Someone got GTA running at 60FPS on a Galaxy Watch, and I’m seriously impressed

Do you think you could game on a screen the size of a watch face? While it would probably cause eye strain, it’s undoubtedly a great way to pass the time on those long rides. Well, as it turns out, people have been getting games working on their Samsung Galaxy Watches, and the performance has been impressively solid.

Gaming on a Galaxy Watch is more viable than you think

This story starts with a post on the Galaxy Watch subreddit a few weeks ago. User ZenonDesingk posted a few photos of a PSP emulator running on their watch, plus proof that it could stream games via Steam Link.

Fast forward to today, and TechRadar has published an interview with the creator to see some of the logic behind the madness. Of course, the first port of call was to ask, “Why?”

“One day at school, I noticed that one of my friends was using a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. I was surprised to find that the games were uninteresting and pretty bad. But I didn’t let that get me down because, after all, this is Android! You can do anything you want.”

The solution involved purchasing a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 to tinker with. To start, they needed a way to install APK packages onto the Galaxy Watch, which they achieved using Bugjaeger. After getting bored with loading the usual culprits like Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride on the watch, they got to installing a PSP emulator and running games on it. They managed to get GTA: Vice City, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Mortal Kombat running at 60FPS, with God of War sometimes dropping to 30FPS. Still, it’s very impressive for a watch.

So, how on Earth does he control it? Well, after trying to use an on-screen pad, they instead grabbed a Bluetooth controller and used that to play the games. I can’t imagine how awkward it would be to play a game on your wrist while you hold a controller, but it seems a ton more playable than prodding at a watch screen.

For now, he’s taking a break from modifying their watch and has gone back to using it as a regular device, but it’s still an interesting story. And if this inspired you to do some tinkering yourself, check out our review on the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, which we gavea pretty decent score.