Playstation emulation has always suffered from inconsistency, inaccuracy and performance issues. We have kept the restrictions to a minimum for the longest time to accommodate for people with low-end systems and keep it as accessible as possible. That said emulators have come a long way and we have been testing them.
At the center of the problem lies ePSXe, which is unfortunately both the most popular one to newcomers and the most inconsistent/inaccurate one. Thus far it has been allowed because it has been the most stable performing option for people with slow computers.
This is where Bizhawk and Mednafen come in. Bizhawk is a multiplatform emulator designed for accuracy and TAS. It can be a bit inconsistent on the performance end, but for everything except low end systems it is stable and accurate. Mednafen is actually the origin of the core that Bizhawk uses, but it is a much more minimalistic emulator, so it is very light to run and works on weak PCs.
The proposed new rule is to restrict all Playstation emulation to exclusively Bizhawk and Mednafen, which was already done for Sega Saturn a few months ago. While it can be argued that this creates restrictions, I would say that it will be much easier to just create two exact guides to set the emus up, instead of having to explain directions for every one individually.
When it comes to competition there aren't really any concerns, all the current top emulator runs are either done on these platforms or can be beaten on them. Current runs that are using epsxe, psxjin, etc. will of course stay up and verified.
What are your thoughts on this matter?
As of this post the new restriction comes into effect. Currently verified runs, that were done on now banned emulators like psxjin or epsxe, will remain up. This only applies to new submissions.
