While the Nintendo Switch and upcoming Steam Deck have shown that there is still demand for portable game consoles, Sony hasn’t attempted to get back into the handheld space since the underperforming PlayStation Vita. Thankfully, a modder has created a fully portable PlayStation 2 system allowing players to play proper PS2 games in their entirety.

Releasing worldwide in 2005, the PlayStation Portable did have some PlayStation 2 ports such as Tekken 5, The Warriors, and Tony Hawk’s Underground 2: Remix. While these games were PS2 titles, in many cases they had to be scaled back to run on the weaker hardware of the handheld. Sony’s follow-up to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita, launched across the globe in 2012 with vastly upgraded hardware, allowing the system to run much more impressive PS2 titles like Persona 4: Golden, Final Fantasy 10 HD Remaster, and God of War Collection. Still, the full PS2 library consisted of 1850 games and even combining the PSP and PS Vita’s libraries only a fraction of PS2 games were playable in handheld form.

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YouTuber GingerOfOz made this device, called the PS2 Eclipse, by removing the motherboard from a PS2 Slim system, cutting it down, and placing it inside a 3D printed shell. The controls supplied by using PS Vita buttons and Nintendo Switch joysticks. As it uses parts obtained from a PS2 Slim system, the handheld is able to play all PlayStation 2 games as they would play on their original hardware. Being that the aim of the project was portability, GingerOfOz omitted the PS2’s disc drive, as it would’ve significantly increased the size and battery drain of the device, which is only around two and a half hours, to begin with.

While some powerful tablets and the Steam Deck may be able to handle PS2 emulation to some degree, emulation always comes with its own challenges. The PlayStation 2 used a unique architecture that doesn’t lend itself well to emulation. By using native hardware for his build, GingerOfOz sidesteps these issues and allows the games to play at full speed as designed, with no finicky emulation layer.

The project isn’t perfect, however. The aforementioned lack of a disc drive, while understandable, means games must be loaded through USB, slowing some load times to a crawl. Also, for reasons not understood by GingerOfOz, not all PlayStation 2 titles recognize the controller, making them unplayable.

Projects such as this show that there is still a market for Sony portable consoles, despite Sony not wanting to take another try. Even though Nintendo has always been king in the handheld domain, the PlayStation Portable was a successful device, selling 80 million units. Despite excellent games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the PS Vita was far less successful, leading to Sony exiting the portable market and focusing strictly on home consoles. So far, that strategy seems to be working as demand for its latest PlayStation 5 consoles far exceed what Sony has been able to supply. Still, it's not hard to imagine how great a real PlayStation 2 handheld could've been.

MORE: 10 PlayStation 2 Games That Deserve Remakes