Not offering HDMI support is a mistake
this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2025
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Yup, I wonder if that's HDMI Forum's fault though. I hear they are insufferable.
A 8 bit console with a DisplayPort would be funny
Super easy to find a DP to HDMI cable, why not?
It's very easy. Even easier than DPing yo mamma which is also pretty easy.
Hey-yo! (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
Yasss queen
Even better than HDMI
There are all sorts of licensing shenanigans when dealing with HDMI, so I wonder if it's compatible with their open source policy. But personally I'd have put a VGA output on it as a compromise between period correctness and modern usage. Easy to output as analog from the console, and easy to convert cleanly for modern displays with inexpensive adapters.
I saw these guys at Portland Retro Gaming Expo. I played the demo a tiny bit, and while it was interesting in a way... it felt a bit too early to be showing to people. Maybe it was the 3D printed stuff that made it amateurish.
That said, if I am recalling correctly, the was open-source (oh I found the site and it is) so maybe that whole booth was to demonstrate how someone could build their own unit.
Basically, a nice idea. BUT:
What a graveyard of 74xx chips. Maybe just using a FPGA would have been a smarter solution?
RCA video jack? What year is it? Yes, it's a retro design, but it still has to interface with something in this world. And display devices that still use RCA video are not exactly common.
Literally all4 of my tvs have rca, lol
I wonder if I could port Petsci Robots to it.
The 8 But Guy would certainly approve of this.
It's cool as a fun project, but I don't see how this could possibly be commercially viable, especially with cartridges. The need for physical distribution alone is already a huge money burden on both the producer and the consumer.
Why does it need to be commercially viable? What's wrong with doing it for love of the game?
It's a product for sale.
There are tons of people who are fine not profiting from their cottage industry projects, but it's not expected that someone wants to lose money on them.
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I mean, we have Evercade and it's not failed yet.
Evercade has the advantage of a huge software library to draw from (they have a few native games but the majority are emulated), whereas this will only run it's own software, which puts it at a disadvantage.
Mind you, the Playdate seems to be going well.
I think one of the things playdate has going for them is they are portable.
Good point. With the specs fully open, hopefully we get a portable of this, at some point.
Evercade distributes digitally though.
No they don’t? The games are only sold on physical cartridges (or built-in in some models).
There’s no online store or downloadable games, besides the ‘game of the month’ trial thing they occasionally run.
Good luck to them, but IMO too little too late. The only strength is like nostalgia, the rest is just worse than what exist already, again IMO.
I think an evergreen 8 bit system can be great for gaming an a tight budget. But whater this system will appeal to enough people to justify indefinite support or if the team is even capable of delivering this product remains to be seen.
Getting it to display on a screen is gonna cost enough to kill any value proposition.
How many people in 2025 are still going to be using a display with vintage inputs?
Any idea on how tight? I mean the concurrence is hard at lower pricepoints.
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I think in order fpe this to succeed they are going to NEED good games. No really that's what people care about.
Video looks like an 8-bit Strider clone which isn't a bad idea.
Strider:
Strider is one of my favorite arcade games. I love the graphics and the mood of the setting. Still holds up to this day, imo 😆
I don't mean to be rude given this is clearly a passion project, but who is this for?
This is for me.
I love open hardware and the modern 8-bit game scene.
If anyone has direct access to the developers, could you ask them to release an version of Nethack? I swear to God, I never get tired of getting massacred in that game (or dying from falling off my horse, down stairs, etc.).
The controller has like 3 buttons.
If Final Fantasy and other older games can have submenus and the ability to select individual characters to name objects, so can ports of old games on new systems.
I really kind of doubt it's even possible to make a game as complex as nethack on anything like a traditional 8-bit system but maybe something like Powder?
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Honestly I would at least expect the animation to be smoother. Seems kind of pointless when a $20 handheld can do better. By all means, develop new 8 bit games or games with that look but why run them on this?
Wow, this is pretty cool
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