Until this autumn, playing a PS2 game on a PC meant PCSX2. Now 39 PS2 games have fan projects on GitHub that turn them into ordinary Windows or Linux programs, and 11 of them have been played through to the credits: Ratchet & Clank, Ace Combat 5, TimeSplitters, Zone of the Enders, Persona 3 FES and others. Another 18, from Gran Turismo 4 to God of War, already play, with rough edges. None of them include the game: every one needs a disc image from your own copy. Below is the full list as of November 1, sorted by how far each port has got, with the repository, the latest version and what the author says works.
Why PS2 games are suddenly coming to PC
Most of these ports are static recompilations. A tool reads the game's MIPS code from the disc, translates it into C++ and builds a normal program; the PS2's graphics, sound and vector units are replaced by native code or by parts of PCSX2. The shared tool is PS2Recomp by ran-j, with more than 3700 stars, and its author still calls it experimental. A smaller group works the other way: the game is decompiled back into readable source and rebuilt, as OpenGOAL did with Jak and Daxter years ago. The ICO, Crash Twinsanity and Budokai Tenkaichi 3 ports are built that way too.
Almost every project here is less than two months old, and many authors say outright that they wrote the code with AI assistants. That is why so many games appeared at once, and also why versions change daily. Apart from Jak and Daxter, which has been around since 2020, the busiest repositories are Budokai Tenkaichi 3, ICO, Gran Turismo 4 and the brand new Vice City Stories, which gathered 380 stars in its first three days.
Played to the end: 11 games
These are the ports whose authors say the game can be finished on PC. Expect bugs anyway: most of them are weeks old.
- Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. OpenGOAL 0.3.9 rebuilt the game from decompiled code: Windows, Linux and macOS, any retail disc. The first game has been finished for years, Jak II is in beta and can be completed, Jak 3 still has a good amount of work left.
- Ratchet & Clank. Three projects. rac-rs 0.4.3 plays "from power-on to the end credits, including New Game+" and builds itself from your disc in about 15 minutes. rac1-native 0.6.0 has also been played to the end, and the OpenRAC launcher runs the first game, with the sequels in progress.
- Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. Ace-Combat-5-Static-recompilation V3.0 for Windows with its own Vulkan renderer. The author calls it fully playable. You build it yourself from the US disc.
- Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Tenkaichi3Decomp 0.1.39.3 runs the whole game loop, from the opening movie to saves and split screen, and adds experimental online play with rollback.
- TimeSplitters. TimeSplitters Recomp 1.0: story, arcade, challenges and the map maker, four-player split screen, widescreen.
- Zone of the Enders. ZOE-Recompiled 1.0.1 plays from the intro to the final area at 60 FPS. The CPU must support AVX2.
- Persona 3 FES. P3FES Recompiled for Windows "plays from start to finish", with 60 or 120 FPS interpolation.
- Guitar Hero II. GH Classic 0.8.6 runs the campaigns of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and GH80s and mixes their songs in Quickplay.
- Rampage: Total Destruction. RampageRE 1.2.1 has been played from start to end on Windows, with up to four players.
- Crash Twinsanity. Crash Twinsanity for Windows 1.0.19, played by hand to the credits. European disc only.
- Burnout Dominator. BurnoutDominatorReversed, "playable from start to finish, and stable", up to 240 FPS. No ready build: the installer compiles it from the European disc.
Playable with rough edges: 18 games
Here the game runs and plays, but nobody has confirmed a full playthrough yet, or the author lists modes and effects that still don't work.
- Gran Turismo 4. GT4Recomp 1.2.5: locked 60 FPS in every tested scene, up to 8K, ultrawide. Some licence test demos and menu backgrounds don't play. US disc v2.00 only.
- God of War. gow-native-pc 0.4.0 with an installer, 50-55 FPS for now. Details are in our God of War news; the parallel projects by Waffle565, KIexster and Tobiichi build from source.
- ICO. ico-pc 0.9.7 runs the game's own code from any of seven discs, including the 2001 preview, on Windows, Linux, Steam Deck and Android. Widescreen and higher frame rates are opt-in.
- Burnout 3: Takedown. burnout3-pc 0.8.0 alpha: races, Crash mode, the career and saves, up to 240 FPS, LAN play.
- Resident Evil Code: Veronica X. recvx-enhanced-port 0.7.2 from the PS2 disc: ultrawide, online co-op for two, a third-person camera and the BioRand randomizer.
- Resident Evil Outbreak. Resident Evil Outbreak Recompiled 1.5.1, the first File, built on your PC in a few minutes; 60 FPS is experimental.
- Grandia III. Grandia III for PC 1.0.5, both US discs, 60 FPS and ultrawide.
- Shadow of the Colossus. sotc-vibe-pc preview 2 from the European disc: all 16 colossus fights pass the author's automated test, though only the first few were played by hand.
- Ridge Racer V. Fukami 1.1.0 for Windows, macOS and Steam Deck: 60 FPS, real widescreen, up to 8x resolution.
- NBA Street V3. NBA Street V3 Recomp 2.0: matches at 60 FPS, DLSS, online games on a community server.
- Downhill Domination. Downhill Revived 0.7.6 with experimental online races for up to ten players.
- War of the Monsters. War of the Monsters recomp 0.1.1: adventure for up to four, versus for up to eight, any resolution.
- Fighting and wrestling games: Urban Reign 1.4.1 with brawls for eight at 60 FPS, Def Jam Vendetta 0.4.4 with resolution up to 16x, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain 0.3.4, where Exhibition and Season work but PPV and online don't yet, and Budokai Tenkaichi 2, where versus battles play but saving is still in progress.
- Also playable: Road Trip (Choro Q HG 2) 0.2.3, with adventure mode and quick races, and Baroque 0.3.1, whose author doesn't say how far it goes.
Early builds worth following: 10 games
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. gta-vcs-recomp appeared on October 30, and its launcher (0.1.1) builds the game from the US disc in 20 to 60 minutes. The author marks it "in development", and a trainer can start all 59 story missions. Update to 0.1.1: the version before it could delete save games.
- Killzone. KillzoneRecomp 0.1.5 alpha with mouse aiming and high frame rates; the game can still hang in level 2.
- Rogue Galaxy. Rogue Galaxy Recompiled 0.1.0; the author says it "has not been played from start to finish".
- Dragon Quest VIII. DQ8-Recompiled boots, loads saves and reaches the field, but speed isn't steady.
- God of War II. GoW2-nativo-PS2 reaches the first playable area at 44-59 FPS in combat, but there is nothing to download yet.
- God Hand. God Hand Recompiled has been tested into stage 3; build from source.
- Soulcalibur III. SoulCaliburIII_Recomp runs at 60 FPS on Linux; the Windows build is still in testing.
- Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, SOCOM II and Dark Cloud 2. Noble Archimedes is an alpha kit for developers, SOCOM Unzipped runs missions and online rounds on a test server but has no public download, and the Dark Cloud 2 recomp stopped at version 0.9.5 because its author moved to a decompilation project.
There is also a Shadow of the Colossus port for Mac and PS Vita, Celosia, but no Windows version.
Every PS2 port in one table
| Game | Project | Version | System | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy | open-goal/jak-project | 0.3.9 | Windows, Linux, macOS | finished; Jak II beta |
| Ratchet & Clank | AsobiCodes/rac-rs | 0.4.3 | Windows, Linux | finished, builds from disc |
| Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War | sal063/Ace-Combat-5-Static-recompilation | V3.0 | Windows | fully playable, build yourself |
| Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 | z3xox/Tenkaichi3Decomp | 0.1.39.3 | Windows, Linux | whole game, online beta |
| TimeSplitters | GTTeancum/Timesplitters | 1.0 | Windows, Linux | whole game |
| Zone of the Enders | Yaz-Myst/ZOE-Recompiled | 1.0.1 | Windows | finished, 60 FPS |
| Persona 3 FES | C-GBL/P3FES-Decompilation | 0.2.0 | Windows | finished |
| Guitar Hero II | noahbaxter/GHClassic | 0.8.6 | Windows, Linux, macOS | campaigns playable |
| Rampage: Total Destruction | jjmhalew/RampageRE | 1.2.1 | Windows | finished |
| Crash Twinsanity | GioPixelGH/Crash-Twinsanity-Windows | 1.0.19 | Windows | finished, PAL only |
| Burnout Dominator | literalynn/BurnoutDominatorReversed | no release | Windows, Linux | finished, PAL only |
| Gran Turismo 4 | moesuito/gt4-staticrecomp | 1.2.5 | Windows | 60 FPS, some videos missing |
| God of War | Vnnc1/gow-native-pc | 0.4.0 | Windows | playable, 50-55 FPS |
| ICO | nathanialf/ico-pc | 0.9.7 | Windows, Linux, Android | playable |
| Burnout 3: Takedown | danielgomesvieira2000/burnout3-pc | 0.8.0 | Windows | alpha, career works |
| Resident Evil Code: Veronica X | aikatore/recvx-enhanced-port | 0.7.2 | Windows, Linux | playable, online co-op |
| Resident Evil Outbreak | RaccoonRecomp/ResidentEvilOutbreakRecompiled | 1.5.1 | Windows | playable, File #1 |
| Grandia III | GranasSabre/Grandia3-PC | 1.0.5 | Windows | playable |
| Shadow of the Colossus | LightVelox/sotc-vibe-pc | preview 2 | Windows | all fights pass tests |
| Ridge Racer V | danisandoval/fukami | 1.1.0 | Windows, macOS, Steam Deck | playable |
| NBA Street V3 | recomp-code/street-recomp-v3 | 2.0 | Windows, macOS | playable, online |
| Downhill Domination | skuza-oss/downhill-revived | 0.7.6 | Windows | playable, online beta |
| War of the Monsters | yanm1103/War_of_the_Monsters_recomp | 0.1.1 | Windows | playable |
| Urban Reign | thiagordsfx/urban-reign-recomp | 1.4.1 | Windows, Linux | beta, 60 FPS |
| Def Jam Vendetta | jcsix694/def-jam-vendetta-recomp | 0.4.4 | Windows | playable |
| WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain | BigDaddyJRich/hctp-recomp | 0.3.4 | Windows | no PPV or online yet |
| Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 | oric212/BT2-Recomp | no release | Windows | versus works, no saves |
| Road Trip (Choro Q HG 2) | silentsudin/RoadTripAdventure-recomp | 0.2.3 | Windows, macOS, Android | adventure playable |
| Baroque | Arch61s/Baroque-Decomp | 0.3.1 | Windows | status not stated |
| GTA: Vice City Stories | gothamor/gta-vcs-recomp | 0.1.1 | Windows, Linux | in development |
| Killzone | drakolordx7/KillzoneRecomp | 0.1.5 | Windows | alpha |
| Rogue Galaxy | victor-takai/rogue-galaxy-recomp | 0.1.0 | Windows | early game tested |
| Dragon Quest VIII | Sinan-Karakaya/DQ8-Recompiled | dev builds | Windows, Linux, macOS | reaches the field |
| God of War II | cxldsakeb/GoW2-nativo-PS2 | no release | Windows | first area |
| God Hand | LasVola/godhand-recomp | no release | Windows | up to stage 3 |
| Soulcalibur III | Arzaroth/SoulCaliburIII_Recomp | no release | Linux | Windows in testing |
| Castlevania: Curse of Darkness | sergiomanzur/noble-archimedes | 0.2.1 alpha | Windows | developer kit |
| SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs | Scotho/socom-unzipped | no download | Windows | prototype |
| Dark Cloud 2 | Red-tv141/DC2-PS2RECOMP | 0.9.5 | Windows | stopped |
How to run a PS2 port
Almost every port wants a specific release of the game. The serial number is printed on the disc and the case: SCUS-97328 for the US Gran Turismo 4, SLUS-21590 for Vice City Stories, SCES-50916 for the European Ratchet & Clank. Make an .iso or .chd image of your own disc and check the serial against the README before you start, because many launchers verify a hash and refuse anything else.
Then it depends on the project. ICO, TimeSplitters, Zone of the Enders, Crash Twinsanity and Urban Reign come as a ready program that only asks for the image. Ratchet & Clank (rac-rs), Vice City Stories, God of War and Def Jam Vendetta come as a launcher that downloads Microsoft's C++ build tools and compiles the game on your PC, which takes from a quarter of an hour to an hour and up to 6 GB of extra space. A few, like Burnout Dominator and God Hand, have no release at all and expect you to follow the build instructions.
One legal detail. A ready program built by a static recompiler contains the game's translated code, even if no textures or sounds are inside, and several authors say so in their README. Projects that build the game on your PC avoid that. We link only to the repositories and never to game files. For the same picture on newer consoles, see our list of PS4 ports and recompilations from every console.
Sources
README files and release notes of every repository named in the article, checked on November 1, 2026; star counts from the GitHub API on the same day. Projects were found through GitHub search and two open catalogs: awesome-decomp-games and recompiled-games-list. Charts by FramesGames. Images: PlayStation Store.
