As usual, the PPSSPP folks are keeping up with their once every ~5 months release schedule and have just released PPSSPP 1.8. This update brings about much better Vulkan support to Android phones with a PowerVR GPU, such as the Nokia 3.1 Plus, some fixes relating to OpenGL rendering on Linux and many other compatibility/bug fixes!

What is PPSSPP?

PPSSPP is the best PSP emulator out there and it’s available on every major platform including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and various others including the PlayStation Classic!

Other than emulating the vast majority of PSP games accurately and with good performance, it also has a great deal of other nice features including:

• The ability to render games at higher resolutions and apply screen filters like FXAA shading.
  • This could make your favourite PSP games appear like PS2 or early PS3 games if the game you’re playing takes kindly to such tweaks!
• Support for PSP homebrew so you can experience the glory days of PSP homebrew without having to own a working PSP or PSVita!
• Save states and the ability to use regular PSP save files so you can start games on your PSP and continue them on your PC.
• Numerous other features such as support for compressed PSP games in CSO format, different rendering backends and even online multiplayer support.

What does PPSSPP 1.8 bring along?

PPSSPP 1.8 isn’t really a major update but it brings about a barrage of fixes and smaller features which can improve your experience with it.

This update includes:

• Support for Vulkan on Android devices sporting PowerVR GPUs has been greatly improved fixing many occurrences of broken display
  • These devices include those with a Helio X30, Helio X10, Helio P22 and some other MediaTek SoCs
  • Some phones include the Nokia 3.1 Plus, Meizu M8, Sony Xperia L3 and various other budget phones
• Workarounds around Vulkan-related driver bugs on Adreno 500-series GPUs
• PPSSPP doesn’t crash when loading on systems with bad AMD Vulkan drivers
• GLES support on Linux has been improved and some D3D11 fixes on Windows
• You can use custom Memory Stick storage paths on Android
• Compatibility fixes for many games including Naruto Shippuden 3, Final Fantasy 4 and Formula 1 2006
• Many other small tweaks and bug fixes such as fixing X/Back button confusion in the UWP XBOX One version

Conclusion

To grab PPSSPP 1.8, simply follow the link below and choose the download for the platform of your choice. Now, you should go play some excellent PSP titles like Burnout Legends instead of IAP-filled games from the Play Store that are more frustrating than fun 😉

PPSSPP 1.8 download link: https://ppsspp.org/downloads.html

PPSSPP 1.8 changelog (at bottom of page): https://ppsspp.org/index.html