Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An Android version of the Vita3K PlayStation Vita emulator will launch on Sunday.
- This will be the first properly working PlayStation Vita emulator on Android.
One of the best things about Android is that it’s easy to download emulators to play your favorite console games. We’ve already seen top-notch emulators such as AetherSX2 for PS2 and Skyline for the Nintendo Switch, but we can add another emulator to the list on Sunday.
An Android port of the Vita3K PlayStation Vita emulator will be released on Sunday, February 12 (11am GMT+1.5am ET), developer Macdu noted in the project’s Discord channel. It looks like you shouldn’t expect a Play Store release just yet, as the developer noted that an APK file and subsequent updates will be released on the channel.
The developer post also notes some minimum requirements (eg Arm64, Vulkan 1.0, Android 7.0 or higher) but stops short of mentioning chipset, storage and RAM requirements. Still, the developer says you should only expect to play some homebrew and 2D titles if your device just meets the minimum requirements. For what it’s worth, a Poco F3 (equipped with a Snapdragon 870 processor) was used in development.
Additionally, the developer states that this Android port supports custom drivers on Snapdragon devices. Specifically, devices from the Adreno 600 series or higher can use the open-source Turnip graphics driver for a “significant speed boost.”
Sony’s ill-fated pocket beast
We are happy to see that Sony’s latest handheld console is finally available to emulate on Android. The PlayStation Vita launched in 2011 as a rival to the Nintendo 3DS and was an impressive hardware proposition. It packed an impressive level of power, a touchscreen, a rear touchpad, and typical console controls (e.g. dual analog sticks, face buttons, shoulder keys).
Sony’s console fell far behind the 3DS in sales, while the Japanese gaming giant didn’t help matters by effectively abandoning first-party game development after a few years. Nonetheless, the Vita has hosted a variety of notable titles such as Teardown, Killzone: Mercenary, Gravity Rush, and Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The console has also become an indie paradise thanks to titles like Fez, Undertale, OlliOlli, and Shovel Knight.
The emulator is still in the early stages of development, but it already supports just over 400 playable games. Anyway, it should be noted that the people behind Vita3K for Android are hobbyists. So you cannot expect any support from them to run Vita games on your device.
