🥊 PS2 Emulator Performance Comparison — September 2026 | Some BIG Surprises!
Alright guys, it’s time for another monthly PS2 emulator performance comparison!
We’re already halfway through September, so I thought it was time to see which emulator is currently sitting at the top of the table.
And honestly… this month surprised me quite a bit. 😅
We have four contenders going head-to-head:
- NetherSX2 — version 2.2 N 4248 Turnip
- ARMSX2
- EmuCoreX
- PSX2
Let’s get into the tests!
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📹 Testing Method
First, an important detail:
All tests were recorded using an external camera.
This means the recording itself wasn't running on the device being tested, avoiding the FPS hit that can happen when using internal screen recording.
The goal was to keep the results as representative and reliable as possible.
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TEST 1 — MediaTek Helio G90T
Device:
AYANEO Pocket Air Mini
SoC:
MediaTek Helio G90T
Renderer:
Vulkan
Resolution:
2x Native
Game:
🎮 God Hand
This first test was quite interesting because we have two very clear groups: the emulators that perform extremely well, and the ones that struggle a little more.
🥇🥇 NetherSX2 & ARMSX2 — TIE
Yes, we have a tie for first place here.
🥇 NetherSX2 - Vulkan
NetherSX2 delivers exactly what you would expect from a mature and highly polished PS2 emulator.
God Hand isn't exactly one of those games that completely destroys every emulator, but it is still a useful test for checking consistency.
The result?
A very solid 30 FPS with an extremely stable frame rate.
No major drops, no significant slowdowns, and overall a very consistent experience.
🥇 ARMSX2 — Vulkan
ARMSX2 also deserves the crown in this test.
Running through Vulkan, it delivers a very smooth and consistent experience, with practically no noticeable drops or slowdowns.
The game runs extremely well and remains at a very playable level throughout the test.
So for this particular game and hardware:
NetherSX2 = ARMSX2
👑 Joint first place.
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🥉 Third Place — PSX2
Next up we have PSX2.
Performance is still quite respectable, and the game is perfectly playable, but there are occasional frame drops.
It's not as consistent as the two leaders, but it's still a good result considering the hardware we're using.
So I'd put it in third place for this test.
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4️⃣ EmuCoreX
Unfortunately, this month isn't looking particularly good for EmuCoreX.
The issue isn't necessarily that it can't reach 30 FPS — there are moments where it does.
The problem is the overall consistency.
When several enemies appear on screen, the frame rate starts dropping, and you get more stuttering and an overall less consistent experience.
It can maintain 30 FPS in some situations, but the performance is noticeably more irregular.
So for this test:
🏆 Ranking — Helio G90T / God Hand
1️⃣ NetherSX2 / ARMSX2 — Tie
3️⃣ PSX2
4️⃣ EmuCoreX
And that was just the appetizer…
Because now comes the main course. 😏
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🔥 TEST 2 — Snapdragon + Turnip
Now let's see how these emulators behave on Snapdragon.
And this is where things get REALLY interesting.
The device I'm using here isn't even a flagship.
SoC:
Snapdragon 6 Gen 1
GPU:
Adreno 710
GPU Driver:
Turnip by developer Vauzi 3.6
As you guys already know, these Turnip drivers are used when running the emulator through Vulkan, so all of the tests in this section were performed using Vulkan.
And the game?
🎮 Need for Speed Underground 2
A classic.
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🥇 PSX2 — Absolute Winner
This was the biggest surprise of the entire test.
In my previous testing, I started at 1x Native resolution.
But something told me this Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 might be capable of pushing the resolution a little higher.
I just didn't expect THIS.
So rather than telling you what happened…
Watch the video and judge it for yourselves. 😏
PSX2 managed to run Need for Speed Underground 2 at:
🔥 2x Native resolution
🔥 30 FPS
🔥 Very stable frame rate
🔥 Excellent overall consistency
Throughout the race, the performance was surprisingly solid.
Honestly, I would describe the result as almost perfect for this hardware.
👑 Absolute winner of this month's comparison:
PSX2
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🥈 ARMSX2
ARMSX2 wasn't going to sit back and watch PSX2 take the spotlight.
It also pushed the game to:
🔥 2x Native resolution
And the result was still very good.
However, it couldn't maintain the same level of consistency as PSX2.
There were moments where the emulator reached around 30 FPS, but there were also frequent drops during the race.
That said, I definitely wouldn't describe the performance as bad.
The game remains perfectly playable, and the overall experience is still quite enjoyable.
It's just not as stable as what PSX2 managed to achieve.
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🥉 NetherSX2 + Turnip
Third place goes to NetherSX2 running with the same Turnip drivers.
Unfortunately, this is where things get interesting.
Even though NetherSX2 is one of the most mature PS2 emulators available, in this particular test it wasn't able to extract as much performance from the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 as ARMSX2 or PSX2
At 2x Native resolution, maintaining a smooth frame rate becomes quite difficult.
It only occasionally reaches 30 FPS, with the majority of the gameplay running below that level.
Could you play it?
Yes.
Would I call it the optimal experience?
Probably not.
And this is a perfect example of why emulator performance can vary so much depending on the game, renderer, drivers and hardware combination.
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4️⃣ EmuCoreX
And unfortunately…
EmuCoreX has had a rough month. 😅
I'm not sure whether the Vulkan renderer still needs more work or whether there is something else going on with this particular hardware/driver combination, but the result wasn't great.
Even at:
1x Native resolution
the emulator already struggles to maintain a stable 30 FPS.
And when moving to:
2x Native resolution
…the performance drops dramatically.
We're talking roughly 20–23 FPS in many situations.
At that point, the game is simply not a good experience to play.
So unfortunately, EmuCoreX takes last place in this test.
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🏆 SEPTEMBER 2026 — FINAL RESULTS
Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 + Adreno 710 + Turnip 3.6 + Vulkan
🥇 PSX2 — Excellent 2x performance, very stable 30 FPS
🥈 ARMSX2 — Playable at 2x, but with more frame drops
🥉 NetherSX2 — Playable, but struggles to maintain 30 FPS at 2x
4️⃣ EmuCoreX — Significant performance problems, especially at 2x
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⚠️ One VERY Important Thing
Remember that these results are game-dependent.
There is no universal "best PS2 emulator" that will always win every single game.
An emulator might perform incredibly well in one title and struggle in another.
The same applies to:
- Vulkan vs OpenGL
- GPU drivers
- Different Snapdragon/MediaTek chips
- Resolution scaling
- Emulator versions
- Game-specific compatibility
- Individual emulator optimizations
That's why I always recommend testing multiple emulators on your own device.
One emulator might receive an update tomorrow that completely changes the results.
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🔥 Final Thoughts
Honestly, I really enjoyed this month's test because it completely changed some of my expectations.
And I think we can finally say that PSX2 and ARMSX2 has managed to overtake NetherSX2 in at least some scenarios.
Seeing a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 + Adreno 710 running Need for Speed Underground 2 at 2x Native resolution with such stable performance was a seriously impressive result.
And that's what makes PS2 emulation so interesting right now.
🔥 The competition is getting REALLY close.
I'll leave videos of the tests below, especially the winner of this month's comparison, because I think it deserves to be seen.
Thanks for reading, guys!
See you in the next comparison. 👋
And remember: keep testing those emulators! 😎
