The AetherSX2 PlayStation 2 emulator for Android has no trouble running Metal Gear Solid 3 at 30 FPS on the Snapdragon 860-equipped POCO X3 Pro

A recent update to the AetherSX2 PlayStation 2 emulator on Android has brought about significant improvements to performance. Under the latest alpha builds of the emulator, titles like Metal Gear Solid 3, which pushed the limits of PS2 hardware, seemingly run at full-speed on midrange chips like the Snapdragon 860. 

Youtuber Crazy Rabbit posted a 20 minute-long gameplay video showcasing Metal Gear Solid 3 running on the midrange Poco X3 Pro. This phone features the Snapdragon 860, a midrange chip that features the Adreno 640 GPU, and performance that's a spot faster than the aging Snapdragon 855. 

Performance appears solid in the video, with the framerate sticking closely to the PS2's original 30 FPS target. PlayStation 2 emulation has been notoriously performance-intensive, even on PC, thanks to difficulties in properly emulating the PS2's Emotion Engine. The ongoing work on AetherSX2 seems to have brought the performance bar down considerably. A wide range of reasonably modern Android devices should, as of now, be able to run AAA PlayStation 2 titles from years gone.

Check out the Poco X3 Pro here on Amazon.