Water
Console games, set up for you
Water plays games for 14 consoles, from the PlayStation to the Switch. The first time you install a game for one, Water downloads its emulator, checks it against its makers’ release and sets it up. Then you press Play.
The consoles
Every console game Water lists is an English release, with its cover, screenshots and details.
- PlayStation
- PlayStation 2
- PlayStation 3
- PSP
- NES and SNES
- Nintendo 64
- Game Boy, Color and Advance
- GameCube and Wii
- Nintendo Switch
- Xbox
What Water sets up
You never have to open an emulator’s settings. Water sets what each game needs before it starts, and the picture once; after that, every setting is yours to change.
- Fullscreen, straight into the game. No setup wizard, welcome screen or update prompt.
- A sharper picture than the console had, set once: PlayStation games at your screen’s resolution, PlayStation 3 games at 1080p, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii and Xbox games at three times theirs, Nintendo 64 games at 1440×1080.
- Saves for each profile. Everyone on the PC has their own saves, memory cards and save states for every console, so nobody plays over someone else’s game.
- Two-disc GameCube games change disc by themselves.
Your controller just works
DualShock 4, DualSense and Xbox controllers work in every emulator Water sets up, by cable or Bluetooth, with no driver to install and nothing to map.
- A second controller is player two, and Settings › Controllers in Water lists what’s connected and pairs a Bluetooth one.
- Wii games put a Wii Remote and Nunchuk on your controller: a DualShock 4 or DualSense aims with its motion sensor, an Xbox controller with its right stick.
What your PC needs
Most consoles play on any PC Water runs on. The newer ones ask for more, and their emulators’ makers publish what they recommend:
- PlayStation 3
- 6 cores and 12 threads with AVX2, and 16 GB of memory. It needs 8 GB at least.
- Nintendo Switch
- 6 threads and 16 GB of memory. It needs a quad-core and 8 GB at least, 12 GB when the graphics are built into the processor.
- PlayStation 2
- 4 cores with AVX2. It needs SSE4.1 and four threads at least.
- GameCube and Wii
- 4 cores and a graphics card of its own.
Water draws PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii and Xbox games at three times their size, which graphics built into the processor may not keep up with. Settings › PC Specs in Water compares your PC with each console and says which it plays well, and a console game’s page says so before you install.
