PlayStation 2 popularly known as PS2 is one of the most played video games, there are many video games players, PS2 stands out amongst them all. You can now play your PS2 game such as  Ride or Die, Wheeler – American Pro Trucker, Evolution, Sins, Wonders of the Ancient World amongst the games available to play.

If you have a Windows, Mac and Linux system you can play your video game on it without itch using the PS2 emulator.

What is PCSX2?

PCSX2 is a PlayStation 2 ’emulator’, a free program that tries to replicate the PlayStation 2 console to enable you to play PS2 games on your PC.

Advantages over the PlayStation 2 console

• Custom resolutions, up to 4096×4096, Anti Aliasing and Texture filtering to make your old PS2 games look better than their HD remakes!
• Unlimited memory cards
• Save states, enabling you to quick save and load practically anywhere in your game
• Easy cheating using our pnach patching system
• Use any controller (PS3, Xbox360 etc) that works on Windows, keyboards, and mice
• Increase or decrease the game speed by using the built-in frame-limiter for fast grinding or passing hard spots by slowing them down
• Ability to record in full HD with the built-in video recorder (F12 using the GSdx plugin)

So how do I use it?

1. Download the version suited for you from  Downloads Section (for beginners, the full installer of the latest stable release is recommended)
2. Get the BIOS file from your PlayStation 2 console. This is not included with PCSX2 since it is a Sony copyright so you have to get it from your console. Visit the tools section to find out how to do this.
3. Install PCSX2
4. Configure PCSX2. For beginners, the Configuration Guide video and the Quick Start configuration guide should help you. For a detailed description of every single option, you can always refer to the full guide.
5. Insert your PS2 game CD/DVD in your DVD ROM. You can either run it directly from the disc or create an ISO image of your disc with a program like ImgBurn for faster reads.
6. Enjoy!!!

I can’t make it work!

PCSX2 is not the simplest program out there although they try to do it as user-friendly as possible.

If you have problems running your game, first check their compatibility list. Is your game listed as Playable there? If not, PCSX2 does not support your game yet so you’ll have to wait for a fix or try another game. If you can’t find it on the list we don’t know if it works or not since it has not been tested!

It works but its slow!

This is the most common problem users experience. PCSX2 is a very hardware intensive program, especially on your processor.

System Requirements

Minimum (most games will be unplayable slow)

• Windows/Linux OS
• CPU: Any that supports SSE2 (Pentium 4 and up, Athlon64 and up)
• GPU: Any that supports Pixel Shader model 2.0, except Nvidia FX series (broken SM2.0, too slow anyway)
• 512MB RAM (note Vista needs at least 2GB to run reliably)

Recommended

• Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit) with the latest DirectX
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.2 GHz or better OR i3/i5/i7 @ 2,8 GHz or better OR AMD Phenom II @ 3,2 GHz or better
• GPU: 8800gt or better (for Direct3D10 support)
• RAM: 1GB on Linux/Windows XP, 2GB or more on Vista / Windows 7

Warning: Because of the nature of emulation, even if you meet the recommended requirements there will be games that will NOT run at full speed, due to emulation bugs or other limitations.

First of all a warning. Many of you will not be able to run these games properly. They’ll lag on a lot of PCs. On some of them, they’ll lag even more. When emulating PlayStation 2. Naturally, visually simple games will run smoother than 3D, over the top graphical shooters,