I grew up in an age of games with pixels so chunky they made Duplo look refined. The era was bookended by the Atari 2600 and the Game Boy, with the likes of the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, Sega Master System and NES in-between. I love them all. Even the Amstrad. But my favourite retro console these days is the Pico-8. Which is a bit strange when you consider the Pico-8 never physically existed.
Instead, Pico-8 is a fantasy console – a virtual platform dreamt up by Joseph ‘zep’ White. It started out as a sandbox for a game before mutating into an entire ecosystem. And it’s positioned almost as a challenge to game creators – or perhaps a sanctuary from the escalating demands of modern development. Pico-8 intentionally curbs ambitions with its 16-colour 128*128px display, audio described as “4-channel chip blerps”, and microscopic 32k ‘carts’ cleverly saved as PNGs .
My coding skills peaked in the mid-1980s with a handful of ASCII animations crafted in BASIC, and so I’m not interested in making games. Playing them, though? Completely different story. And Pico-8 has thousands of games, often fuelled by a mad-scientist vibe, pushing against limitations until they snap, and prioritising gameplay over spectacle in the same way the best games of the 1980s did. Also, if you feel like your bank account is being mugged every time you buy a lettuce, there’s more good news: almost every Pico-8 game is free.
Pico-up-and-play
Given that my Stuff columns read like the diary of someone rapidly losing patience with modern technology, you might get whiplash here, because this one’s pure joy. (Normal service will resume next week.) Pico-8 got me excited about games in a way I hadn’t experienced for years. And after many months of me badgering him, Stuff editor Dan ‘I just want a quiet life’ Grabham finally gave in and said I could write about it.
So. Getting started is easy: Pico-8 works in a web browser. Pick a cart. Click play. Done! On desktop, the keyboard can work as a controller. On Android and iPhone, you get virtual controls or can pair a physical pad like a Project Taco if you value your thumbs. That already feels almost like a dedicated Pico-8 system.
However, an actual dedicated Pico-8 system is even better – and supports zep’s sterling efforts. A one-off $14.99 gets you the full version of Pico-8 for Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi, along with built-in browser Splore – basically Netflix for tiny games. You browse new releases, flag favourites, and only stop when your eyes give out.
The paid version also runs on retro handhelds like the RG Cube XX, whose square display feels tailor made for Pico-8. My current favourite setup, though, is a Retroid Pocket Classic, running Mac75’s superb Pico-8 Android wrapper. Combined with Emulation Station Desktop Edition, it creates the illusion of a handheld from an alternate timeline where Pico-8 eclipsed the Game Boy, Game Gear and Atari Lynx.
And that’s the magic of Pico-8. I get warm retro vibes and something new. Rather than endlessly replaying games I finished decades ago, I’m constantly exploring fresh ideas and weird experiments built on old-school foundations. It’s the best of both worlds.
The delightful dozen: 12 of my favourite Pico-8 games
There are over 16,000 Pico-8 games to play. Try them all! Or, you know, more realistically try these 12 first, because they’re all superb.
- Alpine Alpaca: A deck-building slalom game where you use cards to direct a skiing llama down perilous slopes.
- Birds With Guns: Exactly what the title promises: a hawk-some shooter where you blast (egg-stealing) foes.
- Celeste: This hard-as-nails platformer later conquered every modern system, but it began life on Pico-8.
- Combo Pool: Pool distilled into a tiny table of chaos, as you smack balls together to merge them before your energy runs dry.
- Gridrunner: Whether this is a remake or demake of Jeff Minter’s seminal shooter hardly matters – pahammond’s take rules.
- Hot Wax: One of many Tetris wannabes on Pico-8, Hot Wax stands out by turning falling blocks into candles.
- Marble Merger: Suika Game with squishy physics, having you combine marbles until you run out of space or consciousness.
- PicoRacer 2048: Looks like 8-bit Asteroids but plays like F-Zero as you blaze around top-down ‘vector’ tracks.
- Moss Moss: A cute, gentle platformer packed with secrets and charm, where your goal is to cover every surface with moss.
- Praxis Fighter X: One for folks who can complete DoDonPachi on a single credit, this is a ferocious bullet-hell SHMUP.
- Steps: Like Minit, but – hilariously – even crueller, because you’re sent back to a restart point after just ten steps.
- Woodworm: A sedate puzzler where you sculpt objects by eating chunks of wood. As a woodworm, natch, or that would be strange.
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