ePSXe for Android

Review by eFreeware

Plenty of people still have a stack of PlayStation discs and no working console to put them in. The games hold up, but the hardware does not. That gap is what emulators fill, and it is the gap ePSXe for Android was built for.

ePSXe for Android comes from epsxe software s.l. and is a port of the ePSXe emulator for PC, which is where its name and much of its reputation come from. It sits in the Arcade category, costs $3.75, and has been on Google Play since August 2012. The developer reports more than a million installs and a 4.5 average across 57,660 ratings, which is a meaningful sample for a paid app in this category.

An emulator, not a game library

The most important thing to understand before spending anything is that ePSXe does not include games. You bring your own PSX and PSOne titles, and the app provides the environment to run them. Nothing about the purchase includes software to play.

What the app provides instead is compatibility and control. The developer claims near-total compatibility, with sound and speed holding up well. Those are the developer's claims rather than neutral measurements, but compatibility is the whole game with an emulator, so it is the number that matters most when deciding whether a specific title will behave.

The app is built for phones and tablets, and it runs natively on ARM and Intel Atom X86 hardware. That native support signals that the app was written for the hardware rather than layered on top of it.

Touch controls, gamepads and split screen

A PlayStation game needs a d-pad, face buttons, shoulder buttons and analog sticks, and a touchscreen has none of those. ePSXe handles this with a virtual touchscreen pad, which puts the controls on the display itself. For slower games that is workable; for anything that demands precision, it is the compromise you accept when you leave the console behind.

The better answer is a physical controller, and the app maps hardware buttons across a wide range of them. The developer lists the Xperia Play, phones with a keyboard or gamepad, and external gamepads over Bluetooth or USB, naming the WiiMote, Sixaxis, Xbox 360, Moga and Ipega among them. Analog sticks are supported as well, which matters for the games that used them.

Multiplayer is part of the design too. The app supports one to four players, and there is a two-player split screen option for playing on a single device. That is a nice touch for a tablet propped up on a table, though the practical value depends on having two controllers or being willing to share a touchscreen.

Graphics options, savestates and the PC connection

Emulators live or die on how the picture looks, and ePSXe offers several ways to render it. Two OpenGL renderers handle hardware acceleration, alongside software rendering at 2x and 4x. The result is HD-enhanced graphics rather than the original low-resolution look, and the choice of renderers means you can trade visual quality against performance depending on the device you are using.

Cheat codes are supported, which will matter to anyone who remembers entering them the first time around or who wants to skip a difficult section. Savestates let you freeze progress at any point, and the memory card format is compatible with the PC version of ePSXe. That last detail is more useful than it sounds: if you have been playing on a desktop, your existing saves and cards carry over rather than being stranded there.

The app has been updated regularly over the years, and the most recent changes point at the areas that needed attention. An Oboe sound engine has been added for lower latency when selected in the sound preferences, CHD format support has been improved, and Google Drive support joins the existing Dropbox integration. New shaders have arrived as well, including CTR, CAS and MMPX, alongside Edge-to-Edge support and an update to SDK35.

What the $3.75 covers

ePSXe for Android is a one-time paid app at $3.75. There are no ads and no in-app purchases attached to it, so the price you see is the price you pay. For an emulator that is a clean arrangement: nothing interrupts a game, and there is no second decision to make later about whether to spend more.

The cost sits alongside the cost of the games themselves, which you have to own and supply. That is the real budget question here, and it is worth thinking about before buying the app rather than after. If you already have a collection of PSX and PSOne titles, the $3.75 is a small addition to something you have already invested in.

It is also worth noting that the app has a substantial install base and a long track record, having been on the store since 2012. A paid emulator that has survived that long is not a project that was abandoned after launch.

A good fit for players with their own game files

The case for ePSXe is straightforward. It runs PlayStation games on Android hardware, it gives you real control options through gamepad mapping, it improves the picture with several renderers, and it carries over saves from the PC version. It costs $3.75 once, with no ads and no in-app purchases.

The case against is equally clear, and it is not really a criticism of the app. You have to supply the games, which means owning PSX or PSOne titles and having them in a usable form. The touchscreen controls are a compromise for anything demanding, so a physical controller is close to essential for serious play. And compatibility, however high, is still a claim rather than a guarantee for every title in existence.

If you have a library of PlayStation games and want to play them on a phone or tablet, ePSXe for Android is a sensible purchase. It suits players who already own PSX and PSOne discs and want a way to run them on their phone.

What's new in version 2.0.19

* Added Oboe Sound Engine (select this in snd preferences for lower latency) * Improved CHD format support * Updated Dropbox API * Added Google Drive support * Fixed CTR shaders and added CAS & MMPX shaders * Added 16Kb align support * Added Edge-to-Edge support * Updated to SDK35 * Improved image center in portrait 4:3 modes * More misc fixes * 2.0.19.2/3/4: Fixed SPU regression * 2.0.19.5: CHD CDDA Fix