Huge progress in multiple platforms, with one major setback

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, emulation is the art of running applications and games designed for proprietary systems on unsupported hardware. In addition to letting you use a machine to enjoy your favorite console games, emulation has the added benefit of preserving games that would otherwise be locked to the dead hardware.

Thanks to the continuous efforts of ace developers, simulation has evolved to the point where it is no longer limited to outdated gaming systems. 2024, in particular, is a big year for the simulation space, and here’s a quick review of all the good (and bad) developments that happened over the past year.

Finally, a working PS4 emulator

Tonight, PC gamers join the hunt!

Compared to the dark magic required to emulate the PlayStation 3’s exotic Cell processor, Sony’s last-generation console had an architecture that was somewhat similar to a stock x86 system. In theory, this makes the PlayStation 4 easier to emulate than its predecessor, but the reality is that PS4 emulation has been stagnant for years. The Linux-exclusive Spine emulator has long since been discontinued, and the second-best fpPS4 can only run lightweight games. Ultimately, most emulation enthusiasts put the PS4 on the back burner until the ShadPS4 resurfaced a few months ago.

Although development of ShadPS4 officially began in 2022, the emulator has undergone numerous updates throughout the year. Of course, ShadPS4 is still in the early stages of development, and there’s still plenty of progress to be made in terms of fan-favorite 3D games. But with each update, texture pop-in, crashes, and lighting issues slowly and steadily decrease until you can get bloodborne With certain third-party patches and cracks enabled, it can run on powerful systems!

PS3 games can finally be played on ARM devices

Including Raspberry Pi…sort of

In stark contrast to ShadPS4, the PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 has evolved to the point where it can run most PS3 games on relatively modest devices. But the real game-changer is a recent update that adds native support for arm64 devices to this incredible emulator. Of course, game performance fluctuates widely between devices. In the RPCS3 team’s own testing, the old M1 chip delivered amazing results in native arm64 builds, especially when running the x86 version of the emulator with the Rosetta 2 translation layer.

Heck, you even get PS3 games up and running on Raspberry Pialthough I’d be lying if I said they were playable. I have tested multiple RPCS3 games on my computer before Raspberry Pi 5I can confirm that the performance of the graphics chip within the SBC is too low to run most games at any speed above playable resolution. Still, the very fact that you can launch the game on a weak device like a Raspberry Pi is a testament to the success of the RPCS3 development team.

Major updates to the x86 emulator

Believe it or not, you can even run 3D PC games on Android

If running 2D PlayStation 3 games on an arm64 SBC sounds like fun, you’ll be in for a treat once you realize that it’s entirely possible to enjoy PC games on an Android phone. As long as your smartphone is equipped with a relatively high-spec Snapdragon processor and enough memory, you can even emulate some newer PC games.

What’s more, you can also choose between several options. Here are some for beginners Venlatowhich combines solid performance with a simple UI and simple controller setup utility. Then you have it moxtrading convenience of access for additional performance, and Horizon-Emuan x86 emulator that combines the strengths (and weaknesses) of both competitors. As someone who has tested all three with plenty of 2D and 3D games over the last year, I can confirm that running PC games on Android is no longer a pipe dream.

Switch emulation takes huge legal hit

Pour one for Yuzu and Dragon Jinx

With all the major developments in the simulation space over the past year, it’s easy to forget the Yuzu and Ryujinx fiascos. In order to curb piracy, Nintendo sues Yuzu developerIn March 2024, Tropic Haze LLC paid the gaming giant $2.4 million and removed all distribution sources for Yuzu as part of the settlement. Over the next few weeks, Nintendo removes thousands of Yuzu forks on GitHub.

Unfortunately, Nintendo’s crusade against Switch emulators doesn’t stop there. After a few months, the company contacted Ryujinx developers, who eventually halted development of the emulator. There’s no denying that piracy is a terrible thing in the gaming world, but it’s equally unfair to sue small companies and force emulators to shut down. If you emulate games to enjoy high-quality mods, great graphics, and solid performance, it’s easy to become frustrated with Nintendo’s recent moves toward emulation.

How will the simulation industry develop in 2025?

All in all, the future is looking pretty good for fans of simulation and retro gaming. Just a few days ago, the geniuses at Winlator released a major update that, among other changes, added a new graphics driver and improved the existing sound driver. Likewise, the latest ShadPS4 pre-release went live a day ago, and every release brings us closer to running Bloodborne and other PlayStation 4 exclusives at 4K60FPS. Given the rapid development of modern emulators, we might even see a PS5 emulator before the end of the year!