Xbox Series X players can play PS2 games on their console

Nicholas Sakadelis

Xbox players have discovered they can run PS2 games on the new consoles with emulators.

Shortly after the release of the Xbox series S and X, players have discovered that using the developer mode on the new Xbox game consoles opens a whole new world of variety for games.

In a video posted by YouTuber “Modern Vintage Gamer” he showcases the retroarch emulator being used on Xbox hardware, which allows PS2 ROMS to run.

Since the software for the console is fairly new, Modern Vintage Gamer ran into a few hitches when setting up the retroarch emulator, and almost completely gave up. It took a few work arounds, but once he got it up and running, the emulator showed promise.

Some games like Silent Hill 2 and Maximo ran great, with only minor lag and frame rate dips, while titles like Gran Turismo 2 were almost unplayable with low frame rates and audio hitching.

Overall, many of the titles looked beautiful on modern hardware. Since the Xbox Series S and X are newer systems, this is a great foundation for the emulator to build from and further optimize for the future.

Silent Hill 2 – PS2

Since Modern Vintage Gamer tested the games on the weaker Xbox Series S, its still possible the Xbox Series X would have ran the games a bit better, but its unlikely games that were unplayable would be any better on the more powerful console due the optimization of the retroarch emulator.

This very well could be the beginning of a future of several emulators coming to the Xbox for various consoles.

The emulator is only available for use in developer mode for Xbox, which costs $20 to unlock. While in developer mode, you will not be able to use the online features of the console. It might be possible to run this emulator in the retail mode for the Xbox, but Modern Vintage Gamer warns the legality of this is not clear.