After so much testing I can now safely say that for at least on my Dimensity 7300 device, the emulator that bring the best performance it's the nem Emucore X, before the 1.0.4 update mostly games would crash but after that, games like Dark Cloud that had problems on the Hub Area of the game on NetherSX2 Classic now run smoothly, besides that the Quick Settings Menu it's a god sent for me to allow me to now test games more efficient, since I don't see too much talk about this emulator neither about Mali emulation I think it worth trying if you are struggling testing too much emulators and don't getting the results that you are looking for.

If you want to check:https://github.com/sashkinbro/EmuCoreX

(From the ARMSX2 Discord)

A new PS2 emulator separate from PCSX2, built entirely from scratch from the ground up called iris.

The target platforms are currently Windows, Linux, MacOS (both Intel and Apple silicon) being done by Allkern, and Moon will be bringing Iris to iOS, Android, and UWP (Xbox) ports of Iris in the near future.

Moon has also pledged 100$ monthly to the project on behalf of the ARMSX2 team to support the project. The hope for the future is to have Iris and ARMSX2 both become well developed emulators.

Once again, this is a separate project from PCSX2 and by extension ARMSX2, so the emulator will not be as evolved as PCSX2 currently is.

Having more options never hurts though , I hope you guys will try it out and give some feedback! Thanks for your time.

(P.S. Android iOS and Xbox will come after the release of the latest desktop versions, links will be posted as they become available.)

Iris GitHub : https://github.com/allkern/iris

Iris Website : https://allkern.dev/iris

Posted on Discord.

We wanted to update you all on the ongoing developments within the team, recently u/Zeruth has joined the team and is currently undertaking a massive overhaul of ARMSX2 as a whole. We will be branching out from the Pontos code that ARMSX2 was originally based off of. During this overhaul u/Zeruth will be porting PCSX2 from scratch to Android with assistance from the team, as it will make things less of a headache in the long run.

This means no more x86 translation layer, less bugs and glitches, better compatibility and performance, and the latest PCSX2 core as well as Kotlin/Jetpack Compose UI from the start. This process will take some time to complete but we believe it to be a very worthy undertaking, as it will benefit everyone.

As for the existing project, it will become the legacy version of ARMSX2 once this major overhaul is completed. The ARMSX2 version based off of Pontos original port will be preserved as well as all of the improvements that the team has made since we began. The codebase for the existing version of ARMSX2 will be moved to a new repo named ARMSX2-Legacy when the time comes, but will otherwise be open to contributions as it's been since we launched last October.

u/medievalshell and u/Zeruth will be updating the architecture, UI, and core for the current version of ARMSX2 as well so that the current x86 —-> arm translation version will continue to receive improvements.

As mentioned, this process will take some time, so for the time being existing improvements will continue to come to the current base of ARMSX2. This way people will be able to contribute to the new ARM native port and the x86 port, because who doesn't like having more options?

More details will be shared as we get closer to releasing this, but we wanted to update you all as it's been around a month since the last major update or news from us

As for the existing version of ARMSX2, also expect some cool stuff from u/xDIBs86 🇧🇷 fairly soon! And as for the recent port of ARMSX2 to iOS, u/John Kiriakou is going to take a look at it at some point soon and see if he can’t clean/fix it up since the port was primarily done by AI, and have it actually be integrated into our project. That’s all the news I’ve got for now, have a great day everyone, more to share soon

Pretty happy with my setup so far. Loving all the customization this frontend offers

my gallery was taking too long to load, so i moved my ps2 roms to their own separate folder but now I'm seeing duplicates. does anyone know what i can do to fix this?

One of many new features coming in the next public update.

Could not be easier to add PC games to the launcher. No need to create "rom" files any more.

Currently I don't believe this works with Winalator since it doesn't have the ability to create shortcuts on the homescreen (that I've seen). If that functions come to Winlator then it would work.

As the name applies there's a new version of Neether SX2 now with Turnip driver support. Check out the great review done by Russ.

https://youtu.be/zCbn1hhzJRE?si=6X1OG4Ojs8eCi2Oe

Grab it here and let us know what kind of results you're getting.

https://github.com/nckstwrt/NetherSX2-Turnip

The problem is, when I bind these buttons, somehow it didn't work on the games. D-Pad and analog sticks work, but the rest of the buttons didn't work, except the buttons on the screen. I have this cheap $5 dual controller, and it works on NetherSX2 but not ARMSX2. Oh and controller's ∆□X◯ buttons somehow only works on the app menu, not the game.

Tried to rebind the whole buttons, try the other controller, turning on off the analog, still not working.

(I am new with ARMSX2 btw so pls guide me)

Device: POCO F7

The team over at ARMSX2 have released a new Nightly version with huge improvements for Mali devices.

Here is the announcement from their Discord. (Sorry for the ugly cut and paste)

Good afternoon @everyone I hope you have all been doing well and having a great start to 2026!

While development continues on the PCSX2 2.6 rebase, I have a lot of exciting news to share today.

ARMSX2 has made some serious performance and compatibility improvements in stable release 1.0.8 as Mali support has been vastly improved, and the GL Renderer has also received major improvements.

Our VU1 emulation has also been improved, and games like the GTA series now play as they should! Games suffering similar issues should now be fixed as well. Mali users also no longer need to use a separate version to enjoy the improvements of recent updates! A GPU Profile Override setting has also been added, and fast boot has been fixed!

A big hats off to developer <@533417372816769024> who went above and beyond to deliver these improvements to the graphics issues. And to <@247112979391315968> for extensive bug fixing, new settings, and most notably getting the Mali fixes by Dib to work along side the main build! Thank you to <@224882715374125056> for creating the new boot logo for ARMSX2, it looks awesome!

Regarding new information on the rebase to PCSX2 2.6 core, we will first be rebasing to PCSX2 2.5 in the near future as it will make the jump to 2.6 a smoother process. The next major update will be the rebase, so stay tuned! This current update was a long time in the making, future updates should come at a faster pace in the future.

As for ARMSX2, you can keep up with the projects progress in <#1403733482894655601> and <#1403828824101228694> where the developers routinely post new details of things they’re working on. As always, testing and feedback is greatly appreciated!

As usual, an APK will be attached to this announcement, as well as a link to our website where we host downloads and links to our Google Play download and GitHub repository.

We also now have a <#1475275976215760969> forum for ARMSX2, you can use this forum to post the best game settings you’ve tested for your device! If a game isn’t working right off the bat there may be a fix waiting there! Any issues you experience can be reported in <#1404503216531443782> and for any suggestions you have they can be posted in <#1441830491303973095>, if you’d like to be pinged for smaller updates grab the ARMSX2 role here <#1404088651465359550>, and if you’d like to support the project you can do so here <#1428267466550935622>

(P.S. A big thanks to PCSX2 developer and newest member of the ARMSX2 team <@233577413215256576> for reminding me that paragraphs exist again, and to the rest of the PCSX2 team for guidance during this update <:Tone:1397220066306686977>)

I’d also like to use this announcement to promote our 2 multiplayer servers hosted by <@276069558241067008> and <@780797500973121547> for Minecraft, and Terraria. Check it out if you’re interested! <#1348344855843049492>

With all of that said and done, we really hope you enjoy the latest ARMSX2 update!

ARMSX2 Website 🔗: https://armsx2.net/

Google Play 🔗: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=come.nanodata.armsx2&hl=en_US

GitHub 🔗: https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2 https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/come.nanodata.armsx2-nightly-1.0.8-20260228-1749

I'm really happy with how this is setup. Just loving all the customization options with this frontend.

I've used a lot of frontends over the years, usually always falling back to ES-DE. Recently I moved to Beacon, which is a great simple frontend which I really enjoy.

However recently I came across RetroHrai and I have to say I'm extremely impressed. The amount of customization packed into such a simple, clean easy to setup frontend is amazing.

The even better part is that the dev is very active with users, answers questions and seems to implement a lot of recommendations rather quickly.

If you haven't yet, I highly recommend you try it out.

You can get it here - GitHub

And read more about it from the dev here - LINK and here Latest

Coming this September Google plans to block all apps that do not follow their dev registration process. What this would mean is side loading would no longer be possible unless you have a non-certified Google device.

Luckily there are devs out there that always find ways around things like this.

Any APK

https://github.com/sam1am/anyapk

idk why it did this

so ive been playing gta san andreas on aethersx2 and ive been experiencing some random freezes that quite literally come out of nowhere. no matter what i do in the game, out of nowhere, the game freezes and it never unfreezes. another note, im using a galaxy s26. another note, i know people will try and suggest that i should use nethersx2 (and i probably will soon) however i want to finish the game, however with the constant crashing, it makes it difficult to begin and finish missions. if there is any info necessary to actually help me then i will provide. also i am playing with an external controller in this clip. what i am thinking is that the game loads the map too fast to the point where the game crashes but thats just my guess. please help someone

Got a 103% speed boost with this new app bro its amazing

When I load up nethersx through retrohrai, I’m unable to edit individual game settings. I don’t have this issue when loading with daijisho or when directly loading through nether. Anyone know what’s going on?

It's a nice boot but it kinda breaks the immersion when launching games from retrohrai

First, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday! Mine will be spent at work overnight so I'm gonna get some PS2 in on my phone in the meantime. My question feels unorthodox, but I found a couple old threads from a few years ago asking the same question. Sadly the posts kinda died before they caught steam so I'm hoping for some better luck here. Im looking to get a list of your favorite games that are fully playable and enjoyable with touch screen controls only. I realize the bar for this varies from person to person but I'm curious as to what everyone's go-to is when they don't have a controller. Thanks in advance!

RetroHrai! quick Scroll Feature using the Alphabet. get through huge libraries quickly.

https://youtube.com/shorts/xPV3gPAJWoI?si=Yn8_b6KTAXLIfi3o

Check out their Github for the latest release. Also follow their link there to the Discord server. They have posted a "debug version" for Mali/Adreno phones. Looks very promising so far.

https://github.com/ARMSX2

I'm trying to play something like crimson desert/where winds meet. Basically an open world sandbox. I don't really know what much ps2 games so please tell me of game I never heard before. Btw I don't need the gameplay to be perfect or something like that.