The PlayStation 2 is emulated by PCSX2, available on PC (x86_64) only: no other board in the Recalbox range has the required power. Three emulators are offered — PCSX2 standalone (the default), PCSX2 as a Libretro core, and the Libretro ps2 core (Play!).
Your games go into /recalbox/share/roms/ps2, in .iso, .bin, .chd, .cso, .gz, .img, .mdf and .nrg formats.
A PlayStation 2 BIOS is mandatory. Put it in /recalbox/share/bios/ps2/:
| File | Region |
|---|---|
ps2-0230a-20080220.bin |
North America |
ps2-0230e-20080220.bin |
Europe |
ps2-0230j-20080220.bin |
Japan |
ps2-0230h-20080220.bin |
Hong Kong |
Recalbox picks the BIOS automatically based on your rom's name: a game tagged
(Europe),(France),(Germany),(Australia)… triggers the European BIOS,(USA),(Canada),(Brazil)the American one,(Japan),(Korea),(Asia)the Japanese one. Name your games following the Redump convention and there is nothing to configure. If no region is detected, the first BIOS found is used.
Installing all four BIOS files is therefore the most comfortable setup: every game will boot with the right one.
| Combination | Action |
|---|---|
HOTKEY + UP / DOWN |
Pick the save slot |
HOTKEY + X / Y |
Load / save state |
HOTKEY + LEFT |
Toggle slow motion |
HOTKEY + RIGHT |
Toggle turbo |
HOTKEY + R1 |
Cycle the aspect ratio (4:3, 16:9, stretched) |
HOTKEY + L1 |
Screenshot |
SELECT + START |
Quit PCSX2 |
There is nothing special to do: Recalbox passes its own global performance display setting to PCSX2. Enable it from START > ADVANCED SETTINGS > SHOW FRAMERATE, and the counter shows up in PlayStation 2 games like everywhere else.
Recalbox always starts PCSX2 with a full boot, that is, through the PlayStation 2's internal interface — the one where language, date and time are set. Reaching it requires a keyboard and a mouse:
ALT + TAB on the keyboard to get back to the PCSX2 window.CDVD > No disc, then confirm with Reset.System Configuration, then down to Language.HOTKEY + START and relaunch your game.PCSX2's own settings can be reached with a keyboard by pressing Esc during a game, which hands control back to the emulator's graphical interface (Config > Graphics settings). Recalbox itself enforces fullscreen, vertical sync, the aspect ratio chosen in its own options, and a rendering thread count matched to your CPU.
PCSX2's configuration files live in /recalbox/share/system/.config/PCSX2/.