Spice up your PS2 library through the Pcsx2 Cover Downloader!
Although PS2 emulation has gone far many have left their libraries looking lacking.
But here is how to turn those blue covers into stylish PS2 box arts easily.
Pcsx2 Cover Downloader
Firstly you are going to need to download PCSX2 for the Pcsx2 Cover Downloader. This is an open source free emulator that has been around for a decade. Although back in the day people mocked it for poor optimization now it has become the best PS2 emulator around.
But upon downloading your games you may find that their presentation is lacking. However we can change this by adding in covers manually. Although you can get custom artwork this method takes a while for bigger libraries.
Although for this guide we are going to be using the inbuilt tool from the 2.0 version. Secondly head over to the tools section in the top left. Open up the drop down and select cover downloader.
From here a new window should pop up with a big input box and a start button. Although it looks complicated all we need to do is copy and paste an URL into the box to pull our covers from.
We can grab these from the covers GitHub or you can nab them below:
For standard covers – https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xlenore/ps2-covers/main/covers/default/${serial}.jpg
For 3d covers – https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xlenore/ps2-covers/main/covers/3d/${serial}.png
Thirdly once you have copied the URL you want paste it into the box. Finally hit start and watch that progress meter fly. Because now the Pcsx2 Cover Downloader should be scrapping a bunch of JPGS associated with the games listed.
So now you should see your beautiful PS2 library filled with mouth watering cover arts. But if some are not showing still check the box Use Serial Files Names. However keep in mind from the Github page that some regions cover arts are not included.
Refer to the cover stats to see if your needed serial is included and if not do it manually.
Alternative Software
Although the inbuilt Pcsx2 Cover Downloader is great some people want it externally. For that you can head to the PScoverDL over on this Github.
This is an external application that not only works with PCSX2 but Duckstation and other emulators. Just download it, source the emulators and roms library and hit that start download button.
Although this works too I mainly just use the inbuilt tool. Duckstation shows PS1 games via memory save file icons and I prefer that method TBH. But if you love covers of the PS1 games then go for it.
But again some people would be fine just playing the games with no artwork. That is cool as long as you got the game working all dandy. For me a big part of the appeal of PS2 games was the retail box that caught your eye at the store.
Also its great seeing the differences between PAL, US and Jap releases. MSG3 is a great example where the US box art sucks but the other releases had great artwork by Yoji Shinkawa.
Although a surprise winner would be the UK box-art for RESI4. This beats the US and Japanese with just Leon and the gang taken up the cover. But the UK got this ominous stark red forest space with the bag man standing there… Menacingly.
Although most games are digital even the cover art in digital libraries feels important. Its like a many sell to you for playing the game over the hundreds others. Covers are not dead unlike Riot products.
