New Exploit Lets You Jailbreak The PS Vita In A Web Browser

The PlayStation Vita’s revival is long coming, but that isn’t stopping the world from diving in and experimenting with the legendary handheld console. According to a new exploit brought forth by popular vintage console enthusiast Retro Game Corps, your PS Vita can be jailbroken right inside a web browser, whether that’s Chrome or Edge. 

Using this method, therefore, there’s no need to rely on connecting your PS Vita to a PC, which, tinkerers argue, is the hardest part pertaining to jailbreaking a PS Vita.

With that said, you will require a couple of other things to move forward with the process, such as a branded Sony memory card since the Vita doesn’t come with onboard storage, and you will be requiring some space to run the relevant apps on the console. 

•  It’s been said that the PS Vita 2000 model does not require any memory card. The console already arrives with 1 GB of available storage, so that does the job.  

The Rundown: 

• The PlayStation Vita marked its foray into the world of gaming in 2011 and 2012, released across Japan and North America, respectively, during that time frame. The handheld console acted as a direct upgrade to its predecessor—the PlayStation Portable. The Vita has been discontinued since 2015, and no other follow-up retro console has been kicked into motion by Sony. 
• Since the PS Vita is gradually coming into the retro lineage of consoles, more and more tinkerers and hobbyists are drawn toward it for the purpose of experimentation. 
• In doing so, a YouTuber going by the name of Retro Game Corps has managed to figure out a way to jailbreak the PS Vita without having to connect it to a PC. The method mainly involves the uses of a web browser, and whether you use Chrome, Opera, or Edge—that’s up to you. 
• A lengthy tutorial has been posted online by Retro Game Corps that teaches interested individuals how they can replicate the procedure and jailbreak their PlayStation Vita. 

Taking to YouTube to make the official announcement, the following 9-minute video goes over the whole procedure and teaches aspiring users how they can jailbreak their own PS Vitas. 

If you’re not much of a visual learner, you can check out Retro Gaming Corps’ PS Vita Written Guide for added information on how to move forward from here on out. Oh, and please be advised that PS Vita 1000 (OLED) model owners can get past the Sony memory card requirement by partitioning the console. 

A developer guide on creating an internal memory guide is likely to be the best source to pursue in this regard. As for the rest of the procedure, it’s worth updating your PS Vita firmware version, which should be at least 3.74 prior to attempting to jailbreak your handheld console. 

In case you have a firmware version that’s anything lower than the aforementioned version, it’s encouraged to venture into the console’s system settings and getting your PS Vita up to speed for the best results. Once you’ve taken care of that, you’ll be employing PS Vita’s pre-installed browser app to proceed with the jailbreak. 

The rest of the instructions have been meticulously outlined in the video above, so if you see yourself attempting something like this, the footage is certainly worth a watch. Retro Game Corps, with respect to this jailbreak methods, says, 

This will give you access to play backups of all Vita, PSP, and PS1 games, plus you can play up to N64 via emulators, plus dozens of homebrew games and ports. Emulation isn’t great on it, but it’s pretty reliable up through the SNES catalog.

A highly intrigued fan commenting on this jailbreak technique has the following opinion. 

This is rad. I saw that people managed to get the old mobile Dead Space and Mass Effect: Infiltrator running on VIta. I almost want to get one again just to try those out on it.” 

Oh, and if you own a Nintendo Switch as well, it might please you to know that the Switch can run PS Vita games as well. This happens with the help of a translation layer called “vita2hos.” Feel free to check out the GitHub repository for it here. 

What do you think of this terrific way of firing up your old PS Vita again? Do let us know in the comments section ahead.