diff --git a/esp8266/Makefile b/esp8266/Makefile
index 1d50a0fb31..d63d5c255a 100644
--- a/esp8266/Makefile
+++ b/esp8266/Makefile
@@ -128,7 +128,6 @@ LIB_SRC_C = $(addprefix lib/,\
 	netutils/netutils.c \
 	timeutils/timeutils.c \
 	utils/pyexec.c \
-	utils/pyhelp.c \
 	utils/interrupt_char.c \
 	)
 
diff --git a/esp8266/help.c b/esp8266/help.c
index 5370ee71ea..2035cdd6cb 100644
--- a/esp8266/help.c
+++ b/esp8266/help.c
@@ -24,11 +24,9 @@
  * THE SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-#include <stdio.h>
+#include "py/builtin.h"
 
-#include "lib/utils/pyhelp.h"
-
-STATIC const char *help_text =
+const char *esp_help_text =
 "Welcome to MicroPython!\n"
 "\n"
 "For online docs please visit http://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/ .\n"
@@ -54,17 +52,3 @@ STATIC const char *help_text =
 "\n"
 "For further help on a specific object, type help(obj)\n"
 ;
-
-STATIC mp_obj_t builtin_help(uint n_args, const mp_obj_t *args) {
-    if (n_args == 0) {
-        // print a general help message
-        printf("%s", help_text);
-
-    } else {
-        // try to print something sensible about the given object
-        pyhelp_print_obj(args[0]);
-    }
-
-    return mp_const_none;
-}
-MP_DEFINE_CONST_FUN_OBJ_VAR_BETWEEN(mp_builtin_help_obj, 0, 1, builtin_help);
diff --git a/esp8266/mpconfigport.h b/esp8266/mpconfigport.h
index 5ba153ce5f..0c4bda6bd2 100644
--- a/esp8266/mpconfigport.h
+++ b/esp8266/mpconfigport.h
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
 #define MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_SLICE   (1)
 #define MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_SLICE_ATTRS (1)
 #define MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_PROPERTY (1)
+#define MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_HELP    (1)
+#define MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_HELP_TEXT esp_help_text
 #define MICROPY_PY___FILE__         (0)
 #define MICROPY_PY_GC               (1)
 #define MICROPY_PY_ARRAY            (1)
@@ -140,7 +142,6 @@ void *esp_native_code_commit(void*, size_t);
 
 // extra built in names to add to the global namespace
 #define MICROPY_PORT_BUILTINS \
-    { MP_OBJ_NEW_QSTR(MP_QSTR_help), (mp_obj_t)&mp_builtin_help_obj }, \
     { MP_OBJ_NEW_QSTR(MP_QSTR_input), (mp_obj_t)&mp_builtin_input_obj }, \
     { MP_OBJ_NEW_QSTR(MP_QSTR_open), (mp_obj_t)&mp_builtin_open_obj },