The original PlayStation came out in 1994 and changed gaming forever with its focus on 3D graphics. Six years later, Sony released the "PS One," a shrunken-down model of the classic, featuring more efficient silicon that ran cooler and consumed less power. However, compared to the original, it had inferior audio processing capabilities (among other downsides), which opened the door to a best-of-both-worlds console — which is exactly what modder thedrew (also known as Secret Hobbyist on YouTube) is trying to achieve.
The video above is actually the second part in his series on creating a "PlayStation Hybrid" that combines the original PS1 and PS One to form the ultimate experience with "no cons." In a previous video, the modder redesigned the PS One motherboard and miniaturized it to about a quarter of its original size, but that setup still required a lot of external components to operate. Now, it was time to refine the work.
Secret Hobbyist decides to grab the CPU, GPU, and RAM ICs from the PS One (since they're more efficient), while lifting the audio chip, CD drive controller, and BIOS from the original PS1 motherboard. He desolders all the chips from their respective pads and resolders them onto his new custom PCB that's tailor-made for these components.
The new PCB also integrates two other crucial mods: the XStation and an HDMI daughterboard from Hispeedido. The latter is self-explanatory — it uses an FPGA to connect directly to the PS1 GPU and enable up to 1080p HDMI output, upscaled from 480p. On the other hand, the XStation interfaces with the console's CD drive, essentially replacing it by allowing you to play ROMs off of a microSD card.
After all the soldering was done and the custom PCB was ready, it was time to power on the Hybrid PlayStation. Since this is still an ongoing project, there was no 3D-printed shell or anything like that; the modder used alligator clips to directly inject power into the PCB's voltage rails. On the opposite end was an HDMI cable, with a DualShock controller connected up front, and the entire setup came to life.
The YouTuber showed off a bunch of games, all running smoothly with a clean HDMI output that even had scanlines built overlayed atop the picture, similar to a CRT shader. The whole motherboard draws less than 2 watts on its own, working perfectly at 3V, so it's incredibly efficient and can branch off into a separate handheld project as well.
A few wires are still present for the controller and Memory Card connector (not SD card) for now, but Secret Hobbyist is working toward integrating those into the PCB as well. Whatever the final form of this project turns out to be, these are relatively small quirks that can even be addressed within the chassis. All the important work is already done, and Hybrid PlayStation will soon become a finished product.
If you're interested in console modding, someone recently transformed a PS4 Slim into a handheld with an OLED screen, while an entire PC was fit inside an Xbox One S. If you like to software-mod your devices then you'll love seeing Linux running on a PS5, but if you don't care about PC gaming and just want all the consoles, check out the "Ningtendo PXBOX 5" that combines a PS5, Xbox Series X, and a Switch 2 in one.
