PSP with Version 6.20 of the official firmware (DO NOT GET ANYTHING NEWER THAN THIS!)
A PSP USB Cable or a method to PSP Pro Duo Memory Cards reader for PCs
The Patapon 2 Demo (Available at http://www.pspdemocenter.com/page.php?id=2948)
Hacked Patapon 2 Demo savefile, Wololo's Half-Byte Loader, and TN HEN B (This can be all downloaded in one rar file at http://wololo.net/wagic/tn-hen-6-20/)
Optional: Prometheus ISO Loader (Available at http://dl.qj.net/psp/homebrew-applications/prometheus-iso-loader-for-620...)
Disclaimer: The following tutorial is for educational purposes only. Using this tutorial may void the warranty on your PSP. In addition, Amp and SoldierX cannot be held responsible for any damage that occurs to this console in this process. (Granted, the chance of this bricking a console is one in fifty million.) With this in mind, please exercise caution when using this.
In addition to this, for those who can install custom firmware or have a PSP that can use my prior homebrew tutorials, do not use this guide. The first reason for this is that there is no point since this is very new and does not have quite a few of the features that custom firmware does. Second, homebrew compatibility with this HEN is currently very low, but should improve since some homebrew developers are updating releases to work with this. This guide is meant for owners of the PSP-Go and those who have PSPs with firmware beyond version 5.03, but not any newer than version 6.20.
In 2009, I released a guide that allowed for people to get custom firmware capabilities on PSP-2000s that used the TA-088v3 motherboard and all PSP-3000s. The reality is though that there were some people are either were stuck with a PSP Go, which cannot utilize ChickHEN, or updated their firmware to something newer than 5.03. Fortunately, as long as they were not foolish enough to update beyond 6.20 they can receive some of these features now. On Christmas Eve, a new homebrew enabler was released by Total_Noob that allows for homebrew. In addition, a homebrew program was released that allowed for loading ISO and CSO files. While this is not as elegant as prior custom firmware solutions, this is still a good start.
Before continuing this tutorial, download version 6.20 of the official PSP firmware if it has not already been installed. DO NOT use a newer version of the firmware as it will not work. From there, download the files required to launch the HEN that are linked in the prerequisites section. Upon downloading these files, open the patapon 2 RAR and place the UCUS98734 folder in ms0:/PSP/GAME so the demo will work. Then, open the TN_HEN_B RAR and place all files in the root directory (ms0:/ in other words) of the memory card. If the operating system asks about merging directories, say yes and let it do so.
Now all files to execute this are in place, the HEN can be ran. Run the Patapon 2 demo from the XMB by going to game, selecting Memory Stick, and selecting the demo. When the demo asks to create a new save file, select no. Then when it asks if you want to continue playing anyways without system data, select yes. In the main menu of the demo, select continue and select the save that shows. (It should have an icon that says HEN 6.20 on it to represent the modified save.) When it loads, pretty any button to go into the game then press the right trigger to launch the half-byte loader, which in turn will automatically load TN HEN-B.
From here, you now have the capability to run homebrew from a PSP and by hitting the select button on the XMB, can utilize features from the VSH menu. For running ISOs, the Prometheus ISO loader can be downloaded and installed by opening the RAR file and placing the main folder of the program in ms0:/PSP/GAME. This allows for it to be ran by going to game, selecting memory stick, and selecting Prometheus ISO Loader in the XMB. Just make sure to create an ISO folder on the root directory of the memory card and place all ISO and CSO files there.
January 29th, 2011 update: This tutorial is being preserved mainly for posterity, but I am doing a small update as TN HEN-C was released recently which has made a large portion of this tutorial mostly obsolete. The reason for this is that this version has been signed so that it can be placed in ms0:/PSP/GAME and launched from the XMB by going to game, selecting memory stick, and simply selecting the program. No exploits are required for this version and as a bonus it is able to connect to the Playstation Network. For those interested in checking this out, feel free to download it at http://dl.qj.net/psp/hacks-exploits/620-tn-c.html.