How to Use Ppsspp on Computer and Smartphones

It’s no new news that you can run PSP games on your computer and smartphones. In this article, we will be looking at what is Ppsspp and emulator? I will show you how to run the Ppsspp application on your smartphone with your external gamepad connected to your smartphone and also how to configure gamepads for Ppsspp on a computer.

What are Ppsspp and emulator?

PPSSPP is an abbreviation of (PlayStation portable simulator suitable for playing portably) it is an application or software created to emulate PSP games. It is a free and open-source emulator for computers and smartphones, and it was first released to the public on November 1st, 2012. Ppsspp was created by Henrik Rydgard, it was the first known emulator for PSP before other PSP emulator surfaced on the play store and other stores.

An emulator is a hardware or software that enables one computer to behave like another computer.

What can I do with ppsspp emulator?

Like I said earlier ppsspp is an emulator used in playing PSP games. Not all games run well on ppsspp, some games even crash on startup and others run very well. Sometimes your processor and ram may be the issue.

I have run PSP games using ppsspp emulator on my Tecno s3, it has a dual 1.0GHZ processor, and 512mb ram and I also did the same on my Infinix hot 2 1.3ghz quad processor and a 1gb ram. there’s a little improvement I noticed, this is to say if you have a good processor and ram you are likely to run most games properly. But just bear in mind that not all PSP games will run properly on your smartphone or computer as it was not built to run those games.

How do play PSP games using ppsspp?

First, you need to download the ppsspp emulator, the download link is at the end of this article.
Second, you need to download the game you love to play. Some websites for PSP game download can be found at the end of this article.
Thirdly, run the ppsspp emulator, browse through your folders, locate where you saved the game, and click on the game to play.

What to do if your game runs slow

Here we need to understand that different games might need different settings. The good part about this is that you can save each setting for each game. You can follow the settings in the pictures below.

After applying settings and the game didn’t run properly try changing the mode in graphics from buffered rendering to none.

How to configure an external gamepad on ppsspp for smartphones and computers

Playing ppsspp games on your smartphone screen can be very difficult, but I will be showing you how to connect and play with gamepads.
If you are using a smartphone and you what to connect an external pad to your phone you have to check for two things.

• If your phone supports OTG.
• If your phone supports Bluetooth gamepad. like s1, ipega, and other wireless gamepads.

If your phone supports OTG

If you fall under the categories of OTG smartphone support, all you have to do is to buy an OTG cable. In case you aren’t familiar with the word “OTG” an OTG cable is a cable used in connecting smartphones to external hardware. Like the keyboard, mouse, hard disk, gamepads, and so on.

Make sure you are buying the right OTG cable. some OTG cable in the market is just for charging another smartphone.
Make sure your smartphone or ROM (Read Only Memory) supports OTG. There are a lot of OTG checker apps on the play store but I recommend this one here

After you are sure your smartphone supports OTG and also must have bought the OTG cable, connect your OTG cable to your smartphone and also connect the gamepad to the OTG female plug. If your smartphone and Rom truly support OTG you will see a notification on your smartphone and also, the USB gamepad analogue light would also show.

But in case your gamepad doesn’t have an analogue LED light you should see the notification on your smartphone, after you must have connected it, launch ppsspp application, go to settings, move over to controls, after hitting on the control button you will see something like the picture below.

From the picture above you can see a series of assigned buttons that I have assigned already. Click on clear data, now you can start assigning new buttons, click on the button on your screen and assign it by clicking the same button on your gamepad.

If your phone supports Bluetooth gamepads

Most android phones support Bluetooth gamepads however to be sure yours supports it, try to borrow from friends to test or ask your manufacturer.
To configure the Bluetooth gamepad on your ppsspp is quite simple.
First, on your Bluetooth gamepad, then search for it through your phone.
Secondly, after you must have connected or paired the gamepad to your smartphone, follow the same procedure above.

How to configure ppsspp with an external gamepad on computers

First, connect your gamepad “Bluetooth or USB”.
secondly, go to settings click on controls and clear data, now assign buttons using your gamepad by clicking on the button in ppsspp and pressing your gamepad buttons.

How many games have I tested with ppsspp emulator?

here is a list of games I have tested on my ppsspp emulator.

(my ratings when it comes to speed and stability)

(Tested on computer core i5 4gb ram 1.8ghz dual processor HD4000 graphic)

Prince of Persia (good)
Ghost recon (awesome)
W2k20 (good)
GTA liberty city (good)
Toy Story 2 (awesome)
TnT racing (awesome)
Soul Calibur (awesome)
Need for speed most wanted (awesome)
Hell boy science lof evil (good)
Mortal kombat (awesome)

(Tested on Infinix hot 2 MTK 1.3ghz quad-core processor 1gb ram)

Prince of Persia (bad)
Ghost recon (awesome)
W2k20 (bad)
GTA liberty city (bad)
Toy Story 2 (awesome)
TnT racing (good)
Soul Calibur (awesome)
Need for speed most wanted (awesome)
Hell boy science lof evil (good)
Mortal kombat (awesome)

I also tested these same games on my older computer
(Tested on computer 3gb ram 2.50gh intel core two processors)

prince of Persia (bad)
ghost recon (awesome)
W2k20 (good)
GTA liberty city (bad)
Toy Story 2 (awesome)
TnT racing (good)
Soul Calibur (awesome)
Need for speed most wanted (awesome)
Hell boy science lof evil (good)
Mortal kombat (awesome)

You can see from the above data processor and graphic plays a good role in this one.

Where to get PSP games

There are a lot of sites that offer PSP games download for free but I mostly download from these websites, ( Emulatorgames, Emuparadise ). In most cases the PSP files are in zip format, you will need a zipper to unzip.

Ppsspp FAQS

Where to download ppsspp emulator

You can download ppsspp emulator directly from their website here.

I hope from this article you would be able to know and also fix ppsspp control issues your self. Also, if you have games on your computer that doesn’t support gamepads click here to get it solved.