Almost 20 Years After It Ended Production, We Could See A Brand-New PS1 Motherboard 1
Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension

Lorentio Brodesco has taken to Kickstarter to raise the funds required to do something Sony hasn't done for almost 20 years: build a new PS1 motherboard.

The nsOne project started when Brodesco was attempting to repair a faulty PS1 in March of last year. "I realized that detailed documentation on the original motherboard was either incomplete or entirely unavailable," he says.

"This challenge inspired me to embark on a journey of reverse engineering," he continues. "Initially, I used techniques such as sanding down the original board and cross-referencing the exposed layers with datasheets for components like RAM and memory to define the pinouts. I also relied on original service manuals to guide the process."

Brodesco adds that he has already documented elements of the motherboard design which have previously never been made available publically. The final PS1 system was manufactured in 2006.

Almost 20 Years After It Ended Production, We Could See A Brand-New PS1 Motherboard 1
Image: Lorentio Brodesco

The crowdfunding campaign is intended to help Brodesco "create comprehensive documentation, design files, and production-ready blueprints for manufacturing fully functional motherboards." These brand-new boards will be "compatible with the original PlayStation 1 chassis and require only the transplantation of original components to revive old consoles." Brodesco is designing a 4-layer PCB (the original was 2-layer) whilst retaining the same form factor.

While Brodesco points out that this work will "preserve the legacy of the PlayStation 1 for future generations," there's another reason for supporting such a venture. "This work is just a small step toward a much more ambitious goal: creating a portable PlayStation 1 that runs on original hardware, without emulation, and uses the original components."

Brodesco is aiming to raise at least 5,000 Euros for this project. If you're interested in pledging your support, you can find out more here. For 35 Euros, you can secure a finished nsOne motherboard without any components, or for 80 Euros, you can get a fully soldiered version, complete with all of the bits taken from an original PS1 console.