Water
Play PS1 games on PC
Water is a game launcher for Windows that plays PlayStation games. The first time you install one, it downloads the DuckStation emulator, checks it and sets it up. Then Play starts the game fullscreen, with your controller ready.
The PS1 emulator, set up for you
Water plays PlayStation games with DuckStation, the free PlayStation emulator made by its own team; Water isn’t affiliated with it. Water downloads its official release, checks it before using it, and sets what each game needs before it starts:
- Fullscreen, straight into the game, with no setup wizard and no settings to open.
- PS1 games at your screen’s resolution, far sharper than the console’s.
- Saves for each profile, so nobody plays over someone else’s game.
- Your controller mapped: DualShock 4, DualSense or Xbox, with no driver to install. A second controller is player two.
What your PC needs
DuckStation’s makers say it needs a processor with SSE4.1. Water itself runs on Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
Settings › PC Specs in Water compares your PC with each console, and a PS1 game’s page says how well your PC plays it before you install.
By hand, or with Water
Playing a PS1 game on a PC by hand is an evening of setup:
- Download the emulator and work through its settings: graphics, saves, controller.
- Find a copy of the game you can trust, and unpack it.
- Point the emulator at it, and map your controller button by button.
With Water, you press Install, then Play.
1,755 PS1 games
Water lists 1,755 PlayStation games, every one an English release with its cover, screenshots and details, shared by people on the BitTorrent network.
The other consoles Water sets up: PS2 emulator, PS3 emulator, GameCube and Wii emulator, PSP emulator, DS emulator, GBA emulator, N64 emulator, SNES and NES emulator, Xbox emulator, and PS Vita emulator.
Try it with a PS1 game
Your first install is free: Water installs any one game, PC or console, and it stays installed. Press Install: the emulator, the game and your controller are set up by the time you press Play.
