You might recall the quirky Playdate, the handheld gaming console with a manual crank on the side, that was announced back in 2019. Well, it's still happening and in a video update streamed today, we got new details about this upcoming indie console from video game publisher Panic.

​

As part of its "Season 1", the Playdate will receive 24 free games, including a new title from Return Of The Obra Dinn's creator. The season lasts for a period of 12 weeks where every week, two new games automatically download onto the device. The title screen, names and developers of 21 of Season 1's games have been revealed and Panic says that there will be "a few extra surprise games along the way". Additional details about the gameplays have been intentionally kept under wraps. Below you can find information about the revealed titles (courtesy of The Verge):

• Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure by uvula (Keita Takahashi, Ryan Mohler), Matthew Grimm, and Shaun Inman
• Battleship Godios by TPM.Co Soft Works.
• Casual Birder by Diego Garcia with music by Max Coburn
• DemonQuest 85 by Alex Ashby, Lawrence Bishop, Duncan Fyfe, Belinda Leung, and Jared Emerson-Johnson
• Echoic Memory by Samantha Kalman, Everest Pipkin, Carol Mertz, and Rachelle Viola
• Executive Golf DX by davemakes
• Flipper Lifter by Serenity Forge
• Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke by Nels Anderson and Christina “castpixel” Neofotistou
• Hyper Meteor by Vertex Pop (Mobeen Fikree, Robby Duguay, and h heron)
• Lost Your Marbles by Sweet Baby Inc. & Friends
• Omaze by Gregory Kogos
• Pick Pack Pup by Nic Magnier and Arthur Hamer (he/him) with music by Logan Gabriel
• Questy Chess by Dadako
• Ratcheteer by Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, and Charlie Davis
• Sasquatchers by Chuck Jordan with music and sound by Jared Emerson-Johnson
• Snak by Zach Gage with art by Neven Mrgan
• Spellcorked! by Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, Ryan Splendorr, and Tony Ghostbrite with music by A Shell in the Pit (Em Halberstadt)
• Zipper by Bennett Foddy
• Saturday Edition by Chris Makris with music by A Shell in the Pit (Gord McGladdery, Alfonso Salinas)
• Whitewater Wipeout by Chuhai Labs (Giles Goddard, Mark Lentz, Peter Traylor, Hero Liao, Remy Thor, Charlie March, Kensaku Nakata, Zach Aikman, Mihoko Terao, and Kinsey Burke)

Also announced today are a couple of accessories. First we have the "Stereo Dock" that works as a Bluetooth speaker and a pen holder but no pricing have been revealed for it. Then we have the $29 magnetic cover.

​

The Playdate will cost $179 and pre-orders will open sometime in July. Once you own one, you will also be able to create your own games with the free SDK and the browser-based Pulp game maker. As for side-loading games, the company says that it is easy to do so directly onto the handheld.

Playdate Official Website

 

[subcon959]

It doesn't really matter how good it is when the price is so stupid. How is this company so out of touch?

 

[esmith13]

I love the concept and design of this thing so much but in the world of $30-$55 Arduboy's and clones the price is a SERIOUS concern. Not saying the tech inside plus markup for retail isn't in the $100+ range, but why not drop bluetooth and wifi (as an example) and give you a 3.5mm jack and a PC app to to receive and install games from via USB? I mean, I get the "retro thing" with the black & white reflective screen and basic two button input but then to try and justify current creature comforts like bluetooth and wifi and a huge price to match seems like they can't decide if this is "new old tech" or "old-feeling new tech" and we have to pay for the confusion.

If someone gave me $200 and I HAD to spend it, not gonna lie, I'd probably buy this and it's accessories just because it's cute and stands apart from all the Anbernic/PowKiddy/GKD/BittBoy stuff I already have amassed over the years.

(full disclosure, I have an Arduboy FX arriving this week so this is my kinda thing in general)

 

[grey72]

Safe to call this hipster trash after watching the update video tbh

 

[Veho]

This is more of an art project than a gaming console. The specs are, how should I say this, modest. The games are indie pieces inspired by the aesthetics and limitations of the device. The black and white screen is a stylistic choice. This is not meant to compete with any other device on the market because it's completely removed from the modern day idea of a handheld. This is a stylishly designed conversation piece you fiddle with for a bit and then keep docked on that Stereo Dock forever because you like to look at it. Items like this usually cost a ton of money, but somehow always sell. I mean look at this thing. It's a Raspberry Pi powered retro handheld, like those $100 ones, only this one costs $3000. Plus tax. And people buy it. So there will be a market for the Playdate, and we on this forum are not it.

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

what a cringe title

 

[stanleyopar2000]

$179?

Holy shit you could buy a used 3DS on eBay a little less than that

 

[Plasmaster09]

this would be neat except it's being sold for a price that, just last year, I could have plausibly used to get a 2ds and at least a couple major games
by the time a gimmick system like this is being sold for that kinda ridiculous price, it's absolutely not worth it

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

Probably about time we lift the bar a little. Maybe the question should be if it can run Mario 64 at this point.

no the playdate cant run it

 

[Bladexdsl]

whats with the stupid crank is that how you have to start it like them old cars?! this is literally the stupidest ugliest device i have ever seen and at that price!

 

[phreaksho]

Is it weird how I am really excited about this..?

 

[boots_n_cats]

I like that this knows what it wants to be: a handled targeted at 30-40 somethings with money and nostalgia for 8-bit handhelds. People comparing this to a 3DS or Switch lite on price or features are completely missing the point. It is deliberately not like those or any of the emulator handhelds that come and go. Instead, they have a narrow fairly unambitious goal and look like they will actually be able to deliver on it (as opposed to all those nostalgia driven kickstarters like the Atari VCS and friends).

 

[shorty_bobert]

The $175 price tag must be going to marketing because I've never seen something so uninteresting pushed so hard

 

[pedro702]

I like that this knows what it wants to be: a handled targeted at 30-40 somethings with money and nostalgia for 8-bit handhelds. People comparing this to a 3DS or Switch lite on price or features are completely missing the point. It is deliberately not like those or any of the emulator handhelds that come and go. Instead, they have a narrow fairly unambitious goal and look like they will actually be able to deliver on it (as opposed to all those nostalgia driven kickstarters like the Atari VCS and friends).

and what is that goal? im guessing most people who buy this will use it for like an hour and then put it on a shelf until they forget about it, im not seeing anything games or otherwise that seems remarkable.

this is just like any novelty, you buy it becuase it looks interesting give it afew days and then shelve it for all eternity imo.

the diference here is they are doing a huge price, if this was in the range of 50-80$ then yes its a nice little gadjet like nintendo did with GW, but at 179$ it cost way too much for the fun little novelty thing you buys to amuse us for afew days imo.

 

[boots_n_cats]

and what is that goal? im guessing most people who buy this will use it for like an hour and then put it on a shelf until they forget about it, im not seeing anything games or otherwise that seems remarkable.

To deliver some unique and creative experiences motivated by the limited hardware. I don't think you're wrong about most of them sitting around after an hour of use but $180 is within the impulse buy window of enough people that I bet this will be a success. I mean Facebook ads keep trying to sell me a $160 pepper mill, I'm sure a decent number of people bite on that offer. I don't expect this to be popular with the denizens of GBATemp given homebrew, emulation, and backups are the bread and butter of this forum and this is an expensive desk toy for millennial yuppies (myself included).

 

[VatoLoco]

Very on board with this, it just looks fun and different. Retro, but not dingux, rg351, or some handheld running retroarch with a closed source frontend, etc. Been watching the develpoment for quite a while, nice to see an order date coming up.

 

[esmith13]

Very on board with this, it just looks fun and different. Retro, but not dingux, rg351, or some handheld running retroarch with a closed source frontend, etc. Been watching the develpoment for quite a while, nice to see an order date coming up.

I agree... But... That price?!?!

 

[Plazorn]

A day after its release it would be running retroarch

 

[matt!]

The screen alone (2.7", 400x240, Sharp Memory Display LCD) costs about ~$50

 

[esmith13]

The screen alone (2.7", 400x240, Sharp Memory Display LCD) costs about ~$50

It's actually costing them probably less than $20/ea
As a nobody I can buy them at retail for $20/ea if I get 400 pieces at a time...

 

[Plazorn]

The playdate seems interesting, but, I don’t know if I’d pay that much for it. You can a switch lite for about the same price. Really cool concept though