PlayStation Portable (PSP) made quite an impact on the gamer community with millions of sales. However, as the console is quite old now, you may not have access to it. Don’t worry, though, as you can still play the classic PSP titles on your Android phone using an emulator.
PPSSPP is one of the best PSP emulators that supports almost all platforms, including Android. The emulator is open-source and completely free to use, so you won’t have to worry about any tricks or upgrades. In this post we will show you how you can play PSP games on Android using PPSSPP.
Getting the PSP Games
PPSSPP is just an emulator, and it only emulates the PSP games provided by you, so you will have to get the PSP game first to start playing PSP games on Android. For this purpose you need to get the PSP game’s ISO or CSO file in your Android phone to be able to emulate and play it on PPSSPP.
Although you can easily get almost any PSP game’s ISO file online with a simple search on Google, it should be noted that it is illegal to download and play PSP games that you don’t personally own. Therefore we will recommend you create ISO files from the PSP games that you personally own. You can get more details regarding how to create PSP game ISO files from the PPSSPP FAQ page.
PPSSPP also comes with some demo games (not very good ones) that you can download and play to see how the emulator works.
Using the PPSSPP
Once you have the PSP game’s ISO file in your Android phone, Download PPSSPP for Android and launch it. In the main interface you can go to the “Games” tab and browse for the games you have downloaded. It can play games from both a phone’s storage and external SD card.
Tip: I once had a really bad time trying to play games from the SD card, as I couldn’t find the location where the SD card option was located (took me approximately 3 hours!). By default, PPSSPP shows a phone’s internal storage in the “Games” section, but you can tap the “Upward Arrow” at the start to move back to the area where your SD Card (extSDCard) folder is located (see screenshot below).
Tap on the game you want to play and it should launch. While the game is playing you will see on-screen buttons similar to the ones seen on the original PSP. Your touch gestures will not work while playing the game, only the on-screen buttons will.
Note: the performance of the games depend on the hardware specifications of your phone. It is quite common to face performance issues, but you can easily gain a performance boost by tweaking some system and graphics settings. On PPSSPP forums, there is a very handy guide on boosting PPSSPP games performance, and you can refer to it if you face any performance issues. (I have personally tried it, and it does wonders.)
Features of PPSSPP (The Interesting Part)
You can see how you can play PSP games on Android using PPSSPP, but here is the fun part: PPSSPP doesn’t only replicate the original PSP environment but also adds many fun customization options to further enhance your experience. Below we have listed some of the features of PPSSPP that you may not have experienced on the original PSP.
PPSSPP can upscale texture to let you play PSP games on big screen phones and even tablets at full HD resolution. I have even used it on my PC, and the quality was great.
You can save the game anywhere even if the game itself doesn’t have an in-game save option. PPSSPP has a separate “Save game” option that isn’t affected by the actual game.
You can easily change the location of the on-screen buttons and also add more buttons with different functions. You can even create combo buttons, perfect for fighting games like Tekken.
There are networking options for multiplayer games and an ability to remotely play the game on another device.
Import your original PSP “save game” data to PPSSPP to continue playing from the same spot.
Cheat options to use game cheats.
Dozens of customization options to customize your playing experience according to your needs.
Conclusion
PPSSPP is a great emulator to play classic PSP games and even get a better experience than the original PSP. The only issue I have with PPSSPP is the on-screen touch buttons. Compared to the physical buttons on the original PSP, the on-screen buttons are less satisfying and also somewhat harder to use when playing fast-paced action games. However, with a little practice, you should be able to get the hang of them and know the limitations. I will also recommend you try PPSSPP on PC; it’s fun to play on a big screen with better performance.
Do let us know in the comments which PSP games you like to play on your Android phone. Also, if you need any help understanding PPSSPP or need more details on how to use it optimally, ask below in the comments.
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Karrar is drenched in technology and always fiddles with new tech opportunities. He has a bad habit of calling technology “Killer”, and doesn’t feel bad about spending too much time in front of the PC. If he is not writing about technology, you will find him spending quality time with his little family.
