Need a little Monday Motivation? Why not borrow the positive vibes coming from X user @YveltalGriffin? YveltalGriffin managed to put together a PlayStation 1 portable gaming handheld unit in a month and it works! The unit has been dubbed the PS Hanami and it has a nice retro vibe going for it.

YveltalGriffin says the PS Hanami measures 181 × 91.5 × 30.25 mm and lasts about 2.5hrs on a charge. Instead of a disc drive, it uses an Xstation to load games from an SD card. Below is video proof of this PlayStation 1 portable gaming handheld booting up.

Here’s a video showing the unit booting, and the internal PicoMemcard+ working in Final Fantasy VII! pic.twitter.com/aumQHZEfVs

— YveltalGriffin (@YveltalGriffin) April 14, 2024

Sony has made portable units in the past and you might be familiar with the PlayStation Portable (PSP), PS Vita, and even the PlayStation 1 with a screen. Portable gaming is something that users are looking for, so it’s a little perplexing that Sony hasn’t created a new version. For now, the PS Hanami works for YveltalGriffin, though with some issues.

Features of the PS Hanami PlayStation 1 Portable

• 181 × 91.5 × 30.25 mm, case printed in white PLA
• Original PU-18 PS1 motherboard, cut in half, folded and rewired
• 2S1P 3500mAh 18650s with “red board”— ~2.5hrs of battery life
• Trimmed Xstation ODE by Robert Neumann (ramapcsx2) with push-push SD card slot and disc tray button
• Shinobi Scaler running GBS-Control by ramapcsx2 for impeccably crisp integer scaled 480p VGA (scan lines in 240p mode!)
• Dualshock controller with rumble, but no analog sticks. All buttons/triggers use orange squishy tacts
• PicoMemcard+ with 16GB microSD for unlimited game saves
• Beefy enclosed stereo speakers and PAM8803 amp
• Wrist strap loop with official Sony Pocketstation strap.

Known Issues

• No volume controls
• Power LED and reset button are not wired up
• Latching power button is finicky and accidentally brushing it can turn the unit off
• No heatsink, so it gets nice and toasty after a while
• The Shinobi Scaler uses luma as sync and sometimes latches onto composite video noise, which makes the picture all noisy. A reboot usually fixes it.
• No graceful shutdown or smart BMS— the screen just stops working when the batteries get too low

If you want to find out more about this PlayStation 1 portable handheld gaming unit, dubbed PS Hanami. Be sure to check out the links below.