This week, developers behind the PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 announced that RPCS3 had now achieved stable, native Arm64 architecture support for Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms— Arm64 architecture support so definitive that it even includes the Raspberry Pi 5, of all devices, utterly pushing the limits of emulation believed possible on the Raspberry Pi 5. In the past, Raspberry Pi 5 has also been seen emulating GameCube and Wii (Wii less effectively) — but with the correct settings adjustments, it seems even PS3 emulation is possible on today's entry-level Arm hardware.
Running PS3 emulation on Raspberry Pi 5 is very much "challenging the limits of PlayStation 3 emulation"— considering the settings used, which make the affair look like a genuine PlayStation Portable (PSP) game by scaling down to the PSP's output resolution of just 273p versus PS3's native 720p. But this makes running some 3D games actually possible, including God of War (and God of War II) HD (originally PS2 games), Catherine, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, and more. 2D games will be a lot more playable across the board, of course, but even being able to turn around playable framerates in PS3-era 3D titles is well beyond the emulation capabilities most would expect from a Raspberry Pi 5.
Over on the MacOS side of things, native support for Arm architecture versus simply emulating x86 has netted some massive performance gains on Apple Silicon playing PS3 games. Framerates are seeing increases of anywhere from 50-100% just by running natively instead of being forced through x86 translation on top of intensive PS3 hardware emulation, making truly performant Arm-powered PlayStation 3 emulation a reality instead of a far-off dream.
Unlike the Raspberry Pi 5 testing which more or less approximates a PlayStation Portable, the Apple Silicon testing shows off high performance in some true PS3 powerhouses, including the likes of God of War III and Skate 3. These titles are much harder to emulate than PS2-to-PS3 HD ports like God of War HD, but they are still quite playable on Arm architecture hardware, so long as it has the muscle to back the experience.
