Sony is using a new PS2 emulator that will run games like “Sly Raccoon”, “Tomb Raider: Legend” and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Digital Foundry has looked at the technical results and is not convinced.
PlayStation Plus Premium was recently expanded to include PS2 games that can be run as a native PS5 app using an emulator. These include “Sly Raccoon”, “Tomb Raider: Legend” and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
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However, the initial enthusiasm of many players quickly faded because the technical implementation was mediocre at best. Technology experts from Digital Foundry have taken a look at the new PS2 emulator and given their verdict.
Video upscaling of the PS2 emulator disappoints
It seems that the main problem is an obvious lack of care with the emulation. According to Digital Foundry, some of the problems already identified with the PS4 version of the emulator have not been resolved even after two years. New difficulties have also emerged.
The publication begins by referring to the presets in “Tomb Raider: Legend”, not all of which are convincing. These include Standard, Modern (richer blacks), Classic Arcade (unconvincing CRT filter) and Modern Arcade (a slightly different CRT filter that is also unconvincing).
The video upscaling was even less convincing, initially giving the impression that the resolution was unchanged. According to Digital Foundry, this is not the case. However, the PS2 emulator produces a scaling that “looks about as blurry as the original”. This is particularly noticeable with UI elements such as text.
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These are PS2 textures that are stretched and scaled with a simple bilinear filter, which leads to this result.
Some small differences were noted in the way the games ran. On the PS5, for example, “Sly Raccoon” ran at a constant 30 frames per second and without the slowdowns seen on the original hardware. However, there were some glitches on the PS5, such as a level with no music.
Is Sony not interested in optimization?
Digital Foundry also looked at the current state of PSP emulation on the PS5, but also noted problems.
The technology experts concluded:
- Third-party providers such as RetroTink 4K (or software emulations) deliver better results.
- The retro community has already been able to solve many existing problems, especially through good upscaling methods and filters.
“Given that this knowledge exists in the retro community – and no doubt in Sony's offices – it seems as though Sony simply doesn't want to spend the time presenting its classic titles in their absolute best form,” they speculate.
What impression did “Sly Raccoon”, “Tomb Raider: Legend” and Star “Wars: The Clone Wars” leave on you based on the new emulator?
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