PICO-8
lastmod 2025-01-20created 2025-01-203 edits
A retro-game-style virtual indie console system made by Josept White from New Zealand. Like a console game, it is designed so that the game system and game software packages can be used separately, but both the system and the software are programs with no physical form, and the creator named it a 'fantasy console'. It is a game engine that appealed to retro gamers (+ professional developers who want to make simple games as a hobby) thanks to its small, lightweight design, the strength of running freely on any platform, its nostalgic pixel-based graphics, and its surprisingly powerful capabilities once you dig in.
Features
It is a very small, lightweight game engine with an installer of roughly 10MB, and it supports platforms such as Windows/macOS/Linux/Raspberry Pi. The engine's base resolution is an unusual low-resolution 128x128 square screen, and it uses only 16 colors: deliberately low specs. In other words, if you run this engine on current-generation high-resolution platforms such as Windows, you have to look at giant pixels filling the screen.
The engine has its own built-in editors for coding, BGM, sound effects, sprites, and map tiles, so games can be made with the engine alone, without separate tools. In addition, it includes a game browser called SPLORE, which lets you manage the games you own and games uploaded by other users as a library.
Games made by users can be turned into a ROM image in a single *.png file, and distributed to others by uploading or sharing that png file.
Since its requirements are quite low, PICO-8 hardware can also be built with old hardware or SBCs. In particular, many of the Chinese-made emulator-only handhelds appearing recently include PICO-8 support, and a dedicated PICO-8 console can also be built with a Raspberry Pi.