New Android App Lets You Flashback To The Arcades Of Yesteryear

The arcade scene here in the United States is but a fraction of what it was back in its heyday, but that doesn’t mean that the love for those classic games has just evaporated. Capcom’s CPS2 arcade board has attained legend status in certain retro gaming circles because of its catalog of instant classics, and a developer named Cpasjuste has just given those games a new lease on life with a new CPS2 emulator for Android.

Before we go any further, know that I’m not here to debate the legality of possessing ROMs — it’s been a sticking point for the emulation community for years. Suffice it to say that CPSEmu was capable of running every retro shooter and beat-em-up I loaded onto my Galaxy Nexus (purely for testing purposes) without so much as a hiccup. Your mileage may vary there though, as some people have noted some issues with crashing on devices like the Asus Transformer.

If you do decide to indulge your inner arcade junkie, just know that getting a feel for the controls will take a little getting used to. The arrows on the d-pad seem thin and easy to miss while in the heat of battle, while the on-screen action buttons are just a bit too small for my tastes.

Of course, as useful as CPSEmu is, it doesn’t do much to make you feel like you’re slinging quarters in a poorly-lit arcade of yore. Those of you looking for a more authentic experience while playing Super Street Fighter II on your Android tab may want to turn down the lights and crank up one of these amazing Arcade Ambience tracks — it’ll be 1993 again before you know it.

Developer Cpasjuste has made the emulator available for free on the xda forums, but feel free to show your support for his work by buying the app from the Android Market for a hair under $4.