Electronics engineer Lorentio Brodesco recently unveiled a prototype of the nsOne motherboard, which he claims is the first custom PlayStation 1 motherboard developed independent of Sony in the console’s three-decade history. This fully operational board is designed to accommodate original PlayStation 1 chips and is compatible with the original console casing, marking a significant achievement in reverse engineering for the classic console that debuted in 1994.
Unlike emulators or FPGA-based replicas, Brodesco’s motherboard is an authentic circuit board constructed to work with original PlayStation 1 components, including the CPU, GPU, SPU, RAM, oscillators, and voltage regulators. The project stems from over a year of reverse engineering that commenced in March 2024, when Brodesco encountered incomplete documentation while fixing a PlayStation 1 unit.
“This isn’t an emulator. It’s not an FPGA. It’s not a modern replica,” Brodesco stated in a Reddit post discussing the undertaking. “It’s a real motherboard, compatible with the original PS1 chips.”
The nsOne motherboard has garnered interest among PlayStation 1 aficionados who see it as a viable solution for repairing malfunctioning consoles. Users can potentially salvage components from broken boards and transplant them onto this new, functional version. With original PS1 motherboards increasingly failing after 30 years, this replacement option may prolong the lifespan of these beloved systems without resorting to emulation.
The project, known as nsOne—short for “Not Sony’s One”—features a hybrid design based on the PU-23 series motherboards found in SCPH-900X PlayStation models, while also reinstating the parallel port that Sony removed in later iterations. Brodesco upgraded the original two-layer PCB design to a four-layer configuration, all while retaining the same form factor.
Retro gaming communities and technology outlets have taken notice of the nsOne project, with coverage from platforms such as Hackaday and TimeExtension since its announcement. A Kickstarter campaign aimed at funding prototype production and testing has successfully raised 5,774 euros (approximately $6,684) from 65 backers as of June 5, 2025.
The nsOne initiative is a part of a burgeoning community focused on homebrew PlayStation 1 hardware developments. Other notable projects include Picostation, which is a Raspberry Pi Pico-based optical disc emulator that allows PlayStation 1 consoles to load games directly from SD cards, bypassing physical discs. Additionally, other optical disc emulators like MODE and PSIO have gained popularity among retro gaming collectors facing aging optical drives.
From Repair Job to Reverse-Engineering Project
In an effort to dissect the physical architecture of the classic console, Brodesco meticulously sanded an original motherboard to reveal its layered construction, subsequently cross-referencing these exposed traces with component datasheets and service manuals.
“I realized that detailed documentation on the original motherboard was either incomplete or entirely unavailable,” Brodesco recounted in his Kickstarter campaign. This revelation prompted a comprehensive effort to document the motherboard, including tracing connections and generating multi-layer graphic representations of its circuitry.
Using techniques such as optical scanning and manual reverse engineering, Brodesco reconstructed the PlayStation 1 schematic using modern PCB design software. This involved developing component symbols with precise pin mappings and identifying—or at times creating—the proper footprints for proprietary components that Sony had not disclosed publicly.
Additionally, Brodesco determined what he refers to as the “minimum architecture” required for booting the console without any BIOS alterations, thus streamlining the design while ensuring compatibility.
The prototype board showcased in images verifies the dimensions of chips and connectors, all of which have been redrawn from the ground up. Brodesco indicated that a completed version featuring full multilayer routing and layout is already in progress.
The primary aim of this project, as outlined by Brodesco on Kickstarter, is to “create comprehensive documentation, design files, and production-ready blueprints for manufacturing fully functional motherboards.” Furthermore, the documentation and design files generated through this endeavor aim to safeguard the hardware architecture of the PlayStation 1 for future generations, serving as “a tribute to the PS1, to retro hardware, and to the belief that one person really can build the impossible.”
