Adding In-Game Reset To Classic Playstations

The first Playstation is quickly approaching three decades since its release, and while this might make some of us who were around for that event feel a little aged, the hardware inside these machines isn’t getting any younger either. Plenty of people are replacing the optical drive in the original hardware with an optical drive emulator as they begin to fail, and with that comes the option for several other modifications to the hardware like this in-game reset mod.

In-game reset is a function that allows a console to be reset via a controller button combination rather than pressing the console’s reset button directly. Especially for devices modified with either the XStation or PSIO drive emulators, this can be a handy feature to have as this method can more easily take the user back to the emulator menu as well as physically reset the device. The modification is a small PCB which attaches to the controller port and, unlike previous versions, only requires a single pin to be soldered to the Playstation’s control board.

If you’re someone who enjoys playing games on original hardware rather than a patchwork of emulators, this could be an excellent addition to your PS1 that still allows most of the original feel and experience the PS1 offered. The drive emulator can greatly expand the range of the hardware as well, much like this NES cartridge which similarly expands the capabilities of that much older system.

6 thoughts on “Adding In-Game Reset To Classic Playstations

  1. I’ve been on the fence on getting a PSIO and thus displacing my vintage Mod chip. Plus they’re a bit spendy, but I do have a pretty significant PSX library that I still enjoy from time to time. “Binders full of RPGs” … ;-)

  2. Shame the a article doesn’t have more technical details on how the mod works. The author has provided source for their code but the seller of the board hasn’t – so it’s basically an advert?

    1. Original author here, source code and first PCB are open and on github.
      The readme has a small explanation of how it works. More info can be found in my VODs on youtube.

      This version of the PCB doesn’t add or remove anything from the original version.
      It just makes it easier to solder and only requires one extra wire for the reset of the playstation.

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