You Can Now Play PS3 Games on a Tiny $80 Computer

RPCS3 is a popular open-source PS3 game emulator that has been active for over a decade. Its community-led development has resulted in impressive performance gains, and its latest update might be its most impressive yet. RPCS3 is now natively supported on ARM64 devices, expanding its support on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

As explained on RPCS3’s official blog, the emulator’s ARM64 development started in 2021 following the launch of Apple‘s M1-powered Macbooks. After many trials, we arrived at the current version of the emulator that can run PlayStation 3 games on newer devices.

Given that it runs on ARM64-based Linux devices, it opens up the possibility of running on a Raspberry Pi, a miniature computer that runs on a custom version of Linux. The current version of RPCS3 for ARM64 requires a device with an armv8.2-a CPU, 8GB of RAM, and GPU drivers with support for OpenGL 4.3 or Vulkan APIs.

All of these are supported by the Raspberry Pi 5, a device that costs around $80. Thus began the RPCS3 developers’ journey of trying to make it run on the mini-computer, which was successful.

RPCS3 can run on a Raspberry Pi 5 equipped with an aftermarket active cooler and an overclocked processor. While performance at PS3-native resolutions like 720p was rough, the developers could run PS3 games at acceptable frame rates on lower resolutions.

You can check out the demo video to see how the computer handles popular PS3 games like God of War Remastered, Catherine, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, Demon’s Souls, Ratatouille, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Skate 3, and more. Most of these games can run at 30fps or just below it, but at a very low resolution of 273p, the same as the display of Sony’s PSP handheld console.

PS3 compatibility, or its lack thereof on the PS5, has been a controversial topic for a long time. The complex architecture of the PS3’s Cell processor makes it difficult to emulate, though a recent patent from Sony may point to the company testing a form of PS3 backward compatibility for the PS5. Lowest Logan, an emulation enthusiast, also managed to run PS3 games on hardware eerily close to that of the PS5.

We also know that Sony is developing a new handheld console that will play PS5 games. Could the company manage to introduce PS3 backward compatibility with its new device? Only time will tell. It would be a great way to celebrate PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, more so than providing limited-time themes.