PS2 Emulator AetherSX2 Is Finally Getting A True Successor

Great news has landed for fans of the PlayStation 2, which in recent years has become increasingly central in the handheld emulation scene. A brand new emulator is now in development for Android, announced by developer Trixarian: EtherealSX2.

Windows machines have benefitted for years from the powerful (and open source) PCSX2 emulator to access the PS2’s vast library of games, but this was mostly out of reach for weaker, ARM-based devices. This took a sharp turn for the better with a series of steady updates to AetherSX2, a PS2 emulator for Android devices. The app is essentially a port of PCSC2, created by a single developer who goes by Tahlreth.

Unlike many other emulators AetherSX2 was done by a single developer and its source code kept closed. This made progress on PS2 emulation for Android rather difficult when the developer abandoned the project — citing threats and abuse by AetherSX2 users. But eventually Trixarian was able to patch the final release of the software, removing ads and fixing some game-specific issues under the name NetherSX2. Because Nether is working with closed-source software, however, the devs can only do so much to improve emulation performance.

Hence the excitement for Ethereal, a brand new piece of software porting the Windows emulator. The Ethereal announcement came on GitHub, where Trixarian has created a new repository for the source code: “It’s main purpose is to be an up to date port of PCSX2 for modern mobile devices while being a proper successor to AetherSX2.” Ethereal is currently listed with the GNU General Public License (v3.0).

Once the project catches up to AetherSX2, developing new software should mean that PS2 emulation on Android will improve and receive steady updates.

Because the project is essentially re-porting PCSX2, though, don’t expect to be playing it next week. Development is expected to take a good, long while before a beta release is available for community testing.