The Quest for the Perfect PICO-8 handheld

Ever since PICO-8 was created people have longed for a physical form of what is still a fantasy console.

On my long quest for the perfect PICO-8 handheld I've owned no less than six handhelds (plus experiments with iPhones and DIY Pi Zero solutions). Until I finally reached the handheld endgame with the Waveshare GPM280. Here's my take on all of them:

Have you looked at ODROID-GO Advance?

https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-go-advance-black-edition/

I have PICO-8 running on it and it works really well.

I'd also like to mention the Anbernic RG351-Series (RG351P, RG351M, RG351V), these have an ARM-CPU, means they can run PICO8-Games natively (using the Raspberry Pi-Version).

@captadhoc I tested the ZPG Pro which has the same chip and screen resolution as the Odroid Go Advance.

There is a handheld console called an RG-350, @pixelpunker. There is also a donation-supported emulator called Tac-08 that runs Pico-8 games and programs in it with a few exceptions. Some of the more advanced commands are not recognized like CSTORE() and FLIP() is not recognized at all.

But most of the games for Pico-8 written with the standard _Draw() and _Update() will run flawlessly in it. I know this because I have the RG-350 and I have Tac-08 installed on it.

This is certainly worth checking out as the price for the RG-350 is now less than $85 and by default comes fully assembled and ready to go.

I have a gpdwin2. even setting it to run at 50% cpu power when unplugged, giving the machine about 8-9 hours battery use, Pico8 runs perfect.

recommended....and the newer pico8 builds allow the switch from mouse to joystick switch to work everytime it switches over. If you have the cash, recommended...you get the full keyboard and mouse controls where needed and is great on battery if you edit windows use of battery/processor and you also get a full controller. And also, you get all the other windows stuff like steam games and can set them to run specifically at their apex of battery/performance rates.

Seems this thread has somewhat died but lately people have been calling the Powkiddy RGB30 the perfect PICO-8 handheld:

To me, however, I wouldn't deem something a perfect PICO-8 handheld if it wasn't more similar to the mobile player. There should be just the right amount of buttons on it and preferably a portrait form factor:

Just a thought, but I had once owned a console that looked exactly like that, with those same buttons, the arrows, z,x, and menu. Would it be better just to take the insides of a console that works well and take the shell of one that fits the physical needs, and put them together? I'm also really interested in getting a console for Pico as well but I don't know enough of the specifications to know what would be good

It would be pretty awesome to see a dedicated handheld device with just the right amount of buttons that pico-8 requires, a 1:1 pixel ratio screen with good visuals and decent overall ergonomy! (bonus points if it allows to connect a remote mouse and keyboard, and has mini-hdmi output so we can also use it as a dev machine!)

In addition it should come with native pico-8 support, quick boot-up and sleep functionality.

I would absolutely buy it if it was available :)

The RGB30 is also the perfect PICO-8 handheld for me. The 1:1 screen is pretty big for a retro handheld and the sticks and buttons are surprisingly good. And it runs PICO-8 natively, not emulated.

I’ve found the perfect handheld for me is the TrimUI smart pro. The wide form factor is very comfortable, and the dpad is on top. The stock OS supports native pico 8 (with an easy to install custom wrapper). Beautiful screen at 720p. All buttons are soft dome switches, so no input problems. Great battery life. Built in wifi for splore discovery.

I have everything else stripped out so I can just turn it on and launch into splore. I guess the only thing I would change is the wide screen being a bit wasted, but once I’m into pico 8, with the black device, I don’t even notice the bevels.