Hackers have discovered that the PaRappa the Rapper PS4 remaster is actually just a built-in PSP emulator with updated 4K textures. Now many have taken to making other PSP games run on PS4, with limited success so far. The discovery was made by GBATemp user KiiWii, who has also shared alleged pictures along with fellow hackers of other games they have booted on PS4 using the workaround.
Rather than running new code specifically ported to the PS4, PaRappa the Rapper PS4 uses a PSP emulator to run the 2007 version of the game. As well as a PSP dev kit test app, other titles like Patapon, Loco Roco, and Namco Museum have also supposedly been able to work by making use of what users in KiiWii’s GBATemp thread are calling the “PSPHD” emulator. Some games don’t work yet, however, and it’s been suggested that this might be due to a potential 880 MB file-size limit.
Another hacker, Dark Element, posted alleged configuration files used by the PaRappa the Rapper PS4 remaster and is promising to release a user-friendly PSP package injector that would work on unlocked PS4s. Hackers are also trying to get their hands on a copy of the Asia-exclusive Loco Roco 2 Remastered PS4 game to see if it also uses a PSP emulator and learn more about how it works.
It looks like the PS4 is becoming an emulator machine thanks to exploits like this being discovered on a very consistent basis. Earlier this year hackers had managed to get PS2 games working through the built-in PlayStation Classics emulator, and there are already hackers working on emulators for the NES and Game Boy, and even a Linux hack that would allow users to run Steam on the PS4. While Sony having drawn back on backwards-compatibility with later PS3 editions and cracking down on crossplay prospects with Microsoft’s Xbox One, it seems that it’s up to hackers to open up the console in other ways.
