DuckStation vs xemu
DuckStation
duckstation.orgxemu
xemu.appSide by side
| Figure | DuckStation | xemu |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Emulator Software | 8.8 (#4) | 7.4 (#30) |
| Spec score · Game Console Emulators | 8.9 (#4) | 7.4 (#31) |
| Controllers | It supports digital and analog controllers, rumble, GunCon and Justifier lightguns simulated with a mouse, and up to eight devices through multitap. | xemu supports virtually all gamepads and up to four controllers, although only the Xbox controller is emulated. |
| Purpose | DuckStation emulates the Sony PlayStation console, focusing on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability. | xemu emulates the original Microsoft Xbox so people can play original Xbox games on desktop systems. |
| System requirements | The project requires a supported x86_64, ARM32, ARM64 or RISC-V CPU and a GPU supporting OpenGL 3.1, OpenGL ES 3.1, Direct3D 11 feature level 10.0 or Vulkan 1.0. | An OpenGL 4.0-compatible GPU is required, and game performance varies with the host system. |
Plans
In their own words
DuckStation
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.