Buying (and using) a Sony PsP in 2024/2025

A couple weeks ago, I bought a PSP from a friend of mine, mainly for

aesthetics but also because, despite owning a Vita, I actually

kinda dislike the vita's UI and prefer something more

visually appealing like the psp's xmb

(also I really enjoy the feel of the plastic on the console).

This isn't my first PsP tho, last year, my uncle gave me a mint condition PSP 3004, I used it for quite a while until I realized that the L button didn't work, so I asked my dad to help me fix it, but he ended up pressing on the display while trying to close the body because something was taking up more room that it should've, leaving the display with two broken lines and the body of the console that doesn't quite close, eventually, these issues were so frustrating that I ended up giving it for free to my friend (which we will call NF).

months later, I decided I wanted a PsP and so I ended up buying it from another friend (which we will call Nat), this time, a psp 1004 with a missing button and a messed up back from some tape Nat applied to keep the battery in it's place.

I didn't really mind these defects since I was planning on replacing the buttons and back myself anyway, and so, 30 euros 2 weeks + 2 days of delay later, my psp finally arrived yesterday 12/12/24.

The console itself is in fairly good shape, if we don't count the missing button and the scratches on the display, which aren't really noticeable during gaming sessions, after cleaning some dust I started modding it with Ark4-CFW, after that, i Noticed something pretty odd while browsing on the built-in browser, the analog stick was drifting, I stared at it for a couple of minutes and realized that if I pressed on the lower part of the chassis, the drift would stop, then I also noticed that it was missing a screw in that exact position, so I grabbed one from my drawer, screwed it pretty thight and the drifting was gone, so yeah, this console is now fully operational and I'm probably going to carry it with me at all times from now on, just like my trusty Thinkpad t450 and iPAD 2,2.

Update: 13/12/24 12:38:

My replacement buttons arrived, after school I'll install them and update the page.

Update: 15/12/24 17:08:

I finally found some time to install the buttons, here's the final result, I think it turned out pretty good.