Editor's take: A YouTuber has taken the world’s best-selling home video game console and transformed it into an attractive handheld that could have existed in an alternate reality. It's not perfect, but that doesn't make me want to play it any less.
The journey started a few years back when GingerOfOz purchased a used PlayStation 2 on eBay. Having recently completed a portable Wii build, the modder intended to do something similar with the PS2 but ultimately shelved the console until finally deciding to do something with it this year.
With renewed determination, GingerOfOz set about shrinking down the donor PS2’s motherboard as much as possible. He turned to the Internet and found a handy PS2 trimming guide, but his first attempt resulted in disaster. Round two fared much better, allowing him to move forward with other elements of the build, like the 3D-printed shell.
Here's a peek into what the internals look like: pic.twitter.com/GZjGFv6jvb
— GingerOfOz (@GingerOfMods) August 5, 2021
GingerOfOz also utilized custom circuit boards from PCBWay. Rather than an optical drive (which wouldn’t physically fit in the system and uses a lot of power), the build runs games from a PS2 memory card over USB. PS Vita buttons were used, and the whole thing was painted black and named the PS2 Eclipse.
As you’ll see, the project turned out beautifully. Because it uses original hardware, there’s no emulation involved, meaning games run just as they would on a standard PS2. Well, mostly. The USB interface is slower than the optical drive, so loading times are a bit longer and some cut scenes lag a bit.
Because the chassis is 3D printed, it has that familiar “rough” texture, and there’s also a controller bug that still needs to be worked out, but otherwise, it’s an excellent build.
https://www.techspot.com/news/90698-modder-creates-custom-playstation-2-handheld-using-original.html
