Pico Monsters - Pokemon meets the Pico-8 by hcnt!

Another day another Pico-8 game and this time we are grabbing that Nintendo classic Pokemon changing it around and releasing it on the Pico-8 as ' Pico Monsters ' developed by hcnt. But before you get too excited this isn't a full conversion of Pokemon but a pokemon-esque jrpg, that features picostops, monsters, people to talk to and a chippy little soundtrack.

Wizardish - Pico-8 Dungeon Crawler gets a major v2.0 update

Only just last month Eduardolicious with music by 0xabad1dea, released the updated old school retro dungeon crawler ' Wizardish ' for the Pico-8, with a browser based version also available. It was developed as a Wizardry game in his own style using 80's graphics that gave you the feeling of walking through tight tunnels while battling strange beasts, and collecting loot all with up to four selectable characters. Well just recently that same game has had a v2.0 major update!

Invader Overload - Space Invaders just became even more wicked on the Pico-8!

Now here's a blast from the past, a game based on probably the oldest mentioned game on our site ' Space Invaders '. Released in 1978 as an arcade shooter developed by Tomohiro Nishikado, your task was to defeat waves of aliens and earn as many points as possible, while trying to avoid being shot at or touched by the slowly lowering waves. This game however ' Invader Overload ' which is based on that classic and released on the Pico-8 by morningtoast, takes Space Invaders to the next level of awesomeness!

Pico-Sprint - Arcade Pico-8 racer gets a Super Sprint tribute

Way back in 1986 I was to play a top down arcade racing game that had its very own steering wheel, and drained my cash from my pocket. That game was Super Sprint by Atari Games, a game which had multiple system ports and featured 4 player racing which pushed you to frustration as you tried to come first place against the AI in every race! It featured multiple track types and cool sounds which made it a whole ton of fun and addictive as hell. It is that game which is being mentioned today, because at the end of last year Reload released Pico-Sprint which is a tribute to Super Sprint but on the Pico-8

Buzzkill - Warning! A Killer Bee shoot em up on the Pico-8

The sun is shining and the weather is hot, too hot in fact! But what is the worst thing about Summer other than a sunburn? Wasps! Or at least killer Bees in morningtoast's new Pico-8 shoot em up, Buzzkill, which was only just released yesterday and now playable in your PC browser. The idea behind the game is simple, scroll along the bottom and shoot and wipe out as many bees, honeycombs and hives as possible to advance to the next stage.

A Doukutsu Demake - Cave Story de-made on the Pico-8 and it's good!

In 2004 we had the pleasure of playing the rather enjoyable Dōkutsu Monogatari also known as Cave Story for the PC. A 2D platform adventure, developed over 5 years by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, featured action, a compelling story and gameplay, in which you play as a little guy in a cave on a quest to defeat the evil Doctor, who has world domination on his mind. It was a great and fun game that had multiple ports and even later had an enhanced version. So you'll be pleased to know that a fan developer by the name of howlermiller has done a Doukutsu Demake for the Pico-8, which is also playable in your browser!

Duangle 2015 Intro - Amiga cracktro parody on a Pico-8!

There's something to be said about cracktro's and scene demo's, there's nothing more enjoyable than seeing waves of text, moving objects and upbeat tunes from a bunch of users showing off their creative talent on an old retro system. One such cracktro for mention wasn't developed on the Amiga however, but is actually a parody of one and was created on the Pico-8, as paniq has said for the " Duangle 2015 Intro " : This is kind of a parody of old amiga cracktros from a parallel universe, where duangle is a demoscene group, and so are all the people in the greetings!

So head on over to the Pico-8 site and check it out, it's rather cool ( Link )

Combo Pool - Strike the colours and gain a high score in NuSan's free game!

I'm not usually one for sporty games, but NuSan has thrown the original game play of Pool out the window and added in his own Tetris like vibe. This is ' Combo Pool ', a free game made using Pico 8 and a winning entry to p8jam2, in which you need to shoot and match coloured marbles to gain an increasing high score. If the right colours make a connection, they will upgrade and finally give you a seriously cool combo. Just make sure not to have so many balls on the screen at once, because your life force will only last so long!

Wizards Rule - If you love Arcade games, then play this

Remember the days spent down at the Arcades, hearing the beeps and bops from the different machines, the coloured lights flashing all around, and money being lost for hours worth of enjoyment? Then you really should be playing this Pico-8 game from Gadzooka, which is also available to play in your browser that takes us back to a grand old era of Arcade gaming. Called ' Wizards Rule ', the task for you is to traverse a maze and kill all the creatures in your way!

Wizardish - Pico-8 Dungeon Crawler is also playable in your browser!

I've always been a fan of the dungeon crawler, there's something to be said about moving through a dark underground passage, looking for loot, avoiding traps and fighting the many beasts that lurk within. In actual fact I'm more inclined to play an old retro first person grid based crawler than any top down modern one that's released today. And on that note, here's a dungeon crawler you should play which was just recently updated; 'Wizardish' by Eduardolicious for the Pico-8, which is also playable in your browser.

Alone in the Pico - Alone in the Dark gets an impressive Pico-8 demake!

The above screenshot might not look like much in the grand scheme of things, but this is actually a rather impressive Pico-8 demake of the hit classic ' Alone in the Dark ' which was first released for the PC by Infogrames way back in 1992. An original game that not only appeared in the Guinness World Records as the first ever 3D survival horror game in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 edition, but it was also the first of two games to use polygonal characters over pre-rendered backgrounds. An all time classic indeed, but the news of today is a developer by the name of NuSan has done a small demake for the Pico-8, and it is now called ' Alone in the Pico '.

Mistigri - A Bubble Bobble inspired game that's damn good fun!

We haven't done any decent free online playable games for awhile, so lets throw Benjamin Soulé's ' Mistigri ' into the mix, which is inspired by that brilliant arcade game ' Bubble Bobble '. Developed for the PICO-8 but available to play online in your PC browser, Mistigri is a 1 to 2 player arcade game, with 22 levels of ball throwing, enemy picking and fruit grabbing fun!

Pocket C.H.I.P. launches, with Pico-8 as a Pack-in

Today, Next Thing Co. have announced that the handheld expansion variant of their C.H.I.P. Single Board Computer, PocketCHIP will ship to customers with Lexaloffle's 8-Bit fantasy console Pico-8 pre-installed, bringing hundreds of community developed games to this cute handheld computer for an absurdly low $49.

Pico-8 : An 8 bit fantasy console from the makers of Voxatron (IRN Cracktro special!)

For the last couple of weeks I've been playing around with a "fantasy console" from makers of voxatron, lexaloffle. This review was supposed to be a quick report of a cool looking toy I found for making retro style games and prototypes or game jam entries. It started with an innocent posting that made it to the front page of Hacker News, and a quick glance indicated it would be suitable fodder for Indie Retro News. A quick round up of what was going on with some screenshots. Yeah, I'd have this wrapped up in a day. What I didn't expect was what I discovered...