The original PlayStation enjoyed a long and storied life as the home console of choice for plenty of gamers worldwide. With dozens of iconic and classic games from the PS1 era still available in Sony's digital storefronts, the console's effect on the industry can't be overstated, setting a course for Sony that's brought it to the present-day release of the PlayStation 5 over twenty years later. Most fans are looking to the future, but one, at least, is fondly reminiscing about the past.
Anthony John Clarke, who goes by bonkersbarman on TikTok, recently revealed a PS1-related project he's been working on since picking up an old console at a garage sale for only £1. He's far from the only person taking a Sony-themed nostalgia trip, if the numerous PS1 game remakes over the last few years is anything to go by, but his is certainly an unusual one. Unimpressed with the well-loved state of the console's casing, he elected to make a brand new home for the delicate internal components: one built entirely from LEGO.
After purchasing the console he realized that it came with a chip allowing it to play PS1 games from other regions, an invaluable asset for the dedicated PlayStation fan, so getting it rebuilt isn't just a labor of love for the sake of the look of the thing. The console isn't totally fixed up yet, but the progress made is already impressive: Clarke has fitted functioning buttons that depress correctly and is in the process of attaching a lid with working hinges. He's waiting on more LEGO bricks to arrive so he can get it made up in the authentic gray and black color scheme, but it's already easily recognizable as the classic console. Click here to see the TikTok video, and click here to see part 2.
It's an impressive project, and if Clarke decides to sell it once he's done with it rather than hanging on to it as his own retro gaming machine, there's certainly a market for it. With all the PS1 titles on PlayStation Store costing over $1,000 to grab and likely disappearing soon, a choosy enthusiast who already has a physical collection of PS1 games may well be willing to pay top dollar for a working, region-free console, especially one with such a charming and lovingly-made exterior.
Indeed, passion projects like this one really throw Sony's approach to game and console preservation into sharp relief. Considering the clearly sizeable portion of their fanbase who are so willing to wax nostalgic about PlayStation games from years past, one would have thought the company would do a little more to throw them a bone from time to time. Instead, the community must live vicariously through aficionados like Clarke.
Still, with PS5s still so exceedingly to difficult to find, perhaps Sony will take this opportunity to consider what else it can offer its fans. Having already backpedaled on the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores, hopefully the company will take a long, hard look at their approach to preservation and backwards compatibility and do better in the years to come.