Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A Galaxy Watch 5 owner figured out a way to install a PSP emulator on the device.
- The owner was able to play games like God of War, GTA: Vice City, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and more.
- The games were able to run smoothly at 60fps, except for God of War which occasionally dipped to 30fps.
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 is a very capable device that can still keep up with many of today’s latest and greatest Wear OS smartwatches. Although it’s decently powerful hardware for a smartwatch, you’d still never expect it to be able to run something like a full console game. However, an ambitious Redditor found a way to turn that fantasy into a reality.
Earlier this month, a user who goes by ZenonDesingk on Reddit shared images of their Galaxy Watch 5 running games like God of War, GTA: Vice City, and even Forza Horizon 4 via Steam Link. TechRadar followed up on the subreddit to find out how the user accomplished this feat.
The Redditor told the outlet that they were encouraged to buy a Galaxy Watch 5 after noticing one of their friends wearing one at school. However, they were disappointed by the quality of the games available. “I was surprised to find that the games were uninteresting and pretty bad,” the user said. “But I didn’t let that get me down because, after all, this is Android! You can do anything you want.”
After some trial and error in trying to download APKs through the in-device browser or via Bluetooth, they turned to Bugjaeger. If you’re not familiar with Bugjaeger, it’s a programming tool known as an Android Debug Bridge (ADB) for debugging Android devices. “I immediately installed Bugjaeger on my phone, enabled wireless ADB in the Watch 5’s developer settings, and connected the watch and phone (they need to be on the same Wi-Fi network).”
Doing this allowed the Redditor to install a PSP emulator directly onto the smartwatch. They reportedly were able to play a variety of PSP games running at 60fps with little trouble. The only title that had an issue was God of War, which occasionally dipped to 30fps. The Redditor was also able to connect a Bluetooth controller so they didn’t have to rely on touch controls.
The publication says that Zenon has since reset the device and is now just using it as a regular smartwatch. While this is a pretty amazing achievement, Zenon may have been outdone by another Reddit user who recently figured out how to get Doom to run in a PDF.
