DuckStation vs Play!

DuckStation is a free emulator for Sony PlayStation games, available for Android, Linux, macOS and Windows. Its hardware renderer supports D3D11, D3D12, OpenGL, Vulkan and Metal, with upscaling, texture filtering and 24-bit color among the graphics options. Enhancements include PGXP geometry precision, texture replacement, adaptive downsampling and post-processing shader chains. Play options include save states, rewind, runahead, CPU overclocking and multi-disc support, along with memory-card editing and save importing. DuckStation supports RetroAchievements and Discord Rich Presence. It accepts digital and analog controllers, rumble, and up to eight devices through multitap; GunCon and Justifier lightguns can be simulated with a mouse. Supported formats include bin/cue, MAME CHD, single-track ECM, MDS/MDF, CCD and unencrypted PBP. A PS1 or PS2 BIOS image is required but not supplied, and games are not provided. The maker says users should dump a BIOS from their own console. Desktop requirements include Windows 10/11 and macOS 13.3 or newer.

Play! is a free, open-source emulator for PlayStation 2 games, with builds for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, plus an experimental browser port. Its high-level emulation means a BIOS is not required, and the project says users do not need custom settings to fix specific games. Games can be played by inserting a disc; desktop builds also offer command-line options for disc images, ELF files, arcade games, save-state slots, and fullscreen mode. The Play!.js browser version supports ISO, CSO, CHD, ISZ, BIN, and ELF files, but is not intended to run every game supported by desktop and mobile builds. Play! has preliminary support for Namco System 246 and 256 arcade games; release notes described 246 support as desktop-only. A compatibility tracker lists game statuses from Nothing to Playable. On iOS, playing requires JIT code generation, with device, jailbreak, or alternative JIT requirements documented by the project. Automatic JIT activation through AltServer requires it to run on the same network as the iOS device.