Breathe new life into your PS Vita by installing RetroArch

psvita vita retroarch
5 minutes, 50 seconds

This tutorial will show you how to safely and permanently jailbreak your PS Vita so that you can breathe new life into it with RetroArch or other emulators, as well as load backups of your PS Vita, PSP and PS1 games. Please note that this will work on any version of PS Vita firmware up to and including 3.74. This guide is intended for the PS Vita 1000 model (which is the one I have) and is written for Windows users; it is possible to jailbreak a Vita 2000 and use Mac/Linux, but I recommend reading the guide on Vitahacks for that.

Before starting the tutorial, it’s advisable to purchase a PS Vita accessory: an SD2Vita card adapter. This adapter will allow you to use a microSD card to expand your device’s storage once it’s been unlocked. You can find one on AliExpress for less than €3 (I bought one from the brand TooGoo and it works perfectly) and, if you combine it with a 128 GB microSD card, you’ll overcome the storage limit for your PS Vita game backups. As PS Vita, PSP and PS1 games take up quite a lot of space, this accessory ensures you can store a large number of them.

To unlock your PS Vita, it is advisable to update the firmware to version 3.74 using the official Vita updater in the ‘Settings’ app. This tutorial assumes that your PS Vita has been factory reset once the latest firmware has been installed. For the PS Vita 1000 model, you’ll need to insert an official Sony Memory Card into the device; any size of memory card will work fine, but the smaller the better, as they’re cheaper. Connect your PS Vita to your local Wi-Fi and log in to the PSN Store at least once before starting this modification. We’re going to use a exploit called VitaDeploy, which was released in early 2021 and significantly improves the jailbreak process. It’s an all-in-one solution for unlocking the device and configuring it to work with a microSD card using the SD2Vita adapter.

Installing VitaDeploy and Henkaku:

  1. On your Vita, open the web browser app and navigate to jailbreak.psp2.dev.
  2. An orange menu will appear; select ‘Unlock my Vita’ and then ‘Unlock’.
  3. In the black menu that appears, navigate to “Install Henkaku” and press X, then do the same for “Install VitaDeploy”.
  4. Go to “Exit” and press X to exit the application.

Installing custom firmware 3.65:

  1. Open the Vita settings app and go to “HENkaku Settings”.
  2. Select “Enable Unsafe Homebrew” and make sure you are connected to the internet.
  3. Open “VitaDeploy” and navigate to “Install a different OS” > “Quick install of version 3.65”. The app will download and install version 3.65 and downgrade it using the “modoru” tool. It will ask if you really want to do this; press X to confirm. Once complete, the Vita will reboot.
  4. Go to Settings > System Information to confirm that you are now on v3.65 with the permanent ‘enso’ hack.
  5. Now that you are running firmware 3.65, the system may prompt you to update it periodically; you should not do this, as you would lose the jailbreak. To remove this message, go to the ‘HENkaku’ settings and ensure that the ‘Enable version spoofing’ option is ticked; under ‘Spoofed version’, set it to 3.74. Now restart your device to ensure the settings are retained.

Setting up the SD2Vita adapter:

  1. Insert a microSD card into the SD2Vita adapter, then insert the SD2Vita adapter into your Vita’s game card slot.
  2. Open ‘VitaDeploy’ and navigate to ‘Miscellaneous’ > ‘Format a storage device’. Select ‘Format target storage’ and follow the instructions.
  3. Restart the device.
  4. Open the ‘Settings’ app, then go to ‘Devices’ > ‘Storage devices’ and enable YAMT.
  5. Restart the console.
  6. Open ‘VitaDeploy’ > ‘File Manager’ and ensure that the ‘uma0’ partition is visible.
  7. Navigate to the ‘ux0’ partition and select all folders except ‘SceloTrash’ (use the SQUARE button to select). Press the TRIANGLE button and select “Copy”.
  8. Navigate to the “uma0” partition, press TRIANGLE to bring up the menu and select “Paste”.
  9. Return to the “Settings” app and go to “Devices” > “Storage Devices”. Configure the following options:
    • ux0: SD2Vita
    • uma0: Memory card
  10. Restart the console, go to “Settings” > “System Settings” and the memory card size should now reflect the capacity of your microSD card.

Installing basic homebrew applications:

  1. Open ‘VitaDeploy’ > ‘App Downloader’ and install the following applications:
  2. VitaShell: A file management system.
  3. VitaDB Downloader: A useful tool for browsing and downloading various homebrew applications and games.
  4. Adrenaline: A PSP emulation environment that allows you to play PSP and PS1 games with flawless performance.
  5. PKGj: This application will install backups of your PS Vita, PSP and PS1 games.
  6. vita-savemgr: Allows you to back up and restore your saved games.
  7. Custom Theme Manager: As the name suggests, it allows you to manage custom themes.
  8. iTLS Enso: Adds TSL v1.2 to the device, which fixes many plugin bugs, adds more installation options, enables secure internet access (https) and restores access to the PS Store.

Installing RetroArch:

RetroArch is a solution that offers a unified gaming experience as it integrates several emulator cores. To get started, download the latest version of the RetroArch VPK from this link. You should also download the latest RetroArch data file from the same link. The VPK contains the actual application and all its cores, whilst the data file contains all the necessary resources (fonts, graphics, etc.). There is also an installation guide and a video that are very easy to follow.

  1. Connect the Vita to your PC via VitaShell, then press SELECT on the Vita to enter USB mode. Copy the retroarch.vpk file to the root folder of your Vita’s ‘USB Drive’. Next, unzip the RetroArch data file and move the RetroArch data folder (named ‘retroarch’) to the PS Vita’s data folder. On your Vita, select and install the retroarch.vpk file, following the on-screen instructions. This installation will take quite a while. Once it’s complete, exit USB mode and return to the home screen. You should now see the RetroArch app there.
  2. Run RetroArch once and then close it. Reconnect to your Vita using VitaShell, then on your PC go to data > RetroArch > system and add your BIOS files there. BIOS files are copyrighted, so you’ll need to download them from an original console or find backup copies online. The same applies to ROMs: to run ROMs in RetroArch, you’ll need to create a ROM folder somewhere on your SD card and then place all your ROMs in subfolders within that directory.

Now you can enjoy backups of your PS Vita games and relive the games that brought us so much joy in the 80s and 90s. You’ll also be able to install various homebrew programmes that will breathe new life into your PS Vita 1000 – a little gem forgotten by Sony but which still has plenty of appeal to enjoy.

This was written without the use of Artificial Intelligence. Thank you for reading the post.