How to Build a PlayStation Classic with a Raspberry Pi

I admit I was very excited about the PlayStation Classic, but its first owners are tearing it apart on the Web, and there are plenty of reasons for it. From conflicts between PAL and NTSC titles to the poor performance of its emulation and the lack of a power supply, all that remains is frustration... unless we do better ourselves. In other words, users are trying to figure out how to build a PlayStation Classic with a Raspberry Pi and get an experience far superior to Sony's.

The image of Charlton Heston pounding the sand while shouting "They blew it all up!" at the end of "Planet of the Apes" comes to mind again. Sony had a golden opportunity to exploit the nostalgic vein with its PlayStation Classic, but the results speak for themselves. A game selection that doesn't quite convince, problems with PAL titles in NTSC territories, the lack of a power supply, and questionable build quality (teardowns revealed many components already retired from the market) place the new retro console in a very complicated position, at least until the first hacks appear. Faced with so many negative aspects, and general criticism of the official price, we only have one option: Build a PlayStation Classic with a Raspberry Pi.

How to Build a PlayStation Classic with Raspberry Pi and RetroPie

That's exactly what Clint from the LGR channel did. Disappointed by Sony's strategy, he decided to follow the DIY route and bought a Raspberry Pi 3B, accompanied by an official power supply (he had many problems with alternative units that always threw low-voltage alerts), and a 3D-printed case that mimics the original PS1 shape. To be honest, the case doesn't look that good, but it's not a fundamental detail (and there is a wide number of cases with more features).

On the software side, Clint chose RetroPie, a platform we definitely approve of, and that we learned to use earlier this year. The only major difference when emulating PlayStation 1 games is that we will need a dump of an original BIOS. We cannot offer any directly here, but the Internet Archive holds several versions.

Personally, I think Clint overpaid for his final configuration, but the benefits are enormous. By building a PlayStation Classic with a Raspberry Pi you can load the games you want, apply visual tweaks, and much more. However, not everything is lost for the official PlayStation Classic. Recently, users discovered that by connecting a compatible USB keyboard to the retro console (not all work) and pressing the Esc key, it is possible to enter the configuration menu of the built-in emulator. One of the options says "Load CD image", which suggests a theoretical loading of external ISO images in the future. Even though Sony messed things up, the PlayStation Classic begs to be hacked. Patience.