Hardcore communities have shared "starter" save states that begin at the main menu with everything unlocked. Search for "PCSX2 SVR 2006 savestate" to find .qs files.
Here’s something original hardware cannot do: . In PCSX2, you can press F1 to save the game’s exact state at any moment—mid-entrance, right before a title match, or during a GM Mode contract negotiation. This makes grinding for unlockables trivial. Load the state, win the match, unlock the character. If you lose? Load the state and try again.