RetroArch finally runs natively on PS5, no virtual machine required

A developer known as Mihawk has released a native version of RetroArch for PS5, a homebrew feat that finally lets the popular emulation frontend run directly on Sony's console without a heavy compatibility layer. The project relies on PS5_Vulkan, a custom graphics compatibility layer that translates Vulkan calls for the PS5's GPU.

This first stable build ships with five working software cores: FCEUmm (NES), mGBA (Game Boy/GBA), Snes9x (SNES), FBNeo (arcade and Neo Geo) and Genesis Plus GX (Mega Drive). A sixth core, PPSSPP (PSP), already benefits from GPU-accelerated rendering through Vulkan, a notable technical milestone as it's the project's first core to tap the console's graphics chip directly instead of relying on the CPU.

You still need an already jailbroken PS5

Note that this project doesn't jailbreak the PS5 itself: it installs like any other homebrew app on a console that's already unlocked, via a compatible launcher and the public PS5 SDK. RetroArch's menu, controller configuration and native stereo audio all work in this first release. To install it, simply copy the provided folder tree into the location used by your homebrew launcher; the official documentation covers deployment and troubleshooting in detail. Dolphin and Nintendo 64 support are announced as the developer's next targets.

Source: GitHub - mihawk-99/PS5_RetroArch