Game Boy Emulator 'CrankBoy' Is Now Available Via Playdate Catalog

I still can't believe the PlayDate found an audience. People love overpriced garbage consoles lacking even a basic lit screen it seems.

Nothing about the Playdate even remotely suggests 'slop' - it's one of the most considered and joy-inducing gadgets I own - but to each their own, it's not for everyone. As for the screen, it has its downsides, but the upsides are long battery life and the ability to play it outside in the sun and have the screen be totally clear and legible. None of my other handhelds can boast the same.

Neat. But are we seriously saying “impressive performance” when talking about emulating a 36yo monochrome handheld?

The most impressive bit is people actually buying this junk

@ArcadeRacingCENTRAL I have replaced "slop" with "garbage" just for you.

@naxuu I'm sorry they took your money.

@axelhander "Blah blah blah, the screen's not lit, QED it's terrible for that alone" and yet it's done a better job justifying its existence better than say, the flipping Evercade.

Fighting over plastic toys in the comments. Go to your room!

If you don't like playdate, that's absolutely fair, but throwing criticism at it when the market is literally flooded with scores of far worse, cheap and dreadful retro gaming devices EVERY YEAR(!) makes very little sense to me!!

I’m most definitely (almost) the target audience for Playdate and this news makes it even more appealing. It looks like such a fun concept and I feel that the world of gaming is sorely missing what would no doubt be widely called gimmicks.

How does the Playdate's 1-bit screen emulate the Game Boy's 2-bit screen?

Also, I know that I'm just feeding the troll at this point, but anyone who says that the Playdate is low-tech garbage has obviously never used one and is (probably purposefully) missing the point.
The hook of the Playdate isn't its restrictions, or even its crank. It's the fact that dozens and dozens of the best indie developers have embraced it and created hundreds of creative games for it which you can't find anywhere else. You could go and buy one of this month's 100 new retro handhelds and in the end what are you actually doing with it? Just playing Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country and Final Fantasy 7 again for the n'th time. Or you could fire up the Playdate and be treated to an utter smorgasbord of new and unique experiences.

I mean this is kind of what it should have been to begin with. The Playdate was made my teenage hipsters for retro gaming hipsters so its audience was always going to be limited...and pretentious. 😂

Seeing some of the comments here only reinforces my opinion that the retro gaming community is filled with some really crappy people. Thankfully there are also some really great people in it as well, but the others really F it up for the rest of us. Who hurt you?

Nice!

I still need to get Season 2 for PlayDate, and still have a backlog of quite a few games from that sale earlier in the year...
But I'll definitely sideload this tonight and have a go.

Hopefully Pokemon Yellow works? I can't think of what else I'd maybe want to play emulated on the PlayDate, maybe Alleyway?

@axelhander there are benefits to having a reflective screen, like being able to see it outdoors, and having huge battery life. Game Boy Color and GBA look great outside. Backlit GBA SP is not viewable outdoors at all. (Front lit GBA SP is.)

So how does this work exactly? You side load it? Or do you need to do other fancy stuff?

@jesse_dylan Yes, and normally one of those benefits is that a device is not priced as though it DOES have a lit screen. Also not everyone has easy access to natural light.

@N64-ROX I am 102% certain there is nothing on the Playdate that doesn't have a much, much, muuuuuuuuuch better counterpart elsewhere.

Rich kid toy for rich people and those with issues hanging on to their money. Not trolling to call it what it is.

@axelhander I am a 40 year old man with 3 kids. I have had every console and handheld all the way from spectrum days. The playdate has surprised me more than anything in those 40 years. My three kids constantly ask to play it and it. It is a remarkable piece of kit. It couldn't be more clear that you have never touched one . If you had you would realise that it shakes up how we think about games, how we play them, how they are delivered. It is pure joy and pure fun. Our playdate has been played everyday since we received ours years ago. It was a lifesaver in the Disney land queues with the kids. Sorry axel that you are missing out and that you cant see the brilliance that the rest of us see. Its a shame as you sound grumpy and but hurt and the one thing that could put a smile on that grouchy face is... yep you guessed it A PLAYDATE.

@axelhander Not everyone has access to the outside...? It can also be... a lamp...

The reason it costs more is because it's not being made by a gigantic megacorporation that can make a billion of them and source a ton of cheap parts. It is a niche device, for sure. I don't get why everyone is so mad about it being niche.

@Tomtomwho You're a tad younger than I am. Glad your kids like the thing. I also liked garbage when I was a child.

@axelhander Hahaha the unlovable grouch. Never change. Not that you would.