PlayStation 2 games are being brought back to life through emulation. Eurogamer chanced upon this discovery when it was sent a new PS4 "Star Wars" bundle, which contained three games for PS2 games: "Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter," "Star Wars: Racer Revenge" and "Star Wars: Bounty Hunter."
The games were accompanied by a single PSN code, rather than a physical disc. Upon entering the download key, their console downloaded all of the games, and the classic PS2 logo appeared on their screen, only this time, the resolution was visibly upscaled.
Emulators allow a specific computing environment to run on another by mimicking its environment, in this case the environment of the PS2 console. This allows PS2 games to run on the PS4 just the same, only better--using PS4's higher resolution.
As Eurogamer put it, "nothing has been changed at all, effectively ruling out a remaster."
Strangely, Sony did not make an official announcement regarding this PS2 emulator until after Eurogames has discovered and published the news.
"We are working on utilizing PS2 emulation technology to bring PS2 games forward to the current generation," a Sony representative told WIRED last Thursday, Nov. 19. "We have nothing further to comment at this point in time."
Interestingly, Eurogamer observed that the quality of emulation four times better than the original. PS2 games used to have a normal resolution of either 512x448 or 640x448. The emulated PS2 games, now running on the PS4, have a native resolution of 1292x896, with a final pillarboxing and upscaling to 1080p. As for the frame rates, the PS4 is emulating the PS2 at a solid 60FPS.
The PlayStation 2 was one of Sony's most innovative platforms. Its release in 2000 paved the way for the creation of many classic games, including "God of War," "Final Fantasy X" and "Gran Turismo 3." Many of these games are not playable in the new PS4.
There is no word yet as to whether Sony will release emulators for these classics soon.
Watch Eurogamer's walkthrough of the PS2 emulator below:
