PlayStation Classic

2026-05-31

A new project dropped.

The device

PlayStation Classic was a device released in 2018 to capitalise on nostalgia. It was clearly a cash-grab, which we know from the quality of the software layer. In fact, it was a pre-installed software emulator with 20 games and no way of adding new ones. And then, there are weird blurred filters applied that make games look abhorrent. However, and this is why i got it, it can be modded to just run RetroArch. And that is the project.

It came with two gamepads, which are replicas of the PSX first gamepad. I played 3 games ("Rayman," "Grand Theft Auto," and "I.Q.: Intelligent Qube"), and it confirmed that the rendering looks awful, but also that the gamepad is marvellous. I actually plugged one to my PC to play Amiga CD32 games, and it simply worked. I'll keep one of 'em around the computer. For retro purposes, it's superb.

By the way, it's shaped like PSX but is half-size, so it looks cutesy small. Like a toy. Which, I guess, it is. At least, it doesn't take too much space on the shelf under the TV.

Modding headaches

Now, there are a couple of solutions to be used to mod the console, Project Eris and RetroBoot, but here comes the problem: all of the links are dead. :D Project Eris page simply informs that the project is discontinued, due to their servers going down; and RetroBoot looks like always hosted on Google Drives, which are now taken down due to policies. Some links lead to the Internet Archive, but the Archive is down (they finally got to it, I guess). Which leaves me a bit lost.

Worst case, I'll have an emulator for 20 games; some of them good, some of them bad. But let's not lose our spirits, for the hour's young.

Some time later...

I found Project Eris. It felt like the Old Internet for a bit: I searched Reddit, and one user shared a link to Google Drive. So, now I have it. Makes me wondering if my PSC was modded before, especially that I got an OTG cable with the console; I could ask the seller, but I might just risk it. Fingers crossed. Though, probably not today. The most important is that I have the files.

AutoBleem

But then I started reading that AutoBleem is recommended in 2026, and it seems to be simply running from a pendrive. And it has a Github project, even though the last release is 6 years old, but it's a modern concern that something might be too old. The PSClassic hardware didn't change, so there's no need to chase any last-month thingy.

AutoBleem just worked, as advertised. I uploaded 4 games that I had, and it recognised them; it also still allows playing the internal games. I was able to turn off the blurring, but modern TVs are trying to additionally do their thing; not to mention that many old games were designed with CRTs in mind, and there's an artistic mismatch. I might try it on a monitor at some point. I'm just dipping my toes today.

Next: find those couple of games I'm interested in.

AutoBleem has also a built-in RetroArch, so I wanna try some of those Amiga games. Oscar on TV? Why not.