyway.

The updated emulator also recommends a custom ARMSX2 GPU driver for your device upon first-time setup. Got a Snapdragon-powered device with an Adreno 600 or Adreno 700 series GPU? Then the emulator prompts you to install the ARMSX2 Turnip driver. Have a device with Mali graphics? Then the app prompts you to install MaliSX2.

There’s also great news if you have the Retroid Pocket Duo dual-screen handheld, as ARMSX2 now runs much faster on it. This includes performance improvements in games like Shadow of the Colossus, God of War 2, and Black.

There are two other performance-focused features in ARMSX2 v2.9, namely the VU1 Ahead-of-Time Recompiler and the IOP Thread. The former concerns the PS2’s VU1 (Vector Unit 1), which handles a lot of 3D mathematics on the original console.

“ARMSX2 now recompiles the VU1 programs a game runs most into faster code on a background thread, and remembers its plan for them, so the next time you play they are fast from the start,” reads part of the changelog.

Meanwhile, the IOP Thread option allows the PS2’s I/O settings (e.g., controller, audio, disc reading, and memory card) to run on its own thread instead of on the main emulation thread. This translates into faster emulation performance on devices with at least four big CPU cores. In fact, Shadow of the Colossus apparently runs up to 11% faster on the Retroid Pocket Duo with this setting enabled.

Other notable tweaks in ARMSX2 v2.9 include file names in the library list, box art for games pinned to the home screen, a toggle to easily capture audio during screen recordings, and volume/mute controls in the in-game menu.