Rechargeable batteries are a real boon for handheld consoles, but they don't last forever – and, when they fail, they often balloon in size, potentially causing damage to the technology they reside in.
The PSP's battery seems to be particularly bad for this, so much so that there's been a recent social media campaign to encourage owners to check their systems for bloating batteries.
Posting on Threads, David Crislip noted that he was initially sceptical about warnings regarding swollen PSP batteries – until he decided to check his.
"There’s been a thing on social media going around that advises people to check their PSPs for swollen batteries," he says. "I was ready to shrug it off until I pulled my old one out only to see it has swollen so much it actually forced the battery hatch off. Go check yours now."
The good news is that the PSP's battery is user-serviceable, so it's easy to replace – you don't even need to remove any screws, as the hatch pops right off (the DS and 3DS also have user-serviceable batteries, but you'll need a screwdriver to get at them).
However, many other systems – such as the PSP Go, PS Vita and Nintendo Switch – have batteries that can only be accessed by disassembling the console itself, and when these fail, the results could be much worse.
A recent EU law will force smartphone makers to ensure their batteries can be replaced by the user without the need for tools, and this could well spill over into games consoles, too – which hopefully means we might soon return to a period where it's easy to keep your handheld going in the years to come by simply swapping out the battery.