PCSX2
Shares rank 12 of 20 emulators by recommenders
People recommend it as a PlayStation 2 emulator that runs games well and supports community mods and HD texture packs. Critics say it takes shortcuts and is not very accurate to the original hardware.
People recommend it as a PlayStation 2 emulator that runs games well and supports community mods and HD texture packs. Critics say it takes shortcuts and is not very accurate to the original hardware.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs PS2 games well
“pretty good today in terms of running games, but it's far from accurate to the hardware”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “PlayStation 2 Recompilation Project Is Absolutely Incredible” “You can definitely still get PCSX2 working on it though, and it's fantastic.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: PS2 games statically recompiled to WebAssembly”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Takes shortcuts, especially with upscaling
“it takes a lot of shortcuts (especially when enabling upscaling and other enhancements)”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Original Sony PlayStation 2 security chip 'broken wide open' after 26 years” Not accurate to original hardware
“pretty good today in terms of running games, but it's far from accurate to the hardware”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “PlayStation 2 Recompilation Project Is Absolutely Incredible” Many games only in green state
“PCSX2 is mediocre. It reports the vast majority of the library in "green" emulation state”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “PlayStation 2 Recompilation Project Is Absolutely Incredible”
Other emulators people recommend
The four most recommended other emulators, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 20 emulators, rankedWhat people said
All 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a great emulator in PCSX2 and tons of community mods and HD texture packs make it amazing”
“You can definitely still get PCSX2 working on it though, and it's fantastic.”
“doesn't really reproduce the same smooth acceleration/brake curve of the PS2”
“it takes a lot of shortcuts (especially when enabling upscaling and other enhancements)”
“emulators like Dolphin and PCSX2 arguably being superior to original hardware”
“just use a PC with the Duckstation, Mesen, Dolphin, MAME, Final Burn Neo, and PCSX2 emulators”
“PCSX2 is mediocre. It reports the vast majority of the library in "green" emulation state”
“pretty good today in terms of running games, but it's far from accurate to the hardware”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.