Playdate Is the Coolest Video Game Console You’ve Never Heard Of

As someone who generally stays on top of gaming news, I heard about the Playdate gaming system when it first launched in April of 2022 but didn't give it too much notice. While it was certainly intriguing, with its nostalgic yellow color and unusual crank mechanism, at first glance, it seemed like little more than a gimmick system.

That changed earlier this year, when I learned that Lucas Pope—the innovative developer behind two of my all-time favorite games, Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn—had dropped a game exclusively on the Playdate, called Mars After Midnight. I just had to learn more, and quickly revisited my interest in investigating Playdate.

I reached out to the company, whose team very generously provided me with the system and full access to their game library, and you can find my full thoughts on the system in the review below.

The System

What makes Playdate different from your typical gaming system? Pretty much everything—and that's precisely what makes it stand out.

The system itself is tiny, with the front of the body being about three inches by three inches, the system being just over a third of an inch thick, and the screen measuring 2.7 inches across the diagonal. The only face buttons are a D-pad, A and B buttons and a menu button (with a lock button at the top of the system),  with the real differentiator being the crank at the side of the system, which can be extended out or docked in the side of the Playdate.

(via Playdate)

Playdate also comes in a vibrant yellow color (which makes me super nostalgic, as I have a Game Boy Color in a similar hue), and the screen itself is fully black and white, and not backlit. However, it is ridiculously reflective, meaning you don't need as much light as you might think to see the screen well enough to play.

Of course, the most important thing about any game system is its actual games, and Playdate has a truly unique approach to them. The system comes with access to 24 complimentary Season One games you really can't play anywhere else. Now that the season is fully unveiled, you can decide to either discover two new games per week for 12 weeks or unlock them at your own pace. Beyond those, the Playdate Catalog features many more games you can purchase and download.  The system sells on their website for $199 and comes with a bright yellow USB-C to USB-A cable for charging.

(via Playdate)

 

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Getting Started

I was so excited when my Playdate came in the mail, along with the Aqua cover (available for $29 on its own or bundled with the system for $219). Before I could do anything, I needed to charge the system up to 25% using the included cord. Soon, I was playing the system's playful opening tutorial, introducing me to the buttons and crank, with some pretty beautiful black and white animations that looked crisp even without a backlight.

(via Playdate)

Probably the most tedious part of the set-up process was putting in my wifi password using the crank and buttons, but once I was able to get it online and register the device on my computer, it was ready to commence. It started by downloading a system update before I jumped into downloading my games.

For this review, it made way more sense to check out all 24 titles at once, rather than two per week, so that's precisely what I did. The file sizes of the games vary pretty drastically, from 60 measly KB to about 160 MB, but all of them downloaded without any fuss. The device has about 4 GB of flash storage, with 3.5 GB available before you download games, and the whole first season takes up less than half of that, which gave me plenty of wiggle room with these small but powerful games.

 

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Playtime With Play Date

Once my games were downloaded, it was time to see what the thing could do. Since I have small hands, holding the Playdate felt really natural, and I loved the clicky quality of the button and the more tactile nature of the crank, which paired with great sound effects, often made it feel completely different from any other gaming system I've played.

Besides the menu button, which displays game options, allows you to adjust the volume, take screenshots and check battery life, I quickly found that all of the games used the button configurations in their own unique ways, and no two games were quite alike.

What's great about the Season One Playdate games is that no matter what type of games you prefer, you're bound to find titles you'll love here. I'll admit that there were certain games I didn't play more than a few minutes into, like the surfing mini-game Whitewater Wipeout, Snake spin-off Snak or the maze-navigating Omaze, but others had me fully engrossed, with at least a third of them being must-plays for me.

Sasquatchers is an addictive turned-based strategy game about cryptozoologists trying to capture footage about cryptids, while Pick Pack Pup is a playful match-3 puzzle title that uses its narrative to satirize capitalism with cute and hilarious comic book-style characters.

(via Playdate)

Flipper Lifter is a simple but satisfying puzzler about helping penguins get to their desired destinations using a hotel elevator, while Demon Quest 85 has a spooky and creative narrative about summoning demons with classmates using an ancient tome.

(via Playdate)

Spellcorked is all about using unique ingredients to create the right witchy potions to satisfy your customers and Casual Birder is a little adventure game about capturing photos of local birds.

(via Playdate)

Each and every one of these titles uses the limitations and specifications of the Playdate to its advantage, combining bold black-and-white pixel art with great sound design to truly pop. Usage of the crank varies from zooming or focusing cameras to scrolling through comic stories, cranking an elevator up and down or even grinding and cutting ingredients for a special brew. And some games don't use the crank at all.

 

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But if there were two games that truly stood out to me from Playdate Season One, they were Ratcheteer and Saturday Edition. Ratcheteer stands out as a The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening-style adventure, with gameplay and environments that felt familiar without feeling stolen, and instantly iconic power-ups and five dungeons to explore. The game also uses the crank to power things like lanterns, drills and lasers, with a truly challenging final boss that pulls together everything you've learned thus far in a very satisfying conclusion.

(via Playdate)

Saturday Edition, on the other hand, is a not-quite point-and-click adventure game that's compelling, fun and one of my all-time favorites in the genre overall. I don't want to say too much about the narrative besides the fact that it had me gripped from the very beginning, with an underlying mystery I was dying to unravel and fascinating characters, with my interest ramping up as the story barrelled toward its conclusion.

(via Playdate)

And while I've also dug into some of the paid games on the Playdate, my favorite, by far, has been the one that brought me here in the first place, Mars After Midnight. This charming title is about an alien and his robot pal who run a community support center outside of a Martian colony. The game is all about helping folks, which starts with knowing who to let in (i.e. for Cyclops Anger Management, letting in only unhappy one-eyed creatures) and supplying them with a clean snack area until no more local Martians need help. It sounds simple, but it gets increasingly silly and chaotic with each passing program and recipe, resulting in a story that's uncharacteristically sweet and optimistic for Lucas Pope.

And overall, I loved the experience of playing these titles on the Playdate. The battery generally lasted between six and eight hours before I needed to charge the system again, and as long as I had a light on in the room, seeing the screen wasn't ever an issue. It was also pretty comfortable to play, for the most part—with the exception being some of the more timing-intensive movements in Ratcheteer, making my hands cramp up on occasion. I also have pretty small hands, so I can't speak for those who might have bigger hands and fingers, but Playdate just feels good to play.

If the visuals on the Playdate are an issue, there's also the option to download a plugin to mirror it on your computer. And, while I didn't dig into this at all, Playdate also allows you to make your own games—and potentially expand their official Catalog.

So, would Mars After Midnight be worth the $205 investment? Probably not, on its own, but it was the perfect entry point to have my interest piqued and discover everything else the Playdate had to offer. Now, I'm delighted to have a Playdate to call my own, and excited to check out even more unique titles I can't play anywhere else.

 

For more on games I adore, click HERE to read my review of Another Crab's Treasure on the Nintendo Switch.