Jailbroken PS5s Can Now Emulate PS2 Games Using Physical Discs

The vibe-coded horror show continues to get worse for Sony, as there’s now a new, Claude-coded version of the PCSX2 emulator, named PS5SX2, that can be installed on jailbroken PlayStation 5s and allows users to dump their PlayStation 2 games to the console’s SSD to emulate them. Unfortunate timing for Sony, considering the most recent PS5 jailbreaking advancements.

Of course, using a PS5 to emulate PS2 games isn’t technically new, so why is this headline-worthy? Because the latest version of PS5SX2 allows you to emulate games using your PS2 discs. No need to download a ROM from a sketchy website anymore; you just pop your own PS2 disc in your PS5 disc tray and dump it directly from there.

This news comes directly from Swordpdf, PS5SX2’s lead coder. As they detailed in a post on X, and in PS5SX2’s GitHub README, PS5SX2 version 2.01 can indeed read and dump physical PS2 discs. As Swordpdf explains in the PS5SX2 version 2.01 release update on GitHub, once you “put a PS2 disc in the drive,” PS5SX2 then “dumps it if not already dumped and launches the game.”

PS2 discs. Straight into a PS5.
20+ years of nostalgia, one disc away.
PS5SX2 🎮

special thanks to @_AlAzif

🔗 https://t.co/5dJBpctESW
💬 https://t.co/0NNel5pqQt
☕ https://t.co/EypS5hoENk#PS5 #PS2 #PlayStation #PS5SX2 #Homebrew #Emulation pic.twitter.com/mMcp41vFOX

— Sword (@sword_pdf) October 9, 2026

However, there is a catch: due to a specific hardware limitation, it appears that a PS5 running PS5SX2 can’t be used with all PlayStation 2 discs and, by extension, any PlayStation 1 discs.

The PlayStation 5’s disc drive can read Blu-Rays and DVDs, but it cannot read CDs. That means that any of the blue-tinted PlayStation 2 discs (which are CDs, not DVDs) can’t be read by the PS5’s optical drive laser, and therefore can’t be burned to the SSD or an external HDD using PS5SX2. Likewise, PS1 discs are CDs, so the same issue applies there.

And yes, before you ask, PS5SX2 is an AI-assisted project. No need to guess or investigate on that front, as Swordpdf is quite upfront about this. Plus, Claude is literally one of the three contributors listed on PS5SX2’s GitHub.

But Swordpdf isn’t quite finished ruining Sony’s week just yet, as they’ve already announced that a PS5SX3 emulator, which will allow PS3 games to be dumped on the PS5 from a disc, is in the works on both X and in their Discord server. Swordpdf also seems to think they can do the same for PS1 discs, but considering that shouldn’t physically be possible, I don’t know how that’s going to pan out.