Holy shit! The Perfectdark! Huge props to you!
Although I'm a techie I never got quite as far as you but do dabble at the sidelines of all that work.
Just know that there a lot of people who appreciate effort like yours hugely.
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2026
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So recently, I spent a fair time chatting with the creator of PSPunk, a website I’m sure many here might have visited. But that chatting (which ended up being an interview) pivoted instead to something a bit different from what I usually end up doing with articles.
Rather than just talking about the website itself, we ended up discussing the people who keep older gaming communities alive. We covered how PSPunk started as a simple custom firmware guide, why preserving guides and community knowledge is just as important as preserving games themselves, the modern PSP homebrew scene, and why the handheld still has such an active community more than 20 years after launch. You might recognize me from a few PSP articles I’ve done these last months, I just…think they’re neat:
It was also interesting hearing from someone who doesn’t consider themselves a developer or a major figure in the scene, just “a helpful user who creates guides.” I think that humility says a lot about projects like this, because every community needs people documenting, organizing and preserving information just as much as it needs people writing the software.
I don't quite get it. I love my psps, I rocked my hacked psps for years, the but the pocket sized Linux handhelds have gotten so good and cheap. Way smaller, more powerful, and a better screen can be had for like $150.
Part of the niche is interested in not having a new device made for each of our whims.
Are there new handhelds in that form factor ? I love my steam deck but the PSPs were quite a bit more compact. Also, having tried both (PSP and vita) for a while, they felt like they had amazing build quality but idk if that's true. I definitely liked using them both anyway which is probably why people are keeping it alive.
I guess my main problem with them was that they were really expensive, in parts due to their gimmicky tech imo (UMD/back touch surface)
At this point it’s nostalgia for me. The PSP was my first handheld and it still feels great to use. All you need to do to make it acceptable to use today is change out the battery and put in a better screen.
Oh absolutely. This was exactly me for the longest time. I review retro handhelds, so I've had everything from the entry-level to the high power ones (like the Odin 3 Max). I thought you couldn't get better than upscaled graphics and save states, but when I got a re-obsession semi-recently with the PSP:
https://gardinerbryant.com/tag/psp/
...I've realized that native hardware just has magic to it. The handheld is slim, the design is retro futuristic in the best way (in my eyes), the jailbreak and add-ons are invaluable and the experience is just fun. I've just reviewed the Retroid Pocket Nova, am reviewing the Anbernic RG SP, and have a couple more on the way, but that isn't stopping me absolutely loving WipEout on my PSPs :)
You're so right about the "magic." The way you jailbroke the PSP was just the coolest. You hacked the battery! I remember doing that for the first time and I felt like a hacker—my friends looked at me like I was one too—even though I was just following simple instructions.
20 ish years later, I wanna get my hands on some more consoles but wanna try hardware modding to learn how to solder too.
I'd highly recommend modding an xbox 360 if you've never done so. Very achievable if you're somewhat technical, and you get to feel all the hackerman vibes because it requires soldering some wire leads to the motherboard and using a raspberry pi pico to read and write the nand. Most original xbox games also work if you install the compatibility files. So many incredible games from the 360 generation, and the consoles can still be found for around $50. Just make sure you get a "slim" model console because the phats don't live as long. This site has basically everything you need to know. It's an extremely good resource.
The battery? Was that the first discovered jailbreak hack? Because by the time I got a PSP (~2012), the jailbreak was "copy this program to your card and run it on the psp", which was about as idiot-proof as a jailbreak can get.
On the other hand, I did jailbreak my nintendo switch with the shorting on the right joycon using a bent paperclip. Lucky I didn't brick it, though until it booted back into life, I was sweating!
I can't remember when exactly I did mine, but I think we called it the Pandora Battery method. I'm our right now but I need to look it up when I get home. It'll be an awesome trip down memory lane.
I did it on mine and it was awesome. I told my brother I could do it for him, sliced the foil and started a lithium fire in the house. Threw the battery on a plate and carried it into the front yard while burning out.
You're not a true tinkerer until you burn at least one house down.
I adore my RG SP. I got it in the GameCube Indigo, for that little extra hit of nostalgia. I tinkered for a bit trying to get dolphin to run before giving up and realizing my steam Deck handles that better anyway. My recent obsession has been Emerald Rogue and Pokemon Unbound, two romhacks that have managed to reawaken that childlike sense of wonder I've yearned for recently with gaming. There's just something magical about playing Gameboy Advance games on an SP, original or not.
Pokemon Unbound is the best Pokemon game I have ever played. It only sucks because now I'm playing through other ROM hacks like Pokemon Prism, Pokemon Brown, Pokemon Glazed (Unofficial patched) and realizing that they will NEVER be as good as Unbound was. That is the only downside to Pokemon Unbound! :-P
Link please to theese cheap machines 😅
Retroid Pocket 6 has Android by default, but you can install Rocknix Linux on it.
Aliexpress if you want a good deal, and Amazon if you want fast shipping and easy returns. There are a lot of devices. Solid ones come from companies like Anbernic, Miyoo, Powkiddy, TrimUI, Retroid, Ayn. There's some bad products from some of those companies too so good idea to do some research. Youtube channels that cover their products include Retro Game Corps and Techdweeb.
RAM sold separately.
Some people prefer retro gaming on the original hardware.
But half of the appeal of the hacked psps is that it is an emulation machine. These folks aren't so stoked on just psp games.
I don't know what to tell you. Different people have different preferences.
I remember jailbreaking my psp and throwing on a cfw, used it to play SNES and GBA roms, it was fucking awesome.
Those same people prefer paint in its original lead flavor.
Any love for a PS Vita still? Though tbh, since getting a steam deck it's not been as appealing.
They are a LOT more expensive and harder to find. Which is why the psp gets more coverage. The ps vita is objectively better in every way.
I absolutely love mine and it lives in my work bag to this day. Killer battery life and unlimited standby.
Once I got my MSI Claw I've pretty much stopped using anything else for emulation. It plays everything up to Switch games easily. The Vita and the PSP were massive until that point though.
The machine in the picture is too big lol
Sony used these when they announced, launched and advertised the PSP!
I have a gallery of a ton of these giant PSPs they made in this article I did, if you wanna see more:
https://gardinerbryant.com/my-psp-scrapbook-part-retrospective-part-collage/
Nice, thank you
I should really dig my PSP out and see if it holds a charge still
If it doesn't, I highly recommend the OSTENT 1,400 mAh batteries. Higher capacity than the original and they work perfectly. 100% the one to choose!
I actually dug out my psp a couple years ago but couldn't find the battery. I did have the wire to plug it at least but I haven't managed to use it only with that. Is it known if the battery needs to be inside to get it to start? Should it work without the battery but plugged in? Before I buy a replacement I want to know if it is actually dead.
Oh nice I’ll check that out, thank you!
I was able to buy a replacement battery several years ago and it's worked great!