PlayStation 2 Duo Turns a Folding Screen Into Real Hardware Portability

LCLDIY took a flexible display from one of the earliest foldable phones and built an actual PlayStation 2 around it. The result is a clamshell handheld, called the PlayStation 2 Duo, that runs genuine PS2 discs or their digital equivalents, folds for easier carrying, and looks finished enough that someone might mistake it for a limited-run product.

Three PS2s purchased at a flea market for twenty dollars served as the starting material. As it turned out, motherboards from the 70000 series were just a little too large to fit into a portable shell, so we meticulously chopped away at them until they fit. He also installed cooling and a virtual drive, allowing the machine to launch games even without the entire optical equipment. That reduced board became the brains of a device that still functions as if it were the original hardware, rather than an emulator.

The screen required some more TLC, as flexible panels from early folding phones won’t bend all the way down to flat without breaking, at least not without approximately thirty degrees of clearance. So that kind of forced our hand with the design. He eventually settled on a pair of big-angle hinges, which maintain the display beautiful and curved when fully opened and closed. The enclosure was made on a 3D printer from a design he created in software, with new circuit boards and PlayStation-style buttons added to replicate the feel of the original controllers.

When you open it, the unit displays a 4:3 screen that is appropriate for the era’s games. You can use the genuine silicon to play games like GTA: Vise City, God of War, or Shinobi, and you can even combine it with a Bluetooth controller to transform it into a portable home console. Closed, it creates a sturdy tiny brick in a purple shell that is still a bit of a lump, but far more practical than a full-sized PS2.

All of the files for printing the enclosure and creating the control board are available on the project page for anyone interested in making a replica of this thing. The build is fully open and documented, so there’s no reason why it has to remain a one-off just because we’re the only ones who’ve had the bravery to test it (so far, at least). For the time being, it serves as working proof that original PS2 hardware can be compressed into a fold without sacrificing authenticity.