I purchased a junk PlayStation 2 for ¥1 - My Japanese PlayStation 2 Journey

Welcome everyone to my epic tale of owning a Sony PlayStation 2 (I'll use the PS2 abbreviation from now on) for the first time in 2023.

It actually started in 2021. I'd just imported a Toshiba Laserdisc player from Japan, and it arrived in a Sony box for something called a PSX.

I know the original PlayStation was often abbreviated as PSX, but this definitely wasn't an original PlayStation. It looked more like a fancy DVD player from the image on the box.

I also noticed on the box that it had the PS2 logo. Now I was really curious.

After a bit of Googling, I found out that Sony released a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), DVD and PS2, all in one convenient unit. It was only ever released in Japan.

I decided to hunt Yahoo Auctions and a few models were available. Working units were well over ¥20,000, but there were quite a few junk units available too.

In the end, I ended up bidding on a model DESR-5100/S (the S means it's a limited-edition silver colour - normal PSX consoles are white). I won the auction for ¥5,500 (just over $60). It was listed as junk, but it did power on, and it didn't read discs. It also came with 50 loose PS2 games.

My thinking was that I could look to possibly repair it (maybe it was a loose wire or a dirty lens), and if all else failed, I still would have 50 PS2 games.

When it arrived, I powered it on and a menu came up with digitised TV static in the background. The menu is the same as the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and would later be adopted for the PS3.

There was a spanner icon by the main menu (all in Japanese of course), indicating that there was some sort of issue.

I tried a couple of the PS2 games and as indicated in the auction, the discs didn't read.

I disconnected everything and attempted to open it up. It took a while, there were lots of screws and a lot of them were hidden. Once I eventually got in, it was clear that this wasn't going to be easy.

The main circuit board sits right in the middle of the shell, and it has circuitry on either side of the board. There were also many ribbon cables connecting smaller circuit boards, with the ribbons being fed through many inconvenient places within the shell.

I eventually managed to get to the lens and gave it a clean with isopropyl alcohol. Once I put it back together, I tried a disc again, but it didn't read.

I opened it up again to see if I had reassembled the unit correctly, only this time, I managed to break one of the ribbon cable connectors so it wouldn't clip down properly.

I'd really stuffed it up now. I ended up realising that this was way beyond my very limited capabilities.

Upon more Googling, I found out the PSX is notoriously unreliable, with the lasers failing on most models. It was also developed by a different division of Sony than the PS2 division, and it shows. The controller ports are at the back of the PSX, which meant you not only had to get to the back of the units to plug the controllers in, but it also would have had the controller wires coming around the side or over the top of the unit. It would also mean that you would need to sit closer to the unit to play games.

The design inside seemed unnecessarily complex, almost like they just used existing parts, mashed them together and decided to use many ribbon cables to get around these many design flaws. It was definitely not designed with future maintenance in mind.

Bearing in mind this would of cost you ¥79,800 ($890) back in 2003, it's a poor show from Sony, in which many people would have expected a more quality product.

The PSX was discontinued in 2005.

What did I do with my PSX? Well, I gutted it and replaced it with the guts of a famiclone, with a 500-in-1 multicart hidden inside the shell. I have 2 controllers coming out of the holes in the back as well as a USB cable for power from the TV.

So, I failed in my first attempt of PS2 ownership, which is a shame because a working, Japan only console variant would have been very cool to own.

I now owned 50 PS2 games with nothing to play them on, so I headed back to Yahoo Auctions.

This time, I decided to go with a standard PS2 model, but after my last failure, I wanted to keep the costs down. That I did, with winning a junk auction for just ¥1 (just 2c or 1p)!

I really was going in blind with this one. It was untested, but my justification was that if I couldn't get this one working, at least the replacement parts would be easy to obtain as the PS2 was so popular worldwide. Plus, I'm sure it's easier to maintain than the mess that was the PSX!

When I got it, I checked the model number and it's an SCPH-10000. I fired it up and there was power, however, I didn't have a lead for the AV output (the PSX used standard RCA leads). I went to the local CeX and got one for $10. I hooked it up to a TV, but sadly there was no video. I cleaned the port and the connector and tried again, but still no video.

I had a look on Google again and found that you can change the settings from Component to Composite, which is the type of AV lead I had. There were 2 things with this method which made it difficult. The first is that you are doing it blind, so you have to count the number of key presses on the controller to ensure you do it correctly. The second is that I didn't actually own a controller yet!

Eventually I found a third-party PlayStation controller at the local Salvos Store for $5 so I eventually tried this method. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

My next attempt was to get a Component lead. I also got an 8MB memory card from AliExpress which cost me about $12 all up which included the shipping from China.

When it arrived, I tried again, but again it was unsuccessful.

I opened it up and it was a lot tidier than the PSX. Nothing seemed to be damaged on the circuit board. I ended up resoldering the joints on the AV out port to see if that would help, but sadly it didn't.

Again, I was resigned to failure.

As I'm an idiot, I decided to give it one last crack. I went on to Rakuma and purchased another junk PS2 for ¥500 (less than $6).

The item description read:

PlayStation 2. The power turns on, but the software cannot be loaded. If you can fix it, how about taking parts? It's all about the photos.

This gave me a little hope. If the software cannot be loaded it means that the seller has tried this. This also means that there must have been a video output, because they wouldn't have been able to tell otherwise.

This model number was an SCPH-15000. I powered it on and I had video. It was a great start! I tested a game, and it didn't read, as indicated in the description.

I attempted to clean the lens. That didn't work, but I had a backup plan.

I never got to test if the DVD drive worked on the first PS2 because I had no video to confirm this.

I unscrewed the DVD drives, unclipped the ribbon cable from the main board (being extra careful after my PSX experience), and swapped the drives.

I turned it on, put in Final Fantasy X and waited. After about 30 seconds, the game started to boot and the intro scene started to play! I'd done it! I finally have a working Japanese PS2!

If you don't count my first attempt with the PSX, I got a working PS2 from ¥501 ($5.58 at the time of writing) worth of consoles.

Was the journey worth it? With the end result, I would say yes at this stage, but let's analyse the pros and cons of this epic voyage so we can make an informed decision.

Let's start with the first attempt with the PSX. With the buyee fees, taxes and shipping, it cost me $173.55. 

In a lot of ways, it's easy to write the console off seeing it didn't work in the first place, and then I really screwed it up when I broke it even further. Even though it doesn't work, it does look cool and I'm happy to have it as part of my TV set up, even if it's in the bastardised form of a famiclone. Plus, as a retro game collector, it's cool just to say that you have one, a Japan exclusive console, even if it's just on display.

Even if you do class the console as a write off, the fact that I got 50 Japanese PS2 games still makes it value for money at only $3.50 a game. And that was my main justification in placing a bid on the auction in the first place. If I couldn't fix it, at least I had the start of my PS2 game collection.

How about the first PS2? Going into the auction, I knew that buying a junk item was a gamble, but junk doesn't necessarily mean broken in Japan. It just means that it's not wanted, and that could just be because it was a scratch or a mark on it.

The fact I won the console for ¥1 is a story in itself. The fact that I won it for less than the value of the smallest denomination of currency in both Australia where I live and my native UK (5c and 1p respectively) just astounds me. The popularity of the console in Japan means that there are plenty of PS2 consoles around, so I knew I could get one on the cheap, but not that cheap.

With all the fees, taxes and shipping, it ended up costing me $70.63. I did end up getting a replacement DVD drive from it, so it wasn't in vain. I do also have the console on display, because it looks awesome in its vertical orientation.

As for the 2nd PS2? It ended up costing me $82.09 with all the fees, taxes and shipping. Apart from the DVD drive, it works perfectly. It's also in a lot better condition than the original PS2 I purchased cosmetically.

So, for a grand total of about $350, I've ended up with a working PS2, a display PS2, a display PSX, 50 PS2 games, 2 x AV leads (composite and component), a memory card and a controller.

Could I have got a PS2 cheaper? Of course I could have, but you have to remember this journey didn't start with me wanting a PS2. I wanted a PSX. But what eventuated changed my direction in this journey and this is where I've ended up.

The overriding thing about this journey is that I've taken a broken PS2, purchased 20 years ago brand new in Japan by an Akira, Ryo or Ayumi, and no doubt cherished by them for years until such time as the laser died or they moved on to the PS3, and I've given it life again. 

It's given me a window into a period of gaming I missed, partly because I was a Sega fan and partly blamed Sony for the demise of their console business (I realise this was not the case in hindsight), but also given me a window into Japanese gaming, which is a crazy journey in all in itself.

Not only do I have 50 PS2 games to try now, which I will blog about in the future, I also now have the means to try up to over 8,000 PS1 and PS2 games.

So was the journey worth it? For me it definitely was.

I might need a spare empty suitcase for my upcoming trip to Japan...