Another game I didn't expect to be able to enjoy on the Playdate was Earthbound/Mother (English) - but, alas, it's running great!

For those interested in checking it out on their Playdate it was surprisingly easy;

1. Download the free FamiCrank NES emulator

https://pomettini.itch.io/famicrank-nes-for-playdate

2. Grab your .nes English translated Earthbound (Beginnings) / Mother (Revisited) - either of the two will work even though I personally prefer the writing in Mother Revisited.

(There's also a "Mother 25th Anniversary Edition" that sports quite a few improvements that I'll be checking out).

3. Start up FamiCrank. Connect your PlayDate. Set the Playdate to Disk Mode and move any .nes files of games you want to play to the directory the app tells you.

4. 'Eject' the Playdate from your PC and..enjoy!

Hey everyone!

A little while ago I asked you to vote on white vs black roads for MonoTanks. The vote came out almost evenly split, so both are now in the game as a switchable theme.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in 🙏

I also finally put together a trailer. Watch it with the sound on. The track is "Trenches" by LonePeakMusic, and it honestly carries the whole thing. It captures the drive and spirit of the game better than I ever could in words.

Some bigger news too: MonoTanks just got approved for the Playdate Catalog. Right now I'm on the hunt for a publisher to help bring it to more players. If you've worked with one you'd recommend, I'd be genuinely grateful for any pointers. Comments or DMs both welcome.

https://agentx86.itch.io/monotanks

This game rules

Played through the PC version of Disco Elysium some time ago and really enjoyed it.

Recently I more or less stumbled across that there was a Gamboy version of the game and I immediately decided to see how well Playdate's CrankBoy (GB emulator) would run it - and, well, it runs it flawlessly!

As far as I understand it it's not the full game but rather cut down but what is here is a great fun.

So I'm having quite a blast seeing all these familiar scenes play out in this devolved few-bits graphics. Been alternating playing some Zelda Link's Awakening, Pokemon Gold and - Disco Elysium - tonight.

Have a great weekend all!

Decided to check out the CrankBoy app (GameBoy emulator) to see how games would look, sound and perform on the Playdate and - holy smokes - it is just a near flawless experience!

I don't have a heap of GameBoy Roms (about 15) but loaded them all up using the CrankBoyManager (that again is so well designed that even I figured out how to use it in near seconds) and they all ran beautifully!

My humble Gameboy ROMs collection goes as follows - and they all worked;

• Asterix & Obelisk
• Bamse
• Beavis and Butt-head
• Birdie Bartender
• Dragonborne
• Final Fantasy Legend
• Gargoyle's Quest
• Hunt for Red October
• Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening
• Lucky Luke
• Pokemon - Blue
• Pokemon - Red
• Sword of Hope

All were a lot of fun to return to but if I had to pick three that were especially fun, for me, it would be (see screenshots);

- Birdie Bartender

(This was Root Bear before Root Bear 😄 )

- Lucky Luke

(I grew up with the comic books but apart from that this is a highly underrated platformer with a lot of fun packed into it)

- Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening

(Maybe the best game made for the GameBoy). I was also surprised that this game was especially optimized for the Playdate with navigational/on-screen icons moved around to utilize all of the device's screen. Great work!

Anywho, if you haven't given CrankBoy a chance - it might be something to do this weekend!

Here at Shadow Break Games it been all about outer space, we have been messing about with wire frames on the playdate, trying to get things optimised for the little yellow handheld,  we have put together a small proof of concept game called Space Miner!

Its completely free, you can go check it out  at

https://adam3i.itch.io/space-miner-playdate

Its got full tutorial cards for all aspects of the game, you can mine, refine and sell Ore for credits to upgrade your ship, lots of little features like a docking mini game.

We have a second playdate catalog fishing game coming out Crank Bass (no official release date yet)

Pocket Bowling is out in the catalog on 21/07/26

Day Ticket is out now

And we are currently working on

ORE BOUND.....

Massive thanks to everyone who has purchased Day Ticket, any suggestions on updates are greatly welcome.

My husband always seemed interested in my PlayDate so I'm surprising him with his own in a couple weeks.

My best friend is getting married today! And while I wait for my girlfriend, I'm hanging out with Playdate.

So while I'm waiting (impatiently) for my Playdate, I downloaded the simulator to test run some apps and games I already bought. One of them is this amazing app – Read Watch Listen Play, where you get one thing to read, watch, listen to, and play daily. There's one question that bothers me, though, as I tend to rely on such things: does it ever end? Is it designed for a year of use? Does it maybe repeat itself, or is it truly updated regularly? If anyone knows, please share!

P.S. Lots of love to the developer. This is just brilliant.

https://itch.io/s/190427/summer-sale-2026

https://play.date/games/the-fall-of-magic-castle/

https://play.date/games/magic-castle/

Hey, let's have some fun! Please don't spoil the solution in the comments until all codes are used ;) Hints are ok!

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What can I say? ThisSummerSureIsHot

🌞

Next update will introduce the Rewind feature (rewind up to 10 seconds of gameplay). All you need to do is, enable it in the settings (currently for DMG games only)

https://starpathgames.itch.io/pocket-pool

Hey r/playdate! I have been working on Pocket Pool for a while and version 1.0 just dropped. Here is what is new:

One Cushion mode is finally in. No pockets, pure carom billiards. Hit both object balls while touching at least one rail. First to 10 wins. You now pick your mode from a select screen before jumping in.

The aim line got a proper upgrade too. Dots now stop at the first ball or rail in the way instead of traveling a fixed distance. A contact dot shows exactly where the cue ball lands.

You can shoot with the crank now. Fast swing fires, slow movement adjusts power. Sensitivity is adjustable in Settings.

Also heard a lot of you on performance. Went deep into the physics and collision systems and optimized as much as possible. Should feel noticeably better. Battery drain got some attention too.

And yes, announcements can now be turned off completely if they were driving you crazy.

Would love to hear what you think. Comments and ratings on itch.io help a lot!

Really enjoying this little, yellow bundle of joy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those curious;

I don't get out as much as I'd like these days but it does happen.

Things that ended up on my body, in pockets or in a bag today;

- Xteink X3. Reading "Old Man's War" and "Have spacesuit will travel"

- Old, old bifold wallet by PopovLeather

- Old, old brass-aluminum fidget spinner that I use quite a bit for finger dexterity

- Panic Playdate. Playing "Post Hero" on it which is great fun

- Brass keyholder by Raven workshop from, oh, 20 years ago

- Tag Heuer that I bought on a trip with a fiancee decades ago. Ended up with just the watch

- Baby-insect designer toy. Can't remember the artist.

I had a coffee at a coffee shop. Coffee was $4 and when I looked at the touch-screen the proposed tip was 30% making it $5.20. I paid the $4 and dropped a couple of quarters in the tip jar. Remembered another reason why I don't go out much.