DuckStation
Stenzek Arcade
DuckStation PS1 Emulator - Fast and Free
- Rating
- 4.3
- 18.3K ratings
- Downloads
- 4.6M+
- on Google Play
- Price
- Free
- No in-app purchases
- Updated
- May 1
- 2025 · v0.1-8969-g611bb8fb4
Screenshots
About DuckStation
DuckStation is an simulator/emulator of the Sony PlayStation(TM)/PS1 console, focusing on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability. The goal is to be as accurate as possible while maintaining high performance.
PLEASE USE THE DISCORD SERVER FOR SUPPORT, NOT EMAIL. You will get a response much quicker via Discord as we have a helpful community.
Discord server link: https://discord.gg/Buktv3t
GitHub for bug tracking: https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/
Game compatibility list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H66MxViRjjE5f8hOl5RQmF5woS1murio2dsLn14kEqo/edit?usp=sharing
Features include:
- OpenGL, Vulkan (recommended) and software rendering
- Upscaling, texture filtering, and true colour (24-bit) in hardware renderers
- Widescreen rendering in supported games (no stretching!)
- PGXP for geometry precision, texture correction, and depth buffer emulation (fixes texture "wobble"/polygon fighting)
- Adaptive downsampling filter
- 60fps in PAL games where supported
- Per-game settings (set enhancements and controller mapping for each game individually)
- Built in patch code database
- Save states with preview screenshots
- Blazing fast turbo speeds in mid to high end devices
- Emulated CPU overclocking to improve FPS in games
DuckStation supports both 32-bit and 64-bit ARM devices. However, due to it being a more accurate emulator, hardware requirements can be moderate. If you have a 32-bit ARM device, please do not expect the emulator to perform well - you will need at least a 1.5GHz CPU for good performance.
**For high upscaling (more than 2x) you will need at least a mid range device. This is because of how many pixels the emulator needs to render/shade - it is not a question of optimization.**
A "BIOS" ROM image is required to to start the emulator and to play games. A ROM image is not provided with the emulator for legal reasons, you should dump this from your own console using Caetla or other means.
Instructions:
1. Install and run the app for the first time.
2. Add game directories by hitting the + icon and selecting a directory. The directories must be on your internal or external storage, when selecting the directory tap the ︙(overflow) button on the top right and ensure "Show Internal Storage" is checked, then tap the menu button and select your device name or SD card.
3. Tap a game to start. When you start a game for the first time it will prompt you to import a BIOS image.
If you have an external controller, you will need to map the buttons and sticks in settings.
"PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited. This project is not affiliated in any way with Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Duck icon by icons8: https://icons8.com/icon/74847/duck
Games shown are:
- Hover Racing: http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=636
- Fromage: https://chenthread.asie.pl/fromage/
- PSXNICCC Demo: https://github.com/PeterLemon/PSX/tree/master/Demo/PSXNICCC
PLEASE USE THE DISCORD SERVER FOR SUPPORT, NOT EMAIL. You will get a response much quicker via Discord as we have a helpful community.
Discord server link: https://discord.gg/Buktv3t
GitHub for bug tracking: https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/
Game compatibility list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H66MxViRjjE5f8hOl5RQmF5woS1murio2dsLn14kEqo/edit?usp=sharing
Features include:
- OpenGL, Vulkan (recommended) and software rendering
- Upscaling, texture filtering, and true colour (24-bit) in hardware renderers
- Widescreen rendering in supported games (no stretching!)
- PGXP for geometry precision, texture correction, and depth buffer emulation (fixes texture "wobble"/polygon fighting)
- Adaptive downsampling filter
- 60fps in PAL games where supported
- Per-game settings (set enhancements and controller mapping for each game individually)
- Built in patch code database
- Save states with preview screenshots
- Blazing fast turbo speeds in mid to high end devices
- Emulated CPU overclocking to improve FPS in games
DuckStation supports both 32-bit and 64-bit ARM devices. However, due to it being a more accurate emulator, hardware requirements can be moderate. If you have a 32-bit ARM device, please do not expect the emulator to perform well - you will need at least a 1.5GHz CPU for good performance.
**For high upscaling (more than 2x) you will need at least a mid range device. This is because of how many pixels the emulator needs to render/shade - it is not a question of optimization.**
A "BIOS" ROM image is required to to start the emulator and to play games. A ROM image is not provided with the emulator for legal reasons, you should dump this from your own console using Caetla or other means.
Instructions:
1. Install and run the app for the first time.
2. Add game directories by hitting the + icon and selecting a directory. The directories must be on your internal or external storage, when selecting the directory tap the ︙(overflow) button on the top right and ensure "Show Internal Storage" is checked, then tap the menu button and select your device name or SD card.
3. Tap a game to start. When you start a game for the first time it will prompt you to import a BIOS image.
If you have an external controller, you will need to map the buttons and sticks in settings.
"PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited. This project is not affiliated in any way with Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Duck icon by icons8: https://icons8.com/icon/74847/duck
Games shown are:
- Hover Racing: http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=636
- Fromage: https://chenthread.asie.pl/fromage/
- PSXNICCC Demo: https://github.com/PeterLemon/PSX/tree/master/Demo/PSXNICCC
What’s new
Version 0.1-8969-g611bb8fb4 · Updated May 1, 2025
- Multi-threaded rendering. - Merging of multi-disc games in list/grid. - Custom game titles/regions. - Texture cache and replacements. - New enhancements. - New patch code system. - Game compatibility improvements. - Updated UI.
User reviews
Best emulator I've played on Android, keep up the good work dude
I really enjoy it, run smoothly on my old miA1
Amazing. I'm getting better performance from this app than either retroarch, epsxe or fpse. Fantastic work very impressive. I would be more than happy to pay for this app. Small issue with breath of fire 4 however, any cutscene drops the frames to almost zero. Hoping this will in time be ironed out if possible. Grea...
(Sorry for my bad English). I've been reading so many negative comments in here, so I had to write this to tell Stenzek please do NOT give up on this app. Stenzek is an awesome guy, he worked hard on this app to deliver it to us for free and also tolerating all the harassments and the unexplained negative reviews. H...
How do I play games on this?
Better performance and rendering compared to ePsxe
Alternatives to DuckStation
Looking for apps like DuckStation? Here are 3 similar Android apps on Google Play. The highest rated is Pizza Boy GBA Pro (4.9/5), and 2 of the 3 are free to download.
| App | Rating | Price | Installs | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DuckStation | 4.3 / 5 | Free | 1,000,000+ | May 1, 2025 |
| Argon: Modern Retro Gaming | 3.9 / 5 | Free | 1,000,000+ | Sep 11, 2025 |
| Pizza Boy GBA Pro | 4.9 / 5 | 4.99 USD | 100,000+ | Sep 24, 2026 |
| Chimparty | 3.8 / 5 | Free | 100,000+ | – |