The Sony PSP was released in 2005 and was a perfect infill whilst PlayStation fans were waiting for the next generation PlayStation, the PS3. The PSP had so many great games released for it, many of which looked as good as their PS2 counterparts.
So what is the best way to play PSP games today? In this guide, we recommend to you, the best PSP emulators.
Best PSP Emulator For PC, Mac & Linux
If you don’t know already, PPSSPP is without a doubt the best PSP emulator for PC and pretty much every other platform!
PPSSPP was first released back in 2012 and since then has become the PSP emulator with the highest compatibility and is now the fastest performing PSP emulator.
There is also a PPSSPP RetroArch core which is also excellent but has not benefitted from as many updates as the standalone emulator, so if you are looking for a dedicated PSP emulator, PPSSPP without a doubt is the best you will find.
PPSSPP has all of the features you could ever want from an emulator built in, from save states and resolution upscaling, to comprehensive debugging tools, PPSSPP has you covered.
PPSSPP Features include:-
- Play PSP games upscaled up to 10x their native resolution
- Save states
- Rotate display options
- Comprehensive debugging tools
- Control mapping
- LAN multiplayer networking
- Display layout editor
- Postprocessing shaders
- Rendering resolution settings
- Frame skipping
- Texture filtering
- Texture scaling
- Cheat support
Best PSP Emulator For Android
Want to play PSP games on your Android phone or tablet? Then PPSSPP is the best PSP emulator for you.
As mentioned in the section above, PPSSPP is the best PSP emulator for your PC/Mac and is no exception for Android either.
PPSSPP for Android has two versions, PPSSPP and PPSSPP Gold, it is worth noting that both versions functionally are exactly the same. The ‘gold’ version exists as a means to contribute towards the development of PPSSPP, which we thoroughly recommend you do if you can since it is an absolutely fantastic emulator.
PPSSPP Android Features Include:-
- Upscale internal resolution up to 10x
- Save states for saving game progress
- On-screen controls
- Debugging tools
- LAN networking for multiplayer
- Control mapping
- Display layout editor
- Postprocessing shader effects
- Frameskip settings
- Texture filtering & scaling
- Cheat options
Summary
So, as if it is not too obvious, PPSSPP is the best PSP emulator on Android, as well as one of the best emulators for PC too.
So what happened after the PSP? Well, Sony continued with another handheld, the PS Vita, but was not nearly as successful as the PSP, even though it was essentially a beefed-up sequel. There are plenty of great PS Vita games, but this time around some fundamental errors were made by Sony, primarily a lack of developmental support by Sony.
This was compounded by the fact that Sony decided to use proprietary memory cards for storage, at a time when SD/MicroSD cards were really becoming the norm. Plus, Nintendo released their 3DS console the same year, which continued the success of the original DS. So the PS Vita got left behind.
if you are interested in finding more retro emulators, then check out our guide to emulators where you’ll find all sorts of useful information about emulators, as well as links to other emulators for other retro systems.
A lifelong avid gamer and computing enthusiast, Matt has decades of Retro Gaming experience. Now over 40 years old, Matt now even considers himself retro, but fortunately, nobody has developed a Matt emulator (not yet at least!).