This week brought some exciting news for fans of the PS3 emulator RPCS3. The developers have unveiled that RPCS3 now boasts stable, native Arm64 architecture support across major platforms like Windows, macOS, and Linux. This upgrade is comprehensive enough that even the Raspberry Pi 5 can now flex its muscles and run this once unimaginable emulation. Historically, the Raspberry Pi 5 has been known to emulate consoles like the GameCube and, albeit less effectively, the Wii. But now, with the right tweaks, PS3 emulation is proving to be within reach for this kind of entry-level Arm setup.
The audacity of running PS3 games on a Raspberry Pi 5 doesn’t go unnoticed—it’s genuinely pushing the boundaries of PlayStation 3 emulation. To make this feat achievable, developers have cleverly employed settings that mimic a PlayStation Portable by scaling down to a resolution of 273p compared to the PS3’s native 720p. Surprisingly, this adjustment allows some 3D games to run, including titles like God of War and God of War II HD, Catherine, and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. Although these two-dimensional games naturally fare better, achieving playable frame rates in PS3-era 3D games exceeds what most people would anticipate from the Raspberry Pi 5’s capabilities.
On the macOS front, the shift from emulating x86 architecture to native Arm support has led to remarkable performance boosts on Apple Silicon. Gaming enthusiasts can now enjoy improvements of 50-100% in frame rates, thanks to the removal of the x86 translation layer that previously sat atop the intense PS3 hardware emulation. This achievement turns the dream of smooth Arm-powered PS3 emulation into a tangible reality.
While the Raspberry Pi 5 experience offers a slightly scaled-down version reminiscent of a PlayStation Portable, testing on Apple Silicon demonstrates the high-performance potential for true PS3 classics. Titles such as God of War III and Skate 3, known for their demanding emulation requirements, are now satisfying experiences on Arm architecture hardware—provided it has the horsepower to handle the task.
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