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Work on the PS2 Portable actually began way back in 2022, but it was only made public last year. The four-year development period really shows when you take a look at how polished the finished product is. The design is inspired by modern handhelds such as the ROG Ally; it has an ergonomic shape with large grips that house two 5000mAh batteries to enable up to 4.5 hours of playtime on a single charge.
On the front, there's an asymmetric control scheme that actually features hall-effect joysticks and face buttons from the PS Vita 2000 model. There's a blue accent piece running along the top, enveloping the triggers and the USB-C port, providing some variety in an otherwise minimalist aesthetic. You'll also find vents up there for exhaust. The rear is largely plain with a few threaded screws and a cutout with a grill for intake.
(Image credit: tschicki on GitHub) (Image credit: tschicki on GitHub) The entire assembly is broken down into just two parts: a top half and a bottom half that screw into each other. The cooling is handled by a custom heatsink solution that uses the fan from the Switch Lite to keep the ICs under control.
This transitions us nicely into the actual crux of the project. The modder took six original ICs from the SCPH-7900x or SCPH-9000x PS2 models and put them on a custom motherboard.
Built upon the existing work of community veterans who have mapped out PS2 mainboards over the years, Tschicki reverse-engineered the entire circuitry of the console. They were then able to manually draw up a new motherboard layout that integrates the aforementioned original chips with completely new traces, video routing, and power management.
The donor ICs handle the bulk of the processing, such as the Emotion Engine (EE) and the Graphics Synthesizer (GS), while RP2040 microcontrollers are responsible for secondary tasks like thermals, controls, sound, and more. The modder used a custom FPGA-based video processor to get direct video out from the GS instead of going through an analog-to-digital converter that'd otherwise degrade the quality.
(Image credit: tschicki on GitHub) (Image credit: tschicki on GitHub) As such, the PS2 portable supports many resolutions, but it's wired up to a 5" 480x800p IPS LCD running at 60 Hz. To ensure the controls work on this screen, the RP2040 is utilized to convert data from the buttons and joysticks into native DualShock 2 signals, with full rumble support. Another RP2040 monitors the battery and controls power, allowing for fast charging or "charge and play" at 5V, 9V, or 12V.
This is possible because the BIOS chip from the actual PS2 is one of the six ICs lifted from the original console, along with the CPU+GPU, the RAM (two separate chips), the I/O processor, and the SP2 audio processor. Anyhow, after the games are loaded, the handheld can play PS2 titles natively via custom software like OPL (Open PS2 Loader) or NHDDL, and supports PS1 games via DKWDRV. There is no emulation happening here.
(Image credit: tschicki on GitHub) (Image credit: tschicki on GitHub) Because of the sheer stature of custom modding work done, the PS2 Portable is one of the most impressive community projects in recent times. The fact that everything from the 3D printer files (STLs), the PCB schematics, the FPGA code, and the software firmware is open source is just the cherry on top. You can build your own identical handheld, but it's not going to be easy, and Tschicki even warns against it.
All of the relevant resources are available on GitHub, including the BOM (bill of materials) for the mechanical assembly and each PCBA. There's a 10-part documentation with steps you can follow, but they're incredibly detailed and only meant for experts with high-level soldering and programming knowledge. Do not attempt this as a fun DIY project, but then again, curiosity killed the cat.
Now, technically speaking, a portable PS2 already exists — it's called the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and it was one of the most successful consoles of all time. But it doesn't have the PS2's massive catalog of classics, so there's an argument to be made there. That being said, emulation has come a long way, and your phone can even play AAA PC games now , so stick to emulation if you're only after the nostalgia and not the microsoldering anguish.
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Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he\u2019s not working, you\u2019ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Hassam Nasir Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
Sluggotg The headline of this story says "reversed-engineered". It looks a bit silly, maybe fix that. It is just a typo and I do it all the time. Nothing like making a post somewhere and noticing later I had a typo or two. A failure to Self Check on my part! Reply
alan.campbell99 I think it's an impressive effort that's gone into this, way beyond my skills or resources. Reply
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/handheld-gaming/enthusiast-crams-reversed-engineered-ps2-into-a-handheld-designs-custom-motherboard-bespoke-playstation-2-portable-pairs-modern-features-with-original-silicon#main
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