Playdate, First Impressions: This Hand-Cranked “Game Boy” Is The Most Interesting Thing To Happen On Consoles In A Long Time

Leaving aside next-gen consoles, the latest graphics, and the Steam Deck, the world of gaming hardware has been a bit…still. There have been no great innovations such as, for example, the Nintendo DS at the time, but Panic wants to change this situation with a most peculiar device: a “Game Boy”… with a crank. Your name? play date.

This console was announced in 2019 and was scheduled to be released in 2020, but surely Panic did not count on the arrival of a virus that is still present on the street today and with the battery problems that ended at the end of 2021 for delaying the console until now. But now the storm has passed and Playdate is finally among us.

In the absence of being able to test it more thoroughly to bring a more detailed analysis, these have been our first impressions with this peculiar console and its crank. Without further delay, let’s get to it. And yes, count on the review for the next few days.

Playdate data sheet

The most interesting thing that has happened on consoles since the Nintendo Switch

play date is a midget handheld console, a kind of miniature Game Boy resurrected to which a crank and a peculiar game distribution system have been added. The console has been developed by Panic (distributor of games like ‘Untitled Goose Game’) and Teenage Enginering (the same ones who have worked with Nothing on the transparent finish of the Nothing Ear (1)).

In the photos it already seems so, but in hand it is completely confirmed. It is a small, completely square console with rounded corners. Its striking yellow color is reminiscent of the yellow Game Boy Color that many of us have had at home. It is very lightso much so that it is barely noticeable when we carry it in our pocket or hold it in our hands.

On the left we have the crosshead, while on the right we have the AB buttons, the speaker (what a joke how loud it is), the start button and the crank, which we will use to interact with some games (not all) . Also curious are corner perforationswhich have all the earmarks of being designed to be able to tie the console with a rope to, for example, carry it around the neck.

In the lower part we have the USB type C port, the headphone jack and the microphone, while on the right edge we have the slot in which we keep the crank. In this way, it is prevented from being loose and breaking. When we remove or store the crank, the console gives us feedback in the form of audio.

The buttons are well finished. They click slightly, but nothing out of the ordinary. They have good travel and the pulsation is pleasant. The truth is that, in a world of touch screens, return to analog buttons It brings me back to that time of cloning Pokémon on my Game Boy Color while having a Cola-Cao snack. Because nothing else, but there is nostalgia for a tube in the Playdate.

And then we have the screen. April 2022 and here we are, talking about a monochrome display without backlight, but very reflective, with 400 x 240 pixels resolution. Obviously, it does not have the resolution of a Switch or a Steam Deck (which is not the highest on the market either), but looks surprisingly good. Moreover, the screen has been a very pleasant surprise.

The problem is that, having no backlight, we will depend on the ambient light. Therefore, if we want to play at night, we will have to have a light on (game boy color vibes). On the contrary, what we lose in backlighting we gain in visibility in broad daylight, something that we will appreciate when playing outdoors.

In the absence of testing it more thoroughly and seeing how it behaves on a day-to-day basis (I want to take it out of the house and play at a bus stop, for example), I find the console beautiful, compact, well finished and very funny. And the crank, oh god the crank, what a wonderful invention. Let’s talk about her and, by the way, about her games.

Let’s play

Inside the PlayDate we have a 180 MHz Cortex M7 processor, 16 MB of RAM, 32 KB of L1 cache and 4 GB of flash storage. The figures do not particularly attract attention, especially having the hardware that we currently have on the market, but it does not need more. The games are hyper-simple, very light and their performance is correct with this hardware. After all, they are games developed by and for the Playdate, so it makes sense.

How do the games work? You buy them, you download them… how is this topic going? Let’s say that what we know right now is that the console launches with Season 1. During this “season”, every week Panic will give us two free games every week for 12 weeks. In total, 24 free games. There will be different genres, some shorter, others longer, it will depend.

Will there be more seasons? Panic says all on itch.io.

That said, the games on the console right now are ‘Casual Birder’ and ‘Whitewater Wipeout’. In the first, which is more of a “story” game, we play an amateur bird photographer, while the second is a typical arcade surf game. In both games the crank has a special role.

In ‘Casual Birder’ we move with the crosshead, interact with things with AB and focus the camera (eye) with the crank. In the second we have to do tricks with the surfboard and, for this, we have to move the crank in both directions to move and try to do it in such a way that we land well on the wave and earn points. It’s complicated, believe me.

The games have their intricacies and analyzing them one by one would be crazy. However, they make the potential of this console clear: you can just play a longer story title, than a hyper-casual game like surfing. Those interested in the list of upcoming games can consult it on the company’s website. We will have to see how they are, but what I most want, without a doubt, is to see what the community is capable of doing and, of course, how long it will take a developer to create a port of ‘DOOM’.

The use of the crank is great. I love how it’s implemented, how smooth it is and how seemingly sturdy it seems. The problem is that the console is small, so in those games that require moving the crank a lot, we will notice that the console shakes a lot in the hand and makes the gaming experience poorer. But in any case, I love the concept and its implementation.

Both games run smoothly and the sound is exceptional. If you have played on old consoles, it will surely be familiar and even nostalgic to you. I take this opportunity to remember that the volume is surprisingly loudso I recommend lowering it a bit, at least to 75%.

Finally, I would like to highlight three important aspects. The first: when we block the console, a clock (analog, digital or world) is put on the screen. Given the type of screen, it is expected that it does not consume too much energy and that it does not pose a major problem in autonomy, but it can be deactivated if we want it. The second: neither the interface, the menus and the games are in Spanish nor do we know if they will ever be.

The third and last is that the console has four gigabytes of non-expandable storage. Each game is around 20 MB, so there’s room to spare. However, in the long run it will be necessary to manage storage to make room for those who arrive. It’s something to consider.

Playdate isn’t for everyone, but the concept is awesome

We still have a lot of Playdate to explore, but the truth is that with some first impressions we can have a pretty clear idea of ​​where the shots are going. The Playdate is not, by far, a console for everyone such as, for example, the Nintendo Switch or a PlayStation. It is not a console that all users will fall in love with and, in fact, I dare to think that there will be users who are rejected by the idea of ​​a console with this idiosyncrasy.

And it is so. In the absence of knowing what the third-party developers will do and how far the console can be taken, what we do know is that there are games that are yet to come that we don’t know if we’re going to like them. It is part of the fun, obviously, but it may be the case that of 24 games that we know there will be, we only like two, three or five. Or maybe we like them all, in which case, perfect.

However, that does not mean that the idea of ​​​​the console is good, interesting and well executed. It is a portable and light console, designed for short games in downtime, with good sound and a good screen. The crank shines enormously in games that know how to exploit it and no, not all users will like it, but it will delight those who do.

Playdate is not the future of video games, not even close, but it is an interesting concept, a twist to how we play and what we play. In a world of free games, with micropayments and advertisements, Panic offers us simple, casual, free games with the possibility of side-loading those that are yet to come. How will it perform at launch? Only time will tell, but without being a mass console, it has all the ballots to conquer those users who are looking for a familiar but different gaming experience.