Very cute, but $229 is a WILD price point.

Yeah, I've thought about buying one in the past, but $229 is kind of rich for my blood.

I bought an ODROID-Go Ultra a few months ago for about $70. This can emulate the NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, and oodles of other consoles, and can play what are arguably some of the best games ever made. The Playdate is three times that price, and while I'm sure that some of the games are fun, I would have a hard time believing that any of them are beating Donkey Kong Country or Phantasy Star IV.

It might be an apples and oranges comparison, but in my mind they still occupy a similar niche.

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socalgal2 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yea, you could get a similar experience (for some definition of similar) with Pico-8 which is also a constrained system.

Even better, the creator supports educators super cheap

https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=schools

Yea, it's not custom hardware, but you can share your creations with everyone since it runs on Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and there are lots of cheaper devices that will run it if you want a handheld.

	▲	galleywest200 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Also mentioning Lexaloffle’s most recent project the Picotron which is a fantasy workstation instead of just a console. https://www.lexaloffle.com/picotron.php With no technical upper limit on file size (as well as being able to export for other OSes) you could, in theory, publish a full game from this.

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rtpg 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If its any solace the screen is very good and the build quality is very high. You also just get a good set of games "for free" as part of the system.

I do think it's beyond "impulse buy" for sure, though.

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hyperbolablabla 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's very low volume, sadly this was unavoidable I think, given the extremely custom nature of the input

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AFF87 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was thinking the same. Read the article, thought about getting one and then thought again

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Loughla 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's actually worth it if you have any kind of a commute. There are a lot of very fun games for it. And it's nice having a thing that isn't connected to the Internet to avoid the temptation of doom scrolling.

I bought mine pre release so it was like $50 cheaper even with the cover I think, but I would still pay the increased price for it. I thought it would collect dust, but it really is a great way to pass the time on the train. It scratches the original Gameboy itch for me without the needless stares from actually carrying a Gameboy.

I just wish they would release the docking station for it. I charge it next to my bed, so it could serve two purposes.

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AFF87 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Any game recommendations? You may have convinced me

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crtasm 4 hours ago | parent [-]

we enjoyed Lucas Pope's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_After_Midnight

	▲	AFF87 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Ok, this is it. Consider me convinced

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an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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testfrequency 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Bought mine for $179 when they were new, hadn’t realized the price went up so much.

	▲	nekooooo 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		tariffs!