Water
Play PS2 games on PC
Water is a game launcher for Windows that plays PlayStation 2 games. The first time you install a PS2 game, it downloads the PCSX2 emulator, checks it and sets it up. Then Play starts the game fullscreen, with your controller already mapped.
The PS2 emulator, set up for you
Water plays PS2 games with PCSX2, the free, open-source PlayStation 2 emulator made by its own team; Water isn’t affiliated with it. Water downloads PCSX2’s official release, checks it against the hash its makers publish, and sets what each game needs before it starts:
- Fullscreen, straight into the game, with no setup wizard and no settings to open.
- Three times the PS2’s resolution, a sharper picture than the console had.
- Memory cards and save states 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
PCSX2’s makers recommend 4 cores with AVX2; it needs SSE4.1 and four threads at least. Water draws PS2 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 a PS2 game’s page says how well your PC plays it before you install.
By hand, or with Water
Playing a PS2 game on a PC by hand is an evening of setup:
- Download the emulator and work through its settings: graphics, memory cards, 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.
2,487 PS2 games
Water lists 2,487 PlayStation 2 games, every one an English release with its cover, screenshots and details, shared by people on the BitTorrent network. New ones are listed every few days. The consoles page has the other 13 consoles Water plays.
Your first PS2 game is free
Water installs any one game free, 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.
