PSPExp

PSPExp on a ClockworkPi GameShell

A pocket console driving a PSP: put them side by side, or the GameShell in a bag, and play on the PSP. PSPExp replaces the GameShell's own system (ClockworkOS) with a small, current Debian 13 that starts straight into PSPExp. The GameShell's screen, buttons and speaker are not used: the PSP is all of that.

What you need

Installing PSPExp

  1. Get the PSPExp card image.
    • The download: pspexp-gameshell-<version>.img.xz on PSPExp's Releases page, with its SHA-256 checksum.
    • From this repository: scripts/gameshell/base/build-kernel.sh, build-uboot.sh and build-image.sh build it on a Mac (they need Docker or OrbStack); see the script headers.
  2. Write it to the card with your flashing tool, put the card in the GameShell.
  3. Plug the PSP into the GameShell's OTG port, start PSPExp on the PSP, and switch the GameShell on. The green LED lights when the system is up.
  4. The first boot takes a minute or two: the system grows to fill your card. Then the launcher appears on the PSP.
  5. On the PSP: Settings > Network > Wi-Fi network, pick your network and type its password on the on-screen keyboard. Then Settings > Clock > Time zone.

Everything else happens on the PSP: Apps > Packages to install games.

Your first games

Apps > Packages: Freedoom, OpenTyrian, Cave Story, SuperTux, the Revolution adventures, the emulators and more. Each appears under Games (or as its system's tile) once installed. The card image comes with none, so you choose what takes space. Packages offers the GameShell 47 of PSPExp's 58 packages: not the nine drawn by a Raspberry Pi's graphics chip (SuperTuxKart, Celeste 64, Nintendo 64, Unreal Tournament, Luanti, Trackballs, Open Surge, OpenRA's Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn: its own chip is too small for them), nor Diablo and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.

ROMs go in folders in the home folder: roms/nes, roms/snes, roms/md (and roms/sms, roms/gg), roms/gb, roms/gbc, roms/gba, roms/lynx, roms/ws, roms/wsc. The easiest way: copy them to the PSP's memory stick, then in Apps > Files copy them from the PSP drive to the folder. Only use ROMs of games you own.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II need your own copy, as on the Raspberry Pi: DATA.WAR in the Warcraft folder of the home folder, Warcraft II's files or disc image in Warcraft2 (what each accepts and how they play: the Raspberry Pi page). The first start prepares the game: about 20 seconds for Warcraft, about 10 minutes for Warcraft II from a disc image. The GameShell plays their MIDI music at a lower quality than the Pi (22 kHz), or the sound would skip in battles; Warcraft II's music from a disc image keeps the CD's quality.

What it plays like

Measured on the PSP-1000:

Freedoom, OpenTyrian35 fps, full speed
2D emulatorsfull speed
Most OpenGL games40–60 fps
Neverball, Chromium B.S.U.about 22 fps
Emilia Pinballtoo slow to enjoy (7 fps): the GameShell's processor, not the PSP
Warcraft: Orcs & Humansmenus 60 fps, battles 44–52 fps
Warcraft II58–60 fps in a game, which runs a little slower than on a Pi (about 26 of its 30 steps a second)

The Warcraft figures were measured on 9 October 2026 with a stand-in for the PSP on the GameShell's USB cable, while the PSP was away; not yet on the PSP itself.

Good to know