Trusted Reviews is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Not using your PS Vita? Turn it into a retro console emulator

The PS Vita console never quite fulfilled its promise and, although it gained new life with PS4 Remote Play, many of them have probably been consigned to the old tech drawers alongside old iPods and obsolete cables.

Thanks to the handiwork of some determined hackers, you can now free the handheld from Sony’s shackles and reinvent it as a console emulator.

The relatively simple jailbreak (via ArsTechnica) from the group dubbed Team Molecule comes through the console’s web browser.

All Vita owners (who have the v3.60 of the firmware installed) can simply browse to the HENkaku website and tap install.

See also: Sony PS Vita review

Users will then be able to use FTP software (like FileZilla) in order to transfer unofficial ROMs onto the PS Vita’s memory card.

As the exploit is extremely new there aren’t that many games compatible with the Vita as yet.

However, Team Molecule has a version of Doom for PSP, while there’s also a programme that enables Game Boy Advance ROMs to be played on the device. There are also emulators that enable some Mega Drive (Genesis) and SNES games.

The only drawback to the experience is that the method must be repeated every time users power the Vita on and off.

Also, in order to continue using it Vita owners won’t be able to download any new firmware beyond v3.60.

Watch The Refresh: The latest tech gossip every week

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

author icon

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

author icon

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

Trusted Reviews Logo

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Trusted Reviews delivered right to your inbox.

This is a test error message with some extra words