YouTuber builds a Frankenstein-style, duct-taped portable PS2 that beats the Steam Deck’s battery life

We recently covered a reverse-engineered PlayStation 2 portable DIY handheld that boasted the clear ergonomics of a modern gaming handheld, such as the ROG Ally. However, YouTuber James Channel decided to create a Frankenstein-style portable PS2 Slim handheld, which is something of a safety hazard, as it sports an exposed spinning disc drive. On the plus side, it beats the Steam Deck’s battery life. He calls it the JamesStation 2, and it runs for five hours on a 10,000 mAh battery.

In his video, James took a broken and battered PS2 Slim console and decided to turn it into a portable handheld at any cost, going so far as to use duct tape and embrace the DIY philosophy: “If it’s stupid and it works, it ain’t stupid.”

James started with a non-functional PS2 Slim pulled from a scrap pile of broken electronics. He first investigated the faulty optical drive, which wasn’t reading discs.

Later, he replaced the dead CMOS battery, tested connection points with a USB UART adapter, and used PMAP, a clone of Sony’s official Mechacon Adjustment Program, to digitally recalibrate the laser with test CDs and DVDs. This effectively brought the dead PS2 Slim back to life, and it was then time to make it portable.

James used parts from a gutted Mad Catz Dual Force 2 controller. He used the controller shell, extended the L/R bumper wiring, and mounted it beneath the PS2 Slim’s mainboard. 

To save his games, he also carefully rewired the original controller and memory card ports so that the console worked just as Sony intended. He used a basic LCD screen from a cheap sat-nav unit.

James adopted a “deliberately lazy approach” to creating the PS2 Slim handheld. He described his housing solution, stating, “This is my roll of housing… because the easiest solution is my kind of solution. Everyone loves duct tape, and if you don’t like duct tape, well, I respect your opinion.”

To power the PS2 Slim portable, he used a 10,000 mAh power bank, repurposed its internal PCB, and stepped up the voltage to supply the PS2 with the right amount of power.

Surprisingly, even with the exposed disc drive spinning and the whole PS2 Slim handheld held together by duct tape and dreams, it turned out to be power-efficient enough to have 71% battery remaining after an hour of playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 and to manage a whopping five hours of battery life while running demanding PS2 games.