Sony

Sony was founded in Tokyo in 1946 and made its name with radios, televisions and the Walkman. It came to games late, almost by accident: a planned CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo fell through, and Sony turned the work into a console of its own. The PlayStation brand it launched in 1994 went on to become one of the most successful in the industry.

Sony’s older systems are among the best emulated anywhere, while its newest are only starting to run on PC.

PlayStation Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation came out in Japan on 3 December 1994 and in North America and Europe in 1995. Games on CD gave it far more room than cartridges, and it was the first console to sell more than 100 million units. Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot and Resident Evil all made their name on it.

PlayStation emulation is mature. DuckStation runs almost the whole library and can render games at higher resolutions, and older emulators such as ePSXe are kept here as an archive.

PlayStation 2 Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation 2 arrived in 2000 and became the best-selling console of all time, with more than 155 million sold. It doubled as a DVD player, which helped it into living rooms, and Sony kept making it until 2013, long after the PlayStation 3 had launched. Its library includes God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

PCSX2 runs the large majority of PS2 games on PC, often in HD.

PSP Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation Portable, Sony’s first handheld, launched in Japan in December 2004. It played games and films from small optical discs called UMDs, and its large screen and near-PS2 graphics set it apart from the Nintendo DS. It sold around 80 million units, about half as many as the DS.

PPSSPP plays most PSP games on PC, Android and iPhone, usually at a higher resolution than the original.

PlayStation 3 Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation 3 launched in late 2006, a year after the Xbox 360 and at a higher price, so it got off to a slow start. It caught up over its life and sold more than 87 million units, helped by Uncharted, The Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4. Its Cell processor was famously hard to program for, and it was long thought too difficult to emulate.

RPCS3 has proved otherwise: most of the PS3 library is now playable on PC.

PlayStation Vita Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation Vita followed the PSP in 2011, with a touch screen, a rear touch pad and two analogue sticks. Sony’s support faded within a few years and it sold far fewer units than the PSP, but it kept a following for its Japanese games, indie games and remote play.

Vita3K is the main Vita emulator and runs a growing number of games.

PlayStation 4 Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation 4 came out in November 2013 and sold more than 117 million units, putting Sony back in the lead of the console market. Its games include Bloodborne, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted 4.

PS4 emulation is young but moving quickly: shadPS4 can already play some games from start to finish.

PlayStation 5 Emulators and more ›

The PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020 with an SSD fast enough to change how games load. PS5 emulation is at a very early stage, and no emulator runs commercial games yet.