25 Pico-8 Games You Need to Play

Do you need more Pico8 in your life? The

answer is yes. Yes, you do. Don't even

answer that without saying yes. So do I.

I've been playing a lot on my Amberick Cube XXX lately. I have a list of 25 games that I've been playing or that they're weird and I can't get them out of my head. Let's fire up this fantasy

console and get into Spore and play some Pico8 games.

All right, let's start off the list with a demake of Joust, which is one of my absolute favorite games when I was a kid. This game just makes me laugh. Just

kid. This game just makes me laugh. Just

the sound effects and just I mean, you're flying a bird and you're hit you're jousting and

then you have to collect eggs. It's just

it's it's crazy. The developer said that this is a port of Joust from Atari 2600, which I think is pretty accurate because I played the crap out of that game when

I was a kid. Up next, speaking of Dmakes, this

kid. Up next, speaking of Dmakes, this is a great Frogger port. I mean, the music and everything, it sounds just like original Frogger. It's great. Hits

the nostalgia right right at home. I

love this game.

[Music] Baseman 8 is a neat little game that I

actually just came across while I was searching for another game on this list. Life has been tough on the mining

list. Life has been tough on the mining colony, but you are tougher. Put on your helmet and mine the labyrinth of icy space rocks for gems and haul them back

to company collectors. The oxygen supply is scarce and depleting fast, so you will have to keep your visits brief.

Luckily, your trusty Hummingbird class jetpack is highly maneuverable, and you will get you to the exit quickly. Use

the hard-earned credits to upgrade your gear in the shop at the end of each day.

How much can you earn in a week? Will

you even survive, or will greed get the best of you? Only one way to find out.

Krabby Human Rescue. Great name. Save

the people sinking into the deep ocean.

See how many you can save by the end of the level by blowing bubbles to keep them afloat. Just be sure to position

them afloat. Just be sure to position them near the magical gateways so they can be teleported to safety. Make sure

you don't ever let any of the people fall and touch the ground.

[Music] Welcome to Bullet Hack. Welcome to

Bullet Hack is a small rogike game focused on randomizing items and conserving energy. Energy energy is

conserving energy. Energy energy is consumed by both shooting and sprinting, and running out will cause the player to slow down for a short time. New guns and

items can be discovered as you progress, as well as stat upgrades that can be bought from the shop. The only objective

is to reach floor 10 and fight the [Laughter] boss. Frenetic Snake is a take on the

boss. Frenetic Snake is a take on the classic game Snake. According to what the dev wrote, there is also an option of customizing some new sprites. They

wanted it to be easy to edit for kids, and there is a kids mode for playing the game as well. I didn't get into customizing the sprites, but the game itself is fun and looks way better than the classic

Snake. Virtuous Vanquisher of Evil.

Snake. Virtuous Vanquisher of Evil.

Hacken slash in an everinccreasingly evil world. There is no story to

evil world. There is no story to complete. Just play until you're sick of

complete. Just play until you're sick of it, says the developer. You have two characters to switch between. There is

also a part two of this game that the develop developer made. Make sure that you play this one first so you get the hang of it. Eight Legs to Love is separated into

it. Eight Legs to Love is separated into six levels of just over 2 minutes each.

The goal of each level is to spin an elaborate web and use it to catch bugs.

Each level poses a different challenge for building and maintaining a web and introduces new and exotic types of bugs.

Complete a playthrough and work towards a personal high score or just have a good time. And there's no pressure. I'm

good time. And there's no pressure. I'm

glad the developer said there's no pressure because I suck at this game even though I really want to master it.

Ascent. Crashed on a desolate but mysterious planet, you find yourself eye to eye with an ancient civilization.

Explore the planet, find powerful upgrades, and uncover its mysteries.

[Music] Micro Murder, but it's robots, so it's okay, says the

developer. Micro Murder is a game of

developer. Micro Murder is a game of ballistic extermination for one or two tactical modules, organic or otherwise.

Assert your domination over four picturesque and extremely resourcerich celestial bodies using flexible arsenal

designed to fit any situation.

Pic Dot. Pic Dot is an homage to Micro Dot on the Commodore 64, which is a multi-screen exploring game with platform elements where you control a

rolling jumping circle through a labyrinth facing various challenges.

[Music] Caped Feline Arena. You're a cat. You're

magical. It's you and your wand against insurmountable odds, cats, and infinite pigeons. A retro FPS with eight single

pigeons. A retro FPS with eight single player maps and three botmatch maps.

Select maps from your main menu. All bot

match maps unlock from the start. Single

player maps unlock as you complete them.

Think Doom, but with cats and way less blood. Penguin with a pump gun. This is

blood. Penguin with a pump gun. This is

probably the most violent game on this list. You awaken in a hospital infested

list. You awaken in a hospital infested with zombies. Someone has left a pump

with zombies. Someone has left a pump gun for you to try and make your way out [Laughter]

[Music] alive. Zelda Fishing Miniame

alive. Zelda Fishing Miniame Remake. This is a remake of the old

Remake. This is a remake of the old fishing miniame from Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. And per the developers

Link's Awakening. And per the developers notes, it's not precise in any way.

They've used nothing but their naked eyes recreating this along with some nostalgia. Growing up, this was probably

nostalgia. Growing up, this was probably one of their favorite games for the Game Boy. Steel Surge. This is a bullet hell

Boy. Steel Surge. This is a bullet hell schmup and it's just fantastic. I love

schmups. This is one of my favorite and I play it all the time. I actually,

while I was recording this, I had so much footage. I think it was like 20

much footage. I think it was like 20 minutes because I sat here and I played for a very long time. Gemstone dredging. The life of a

time. Gemstone dredging. The life of a dredger can be one filled with riches and peril. Go deep sea diving to find

and peril. Go deep sea diving to find your riches. But be wary. Try not to

your riches. But be wary. Try not to disturb the kraken or you will are in for a fight. If you find yourself in a fight, use discovered gems to help you.

Berserk. Shoot the robots. Avoid the

walls. Don't stay in a room for too long. This is a remake of the original

long. This is a remake of the original Berserk, which I remember playing on Arcade and Atari 2600.

[Music] Space Star Patrol, an arcade style pseudo 3D space sim shooter. Explore

space, protect the galaxy, and take down cosmic terrorists in this thrilling sci-fi adventure. Not gonna lie, kind of

sci-fi adventure. Not gonna lie, kind of felt like I was playing a Star Wars game and I pretended that I was in the Millennium Falcon, but you do

[Music] you. Speaking of

you. Speaking of space, Invader Overload, it's a Space Invaders demake. Shoot the UFO and

Invaders demake. Shoot the UFO and collect yellow power-ups to kick off fever mode. Collect three of the same

fever mode. Collect three of the same color powerups to gain a powerful new weapon. Collect enough fever mode coins

weapon. Collect enough fever mode coins to enter a boss battle. This game is endless. Survive as long as you can

endless. Survive as long as you can while chasing a high score.

[Music] Downstream Dream is a sidecroller that is somewhere between cart racers and shoot them ups. The art for the sprites

as they're splashing around on the river made me laugh and made me play this a lot more.

Circus Tycoon puts you in the role of a circus manager for a 30-week season.

Travel from city to city, hire talented performers, upgrade your tent, and put on unforgettable shows. Each city has different audiences with unique pre

preferences. Balance your ticket prices,

preferences. Balance your ticket prices, manage your upkeep costs, and watch out for unexpected events that could make or break your business. Can you build a

renowned circus, manage your but budget, and become the greatest showman before the 30w week season ends? I know this is a textbased game, but I actually really

enjoyed this game. I hope nobody has arachnophobia

game. I hope nobody has arachnophobia that you're watching this, so I apologize in advance. Spider Cave

Offensive. You are being attacked by a giant spider after opening a cursed treasure chest. Defeat it while dealing

treasure chest. Defeat it while dealing with dangers of the cavern and dig your way and try to avoid the spider. Road Rex. After a day's work,

spider. Road Rex. After a day's work, Road Rex just wants to go home like everyone else. Road Rex is a giant

everyone else. Road Rex is a giant dinosaur with laser beam eyes.

Get home as fast as you can. Beat your

arch rival, the quick and messy blue dinosaur. Stop TV traffic choppers from

dinosaur. Stop TV traffic choppers from getting footage of the mayhem you cause.

I'll admit that I have played this game several times before realizing there is an actual plot. Not that just that you're a dinosaur with laser eyes running down a freeway because I mean,

come on, that's cool. There's Look at the destruction. This game is just

the destruction. This game is just awesome. I love it.

awesome. I love it.

Pico Yatsi. It's yatsi in pico8 form. I

regularly play a couple of rounds of this and you should too. I bet you forgot how much fun yatsi is. Play this

game. And last but not least, P columns.

Notes from the developer. Here's my

Dmake, port adaptation, whatever of columns. I wanted to make a falling

columns. I wanted to make a falling block puzzle game, but seemingly every gamedev and their dog has made Tetris.

So, instead, I went to my favorite Mega Drive Genesis puzzle game, Columns. And

I'm so happy that they did because I love this game. And I have played this for hours on my Sega Genesis. When

everybody else was playing Tetris, I was playing Columns. This is such a good

playing Columns. This is such a good game. And they even got the music right.

game. And they even got the music right.

It's so good. So good.

[Music] So, there you have another awesome list of 25 Pico8 games that you can go out and you can jam on to your heart's

content. Uh, definitely leave any uh

content. Uh, definitely leave any uh games, any game suggestions down below.

Let everybody know what your favorite game is. Let me know because there's so

game is. Let me know because there's so many Pico8 games. There's thousands of them and we'd love to know, everybody would love to know just more games to

play because you could just come across something that's awesome. Right when I was just about done editing this video, I came across one of my a demake of one

of my favorite Sega Genesis games, Columns, and I think I had like a little tear in my eye because I was just like, "Oh my god, yes, somebody made a demake

of Columns." So, now that we're done

of Columns." So, now that we're done with the video, I'm going to go jam on columns for like a week and I'll see you in the next video. So, thanks for

watching. Stay awesome everyone and go

watching. Stay awesome everyone and go play some games.

[Music]