PSPExp

PSPExp on a Raspberry Pi

The Pi is the roomiest home for PSPExp: every package runs on it, the 3D games included, and it has Bluetooth for headphones. PSPExp is tested on a Raspberry Pi 400; a Pi 4 or 5 with the same system should behave the same. The Pi needs no screen of its own: the PSP is its screen.

What you need

The PSPExp card image

The easy way: a card with everything on it, ready at the first boot.

  1. Get the PSPExp card image for the Raspberry Pi.
    • The download: pspexp-pi-<version>.img.xz on PSPExp's Releases page, with its SHA-256 checksum.
    • From this repository: scripts/pi/image/build-image.sh builds it on a Mac (it needs Docker or OrbStack), into build/pi-image/pspexp-pi.img.
  2. Write it to the card with Raspberry Pi Imager (Use custom) or your flashing tool, and put the card in the Pi. Imager's own settings (Wi-Fi, SSH, the time zone) work too if you want them; if you set a user there, keep the name pi.
  3. Plug the PSP into any of the Pi's USB ports, start PSPExp on the PSP, and switch the Pi on.
  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 (or plug in an Ethernet cable). Then Settings > Clock > Time zone.

Everything else happens on the PSP: Apps > Packages to install games. The card is Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) with PSPExp added; its user is pi, password pspexp: change it (passwd in Apps > Terminal). SSH is off unless you turned it on in Imager.

On a Raspberry Pi OS you already have

For a Pi that already runs Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit), the Debian 13 "trixie" release (Lite is enough), with a network connection and SSH on:

  1. Write the card with Raspberry Pi Imager (64-bit Raspberry Pi OS, with SSH, Wi-Fi and your user set in its settings), put it in the Pi and power it on. Wait for it to appear on your network.
  2. Install PSPExp from this repository, on a Mac or Linux computer: 
    HOST=<user>@<pi-address> scripts/pi/install.sh

    It sets the Pi up for PSPExp (the PSP's USB rule, the console as a service that starts at boot, the settings it needs) and installs PSPExp from PSPExp's package repository, https://pkg.pspexp.dev. The games come from there too, through Apps > Packages. (To use a repository of your own instead, put its address in ~/.pspexp/repo-url on the computer: Developing.) A one-command install on the Pi itself is planned.

  3. Plug the PSP into any of the Pi's USB ports and start PSPExp on it. The launcher appears.

From then on the Pi starts the console at every boot and waits for the PSP; you never need to log in to it again.

Your first games

On the PSP: Apps > Packages. Pick a game (Freedoom, OpenTyrian, Cave Story, Dink Smallwood, Alter A.I.L.A. Genesis, Theia, SuperTux, Quake, Quake II...) and press cross to install it; it appears under Games when done. Emulators install the same way (NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Lynx, WonderSwan, and on a Pi the Nintendo 64) and appear as their own tiles once you have ROMs for them.

ROMs go in folders in your home folder on the Pi: roms/nes, roms/snes, roms/md, roms/gb and roms/gbc, roms/gba, roms/lynx, roms/ws, roms/n64. Copy them with the file manager (Apps > Files) from a USB stick or from the PSP's memory stick, or over the network as you would to any Linux machine. Only use ROMs of games you own.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans needs the data of your own copy (the DOS CD, or the version GOG sells): its file DATA.WAR. Install Warcraft from Packages, then copy DATA.WAR into the Warcraft folder of your home folder on the Pi (Apps > Files; the folder appears after the first try, and the launcher reminds you if the file is missing). The first start prepares the game from it, a few seconds longer than usual; after that it starts straight away, and its tile shows the game's title screen. The nub moves the pointer, cross selects and gives orders, circle is the right mouse button, the d-pad scrolls the map, square adds to the selection, START is the game menu.

Warcraft II works the same way, with your own copy in the Warcraft2 folder: a disc image of the CD (a .cue with its .img or .bin, as DOSBox copies have; the expansion's, Beyond the Dark Portal, gives the whole game), the files of the DOS CD, the folder of the Battle.net Edition, or the installer GOG sells (the .exe file itself). From a disc image the music is the CD's own recordings; otherwise the game's MIDI version. The first start prepares it all and takes a few minutes (about 4 on a Pi 400 from a disc image); after that it starts straight away, and its tile shows the game's title screen. Everything is drawn at the PSP's own size, pixel for pixel, so the text is sharp, and laid out for its screen: the menus, and in a game the minimap, the selected unit and its command buttons down a narrow column on the left (the buttons' pictures trimmed a little at their edges to fit), the map on the right, your gold, lumber, oil and food along the top, the Menu button top right. Standard Game first asks which map list to play: Skirmish Modern is Warcraft II's usual one; Skirmish Classic, Front Lines and For the Motherland are Wargus's extra sets, each with its own maps and settings. You see less of the map at once than on a PC; scroll with the d-pad, or click the minimap. The Map Editor is left out on the PSP: it is made for a large screen and a keyboard.

What it plays like

Measured on the PSP-1000 with a Pi 400:

Freedoom, OpenTyrian35 fps, the games' own full speed
Mr. Boom, the 2D emulators60 fps
Quake (shareware)45–60 fps, about 30 in the biggest fights
OpenArena, DreamChess, Emilia Pinball, SuperTuxabout 30 fps
Music playerMP3 decoded by the PSP; the Pi does almost nothing
SuperTuxKartdrawn by the Pi's own graphics chip and sent to the PSP as pictures (only on a Pi); about 29 fps at most from the Pi; its menus 33-60 fps on the PSP-1000
Nintendo 64 (Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Tooie, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark)drawn by the Pi's graphics chip (only on a Pi); the sound clean in Mario, Ocarina and Banjo-Tooie; GoldenEye and Perfect Dark still have short gaps where the Pi falls behind
Unreal Tournamentdrawn by the Pi's graphics chip (only on a Pi): 30-40 fps in a deathmatch on the PSP-1000; free with Epic's permission, its terms accepted in Packages
Celeste 64drawn by the Pi's graphics chip (only on a Pi): 54-60 fps in the level on the PSP-1000, its music and sound on the PSP
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territorydrawn by the PSP: on the PSP-1000 about 20 fps over Oasis's open ground, up to 60 indoors; online or against bots; id's licence agreement accepted in Packages
Diablo (shareware)drawn by the PSP: 60 fps on the PSP-1000; your own full game too (DIABDAT.MPQ in ~/.local/share/diasurgical/devilution); DevilutionX's licence accepted in Packages
Sonic Robo Blast 2drawn by the PSP: 60 fps on the PSP-1000, running through Greenflower Zone
SRB2Kartdrawn by the PSP: 56-57 fps on the PSP-1000; races online
Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn on OpenRAdrawn by the Pi's graphics chip (only on a Pi): a skirmish 16-17 fps on the PSP-1000, menus 13-20; the first start installs the game's content (Quick Install)
Command & Conquer, Red Alertdrawn by the PSP: 25-28 fps in the emulator; EA's freeware, about 600 MB each to download
AssaultCubedrawn by the PSP: about 20 fps in its menus on the PSP-1000, online matches
Lugaru HDdrawn by the PSP: about 58 fps in its menus on the PSP-1000
Quake II (demo)drawn by the PSP, like Quake: 31-60 fps in its first seconds on the PSP-1000
Luanti (Minetest)drawn by the Pi's graphics chip (only on a Pi): its menus about 58 fps on the PSP-1000
Trackballs, Open Surgedrawn by the Pi's graphics chip too (only on a Pi); 51-60 fps in their first seconds on the PSP-1000
Warcraft: Orcs & Humansdrawn by the PSP: 60 fps from the Pi in the menus and in a game; your own copy's DATA.WAR (above)
Warcraft IIdrawn by the PSP: 54-60 fps from the Pi; your own copy (above); menus and game at the PSP's 480x272

Every game here was started on the PSP-1000 from the launcher on 6 October 2026, its sound heard, its nub and START + SELECT tried (tests/psp/all-games.sh), except the Warcraft games, added on 8 October while the PSP was away: Warcraft tried from the launcher with a stand-in for the PSP, not yet on the PSP itself.

Games drawn by the Pi's graphics chip

Most games are drawn by the PSP itself: the Pi only tells it what to draw. Some 3D games ask for more than the PSP's graphics chip can do (Celeste 64, SuperTuxKart, Trackballs, Open Surge, Luanti). On a Pi these are drawn by the Pi's own graphics chip instead, and each finished picture is sent to the PSP, which shows it, plays the sound and reads the buttons as for any other game. You don't have to do anything: install them from Apps > Packages as usual. Their entry there says Board GPU under renderer, and the launcher calls them Board GPU renderer. They are offered only on a Pi; the GameShell's graphics chip is too small for them.

Bluetooth headphones

The Pi has Bluetooth. Put your headphones or speaker in pairing mode, then Settings > Sound, wait for the scan, pick them with cross. From then on every game's sound plays in them, the PSP's volume buttons set their volume (a bar shows on screen), and when they go back in their case the sound returns to the PSP by itself. Choose The PSP in Sound output to let them go, for your phone or tablet. Details: Using PSPExp.

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