Your PlayStation 5 Can Play PS2 Discs, But You’ll Have To Do Some Extra Legwork

While the PlayStation 5 is an amazing console with tons of great games, it’s almost incomparable to the PlayStation 2. The PS2 is actually the best-selling game console of all time, having sold over 160 million units after it was introduced in 2000. Not only was the system fantastic, but it sported an amazing library of games, including “Grand Theft Auto III,” “Resident Evil 4,” and “Devil May Cry,” to name a few. In total, the system featured more than 4,000 games, and many players still have them.

Unfortunately, the PS5 doesn’t support backward compatibility with PS2 games, so if you’ve got a great library, you either have to rely on decades-old hardware or look for another solution. Fortunately, there’s a way to play PS2 games on the PS5 via the PS5SX2 emulator, but it’s limited to jailbroken systems with firmware that’s not updated past version 13.60, and it cannot play games on CD-ROMs. Of course, playing PS2 games on a PS5 isn’t supported by Sony, which has long maintained that the system doesn’t feature that level of backward compatibility.

For most players, PS2 games must be repurchased digitally, which is frustrating if you physically have a game in your hands. The new emulator only works under the aforementioned restrictions, which already eliminates many players from being able to play PS2 games on their PS5. Still, given the fact that some have proven that it’s entirely possible, it doesn’t cast Sony in the best light when it comes to physical game ownership and backward compatibility of its latest console.

In order to play your PS2 games on your PS5, you’ll need to download PS5SX2, a new port of the PCSX2 emulator, which is posted on GitHub. The way that it functions is that, once you’ve actually gotten it to work, you place a PS2 disc into your PS5, and the software takes over. It creates a digital copy of the game and dumps it onto the system’s SSD. From there, just as the PS5 does with digital titles released on PlayStation Plus, it natively emulates the game, and you can play it to your heart’s content.

There’s more than a firmware update standing in your way because the PS5 does have a serious limitation where PS2 game discs are concerned. Many of them are on CD-ROMs, but the PS5’s optical drive can only read DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The oldest PS2 games, which have the blue side opposite the label, are CD-ROMs, and they won’t work. The same is true of original PlayStation games, which were entirely released on CD-ROMs. Still, even with that limitation, there are tons of games that will play, and the emulator is some well-crafted software.

It supports RetroAchievements, while some games work with online play. Other improvements upgrade the graphics, and if you can get PS5SX2 to function, you’ll open the door to many of your old PS2 games. The emulator’s developer, Swordpdf, is also working on a version that enables PlayStation 3 games to work on the PS5, so as long as folks are willing to put in the work, many of your old PlayStation games remain playable with a little effort.