Psst hey you! come over here.

Did you know that people develop games for systems that don’t exist?

Yeah it surprised me too.

What is a Fantasy Console?

Due to the wonders of MODERN COMPUTERS, you can emulate old consoles like the Sega Megadrive, or the Gameboy Colour with surprising ease. This is despite not having any of the hardware that were in those systems.

If you can emulate, make a computer think its a different computer, why not make fake hardware design run on real hardware?

Creating a limitation to make a smaller amount of work and an easier creative process.

PICO 8

Display 128x128 16 colours
Cartridge Size 32k
Sound 4 channel chip blerps
Code Lua
Sprites 256 8x8 sprites
Map 128x32 cels

Pico-8 is a set of restrictions, but so is programing for a real console like the original Gameboy or PSX. So why use it?

The upside is that you can use current tools to program for Pico-8 as it uses Lua, instead of proprietary systems like using Windows 98 to program a PSX.

Due to the power of

[MODERN COMPUTERS]

You can run any pico game on a browser because the Pico-8 runs in html5.

They also allow these to games to be packaged up in a lovely cartridge sharable format.

Now that is style.

Tic-80

DISPLAY   240x136 pixels, 16 colors palette.
INPUT     4 gamepads with 8 buttons / mouse / keyboard.
SPRITES   256 8x8 tiles and 256 8x8 sprites.
MAP       240x136 cells, 1920x1088 pixels.
SOUND     4 channels with configurable waveforms.
CODE      64KB of lua, ruby, js, moon, fennel, squirrel, wren or wasm.

I mean look at this resolution!

Look at how much more power this has it is nearly twice as powerful as the Pico-8. And guess what?

IT RUNS IN THE BROWSER

I fell into this rabbit hole when I looked into the Clockwork U-Console kit

I asked why would you even get this thing.

Side Step the

”problem?”

There are other ways to lower the demands of making a game solo.

Like the GB STUDIO 3.0 which makes developing for the Game-Boy easier and even allowing it to be played on modern hardware in the form of the Analogue Pocket.

Or even trying

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

A modern console with

RETRO-REVIVAL-ASPIRATIONS

The Playdate, a weird square with a crank on it.

I mean,I guess it makes sense? Try something new to differentiate itself.

By Goodness it is a Vibe.

It has an open SDK so you can develop all you want for the Playdate.

It is from a game publisher for some reason.

And for some reason they went without a backlit screen?

Which if you are not in the know is something most people mod into consoles without a backlit screen.

I appreciate the dedication to historical consoles and handhelds, I would be a major hypocrite if I didn’t, but it is an odd “why would you do that” design choice.

It is like emulating the tendency for the X-box 360 to burn it self out, or joystick drift.

You know the unintentional worst part of the consoles gaming experience?

But that is enough of me ranting.

It is a place to get started.

Fin.

Psst hey, you should consider learning about these indie legends. You can start producing games, with a limited computing. Allowing you to producing something in your lifetime.

History of gaming should not be just history. Make it a way for creativity and vision to be available for everyone.

I hope these Retro-Style games become more popular.

I hope that these free tools can make someones life better.