How To: Play Your PSP Games on Your Android Device with PPSSPP

While there is definitely no shortage of video game emulators in the Android Market, it lacks in modern gaming consoles. Nintendo 64, Game Boys, and Sega Genesis are all accounted for, but what about emulators for some of the gaming consoles that have come out in the, let's say...past decade?

Last month, we've shown you RetroArch, but now there's an app geared specifically to bringing PSP games to your Android device.

While it's still in its infancy, PPSSPP is a new PSP emulator for Android and other platforms. The difficulty with running newer, high-quality games on Android devices is due to the hardware's weakness and inability to properly play such a highly optimized game. On PPSSPP's website, it states:

"PPSSPP is written in C++, and translates PSP CPU instructions directly into optimized x86, x64 and ARM machine code, using efficient JIT dynamic recompilers (dynarecs)."

This separates PPSSPP from other emulators and it is able to run on low-spec hardware, including higher end Android phones and tablets.

While it may not have a substantial library, it is being developed at a rapid pace so that more games can become added in the near future. No games are included with PSSPP, so you'll have to turn your own PSP games into .ISO/.CSO files, or just simply find them online. A small list of the games currently compatible with the emulator include:

• Dragon Ball: Evolution
• Fate Extra
• Final Fantasy Type-0
• Lumines
• Wipeout Pure and Pulse (0.7)
• Mortal Kombat Unchained
• MotoGP
• Mega Man - Powered Up

If you want to check out the full list of compatible games, check them out here. You can also watch the video below to see Mortal Kombat Unchained being played on the Sony Xperia S.

You can snag PPSSPP for free on your Android device, or you can opt to help the dev out by buying the Gold version, which is completely identical to the free version—only it helps support future development.

You can also download PPSSPP for Windows, BlackBerry 10, Arch-Linux, and Symbian systems. There is a Mac version in the works. Just check out PPSSPP's download page to stay up to date.