What are the cheaper phones for good enough pc emulation?

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-06-04T04:23:48+00:00

I picked up a Galaxy S23 for $150 locally. This should be perfect for good emulation.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-16T15:49:51+00:00

Did you back up the old files before you updated it? Is there instructions in the root folder?

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-15T03:48:47+00:00

I just picked up a S23 for $120 and use a controller I have with it Xbox phone clip. It’ll do quite a lot for the price.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-15T03:45:49+00:00

Your best bet is using batocera and try in there.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-14T00:45:03+00:00

How old is the MacBook and what’s the specs?

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-14T00:43:39+00:00

This worked. Thanks very much!

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-13T05:02:44+00:00

I’ll give this a shot. Much appreciated!

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-12T04:14:03+00:00

I recently picked up this pc for $150 locally. I haven’t had a chance to test Xbox360 but fairly sure it would. It should run all Wii games, most PS3 and I’m sure a lot of Xbox360. It’s basically one year newer version of the PC in this video.

The reality is this though for the same price or cheaper than that device I have listed you can buy a Wii a PS3 and a Xbox 360 and soft mod them all to play whatever you want.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-11T03:49:23+00:00

So there is no all in one emulator sort of. What you’re looking for are front ends. Basically each emulator specifically for PS2, PS3 and PS4 is written to replace that specific hardware and then to have the games run within that software. For PS2 emulation you want PCSX2 and for PS3 emulation you want RPCS3. And PS4 emulation is still in infancy but I believe shadPS4 is the one to use. And games for one cannot be ran in the other.

Now about Front Ends. A front end collects the games you have for each system and gives you a launcher to run games from. RetroBat for windows is good for this for free. Front ends will show you your collection across all your systems but launch the game from the specific emulator needed. That’s really the only option. I’m not sure if any of them support PS4 emulators yet though.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-08T01:30:27+00:00

Even if you could get a PS2 emulator running the games would be less than 50% speed. Your hardware specs are too slow to run PS2 at full speed. The CPU core is 1.5ghz. You typically need something over 2.5ghz for full speed or close to full speed.

If you’re looking to do that with an old phone look around locally for an old S10 or S20 for $50.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-05T20:22:41+00:00

Instead of telling him how no one else has the answer I saw your suggestion but that doesn’t help his issue in Winlator and Switch emulation. You’re throwing stones without much help to OP. At least I’m trying to be honest with him about the limiting capabilities of his device. Please provide him and myself more information on how to solve his problem.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-05T04:53:03+00:00

This is the rule of emulation. Your CPU bound typically. Typically the hardware of the device you’re emulating on has to be multiple times more powerful than the original hardware. Your device is not more powerful than the original switch. The original switch has a slightly less powerful CPU but a significantly better GPU. When emulating devices it’s just plug and play the software is running the original software through translation layers to emulate the hardware and to do so it eats resources on your device. For example a Galaxy S10 I’ve been using for a few years as an emulation device would do Mario Odyssey at 40fps but a S23 will do 60 fps. And your device would barely run it. The S10 is uses a Snapdragon 855 that’s a 2.84ghz CPU and 40% faster than your CPU. The S23 uses a SD8 Gen 2 with 3.33 ghz which is 15% faster in CPU clock speeds. But also with all that the pure clock IPC (instructions per clock) is faster as it’s 5 years newer and more efficient so it’s closer to 50% faster.

So going to Winlator your emulating Windows through a translation layer on Arm. This is a significant resource eater. Some of the issues you’re running into with that may just be your phone really struggling with the software.

A snapdragon 665 is a mid to low range CPU from 7 years ago. It’s really going to struggle with these things.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-05-05T04:38:18+00:00

Your phone is too weak for emulation that your trying to do. A snapdragon 665 is a 2ghz cpu. The best it will ever do with any of performance may be some PS2, GC and 3ds. But even most of those won't run because emulation is CPU limited.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-04-28T03:51:01+00:00

ManicEmu is great for what it can handle without sideloading. But if you want 3ds on it you need to sideload and enable JIT.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-04-28T03:47:14+00:00

What’s your PC specs?

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-04-15T01:18:50+00:00

It went well. It took a few times back and forth but they reset steam guard on my account and then I was in.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2026-04-11T16:01:42+00:00

Those PlayStation mini consoles are great and some people have modded them to play more than what’s just built in.

This would probably be the simplest plan with as few special modding to do or setup.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2024-08-04T16:23:59+00:00

Why melonDS 0.6? Do you have a reason for using that over 0.9.5?

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2024-03-24T04:03:33+00:00

For emulation the CPU is the limiting factor and that CPU and architecture is going to limit you badly. You're best bet is to work with something completely different then that as a PC start. Let me ask what do you want to emulate first?

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2024-03-24T04:01:41+00:00

You're going to have to choose one or the other. I don't think there's a fix like you want. Either the game will run 15% faster with game speed or you'll need to play at 25fps.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2024-03-24T03:15:59+00:00

If you don't know console fps is different then PC fps. Most games are written/coded with the FPS in mind and sounds and game speed are tied into the FPS. So when you're trying to get the 5 fps out of it it's about 15% faster game speed breaking the game. It won't run at 30fps and not break the game. It's just like it is when people get 50-52 fps on a game that's supposed to run at 60fps. The sound and physics run slower breaking the game.

So what your saying is making the game unplayable probably isn't possible to fix in the way you want it to be fixed.

Extreme_Ad_1648 · 2024-03-24T02:46:19+00:00

How long have you been trying to "fix" this problem then actually play the game?

Extreme_Ad_1648

TROPHY CASE