PCSX2 is a free and open-source PlayStation 2 emulator for Windows, Linux, and macOS. that supports a wide range of PlayStation 2 video games with a high level of compatibility and functionality. Although PCSX2 can closely mirror the original gameplay experience on the PlayStation 2, PCSX2 supports a number of improvements over gameplay on a traditional PlayStation 2, such as the ability to use custom resolutions up to 8192×8192, anti-aliasing, and texture filtering. Background PCSX2, like its predecessor project PCSX (a PlayStation emulator), is based on a PSEmu Pro spec plug-in architecture, separating several functions from the core emulator. These are the graphics, audio, input controls, CD/DVD drive, and USB and FireWire (i.LINK) ports. Different plug-ins may produce different results in both compatibility and performance. Additionally, PCSX2 requires a genuine copy of the PS2 BIOS, which is not available for download from the developers due to copyright-related legal issues. Since September 2016, PCSX2 is partially compatible with PlayStation games. The main bottleneck in PS2 emulation is emulating the Emotion Engine multi-processor on the PC x86 architecture. Although each processor can be emulated well independently, accurately synchronizing them and emulating the console's timing is difficult. Development Development of PCSX2 was started in 2001 by programmers who go by the names Linuzappz and Shadow, who were programmers for the PlayStation emulator PCSX-Reloaded. Other programmers later joined the team, and they were eventually able to get some PS2 games to the loading screen. The team then started working on the difficult task of emulating the PlayStation 2's BIOS; they got it to run, although it was slow and graphically distorted. Version 0.9.1 was released in July 2006. From 2007 to 2011, developers worked on Netplay and speed improvements. PCSX2 0.9.8 was released in May 2011 and featured an overhauled GUI written with wxWidgets, that improved compatibility for Linux and newer Windows operating systems. The addition of a new VU recompiler brought better compatibility, a memory card editor, an overhaul of the SPU2-X audio plug-in, and numerous other improvements. As of November 2021, 97% of PlayStation 2 games are considered "playable" on the emulator, meaning they can be played largely but not entirely free of slight issues. 22 games are considered "perfect" – free of bugs – and all but one at least boot to the menu screen. In 2022, PCSX2 added support for the Vulkan API. PCSX2 was used as a basis for