| Plugin | Best for | |--------|----------| | | High-res, texture filtering, shaders | | Pete's D3D Driver 1.77 | Old PCs / compatibility | | ePSXe GPU Core 1.9.0 | Default, no config needed |

Prior versions suffered from plugin version hell. A plugin written for ePSXe 1.5.0 might crash 1.7.0. Pete’s plugins, while powerful, were notorious for requiring specific settings per game.

By 2012, the competition had advanced. was gaining ground with better debugging tools, and the Mednafen (now Beetle PSX) core was starting its slow rise toward cycle-accuracy. ePSXe, once the king, was showing its age. Then came version 1.9.0.