Take a Trip Back to the '90s With This Soothing PlayStation Restoration Video

Sony’s PlayStation made its debut in late 1994, which means many of the original consoles have collected decades’ worth of dust in attics and closets. If you've avoided cleaning your childhood PlayStation for years, this video from Odd Tinkering may motivate you.

The YouTuber behind the Odd Tinkering channel restores everything from antique war gadgets to retro video game gear for their relaxing videos. In this upload, they take a 24-year-old PlayStation PS One—a compact version of the console released in 2000—that's caked with gunk and dirt and return it to its former glory.

Even if you don't feel nostalgic for the classic console, it’s soothing to hear cables being plugged in and watch a toothbrush scrub away decades of filth. Odd Tinkering illustrates what’s happening with captions instead of their own voice, so all you hear are the ASMR-like sounds of the restoration process. You can watch the full video above.

An old PlayStation is still capable of playing many of your favorite games. As Odd Tinkering demonstrates, the vintage console was able to run Crash Bandicoot after it had been treated correctly.

Sony originally released the PlayStation in Japan in 1994 and in the U.S. in 1995. It retailed for $299—and signaled that Sega and Nintendo weren’t the only players in town.

Speaking of Nintendo: Did you ever wonder if blowing into the cartridges actually worked? We’ve got an answer for you here.

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A version of this story ran in 2020; it has been updated for 2024.