The Playdate is a small yellow handheld game system. You play games in black and white with a 8-bit feel to the console. There are so many games that you can play with the season pass and even more you can buy from a special store they have. You can even code your own games in SDK, Swift, Luna, and Pulp(Which is a web based game editor, it is simple to use and great for beginners). Another cool feature about the Playdate is the crank, it is on the side of the console and can be customized fore all sorts of different things in game. All in all I love playing games on the console and is a good way to relax, but the point of this blog post is to share some of my favorite games to play, so lets get into it!

1. Bomber Panda

Bomber Panda is my favorite game on the Playdate. The point of the game is to get all the way to level thirty. You place bombs as your weapon and have to kill monsters, spiders, and spinning disks. You have three attributes, speed, how many bombs you can place at a time, and explosion radius. You explode crates that have a chance of having one of these attributes in them and as you go farther you get stronger and stronger. Another reason I love it is because it is so hard. Any bomb you place can kill you if you don’t get out of the way and any of the three mobs can one shot you as well(I’ve played the game for probably five to six hours and have only gotten to level twenty). Like I said it is my favorite game and it only costs two dollars so if you have Playdate I would recommend trying it out.

2. Whitewater Wipeout

Whitewater Wipeout is another one of my favorites. You use the crank to control your surfer and have him do tricks. You start riding the wave and you have to perform tricks to increase your speed and score. If you don’t go fast enough the wave catches up with you and you wipeout. You get three lives in each run and your score is added up from each time you surf to get your final score. It is simple and great to just play for a couple of minutes. While being simple it is also not easy because the more tricks you do the more opportunity there is for you to fail a trick and lose all of your speed. This is one of my top 5 games on the Playdate and came in season 1 if you want to play it.

3. P-Racing

P-Racing is my favorite racing game in the Playdate catalog. It is the most like a real game on the playdate I think. It has a small storyline to the game where you are a cop car and need to chase down criminals in the city, this is very fun but my favorite thing is the time trials. There are 8 tracks with unique difficulties in each one. once you complete a track you will always have the shadow of your record following you on the track and you try to beat your high-scores. There is an arena mode where you play a soccer game against bots like Rocket League and there is a mod where you race against the bots on any of the 8 time trail tracks. The least mode it has is free ride mode which grants you access to a city where you can ride your car as fast as you want and wherever you want. The game also does have achievements that you get which just make it even more like an average game. This is definitely one of the biggest games and won the 2023 outstanding technical achievement in SDK award. their is a lot more to this game that I can’t explain and there are some easter eggs in the game. This game is one of the more expensive game coming in at $12 but I think it is worth the price.

4. Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure

Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure is the best use of the crank on the Playdate. Crankin is a robot person who is always taking naps and wakes up just a little to late. You have to use the crank to get hime there as fast as possible but it’s not as simple as that there are birds, pigs and many things that you have to dodge on the way. How it works is there will be like a bar and when you hang onto the bar the robot will separate which lets the birds through and then you step onto stairs to avoid a pigs, but where it gets complicated is then you have to crank backwards so you get off the stairs and a bird can pass by. This is a very complicated and frustrating game but I like the challenge and this is probably my second most played game. You also have to be careful to not take too long or else you be late to the event you are trying to get to and you have to restart the level. This game was included in the season 1 pass if you want to play it.

5. Pick Pack Up

Pick Pack Pup is a game about getting three or more items in a row or any shape really. This is the first game I loved on the Playdate. It has a great storyline where you feel like you’re really part of it. Every level has a challenge like pack 7 items in to a box ect. and in the begging these are very easy but not far into the game these become almost impossible. to beat one of the levels you have to pack as many boxes as you can in the grid of things you are given then ship them off and get more items that you have to pack. Once you have made enough money you continue the story and go to the next level. It is a great game to relax on since there is no tense moments and it is hard to fail a level. It is part of the season 1 pass if you want to play it.

6. Omaze

Omaze is in my opinion one of the hardest games on the Playdate. Each level consists of many circles, each one has some obstacle or challenge in it. It gets really hard when big parts of the circle kill you and the that is moving so you have to crank the crank at just the right frequency that the circle is moving. I litterly have gotten through three of the levels becuase it is so hard. If you like a challenge this is for you. You also have to use your brain in later parts to time when you want to jump in a circle or what path to take. It’s hard to explain this one in text so I would really recommend looking at the link. If you want to play Omaze it is part of the season 1 games.

There are so many amazing games on Playdate so I can’t list them all but these are my top 6. I would love to hear other peoples favorite games on the console. For the rest of the post I am going to name some honorable mentions.

B360 Try to destroy all blocks without letting your ball go into space.

Hyper Meteor You are a ship trying to destroy all meteors, but be careful which side you hit.

Lost Your Marbles Most like a RPG, really great story, big game, didn’t take the time to beat it.

Crank Shaft Fall through gaps in the blocks to the bottom, like a mobile game, fun until it’s not.

A Joke Thats Worth ¢99 Amazing game, its one REALLY long joke, you use the crank to keep a little guy in the air. Never got to the end but easily best game. ed

Part of Summer Challenges.