# RPCS3

5 Hacker News commenters recommended RPCS3 and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free PS3 emulator that people praise for steadily better performance and compatibility, though it is not yet fully compatible.

## Why people recommend it

- Steady gains in performance and compatibility (3 comments): "I guess I view 75% compatibility of the most oddball console architecture ever to be fairly successful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176699)) "RPCS3 has come a long way in the last few of years, both in performance and compatibility." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176578)) "look at how good RPCS3 is now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173408))
- Impressive, usable emulation quality (3 comments): "just how impressive the RPCS3 emulator is" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48089750)) "look at how good RPCS3 is now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173408)) "Worse than RPCS3, but usable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45910662))

## What people warn about

- Compatibility still incomplete (2 comments): "I guess I view 75% compatibility of the most oddball console architecture ever to be fairly successful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176699)) "It may reach that point some day, but it's not there yet." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176680))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [DOSBox](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dosbox.md): 37 recommend
- [ZSNES](https://hackerapproved.com/p/super-zsnes.md): 23 recommend
- [MAME](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mame.md): 21 recommend
- [RetroArch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/retroarch.md): 21 recommend
- [DOSBox-X](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dosbox-x.md): 19 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "RPCS3", https://hackerapproved.com/p/rpcs3/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).