Handcrank Playdate Console Hits Reviewers

Last Updated on April 11, 2022

Remember the handcrank-boasting Playdate console with retro design sensibilities and a monochome LCD display? It’s almost here.

Like many systems over the past three or four years, the Playdate console was postponed due to supply chain issues/COVID/Brexit/Ever Given etc. But now, the consoles are heading into the wild, their first stop being with reviewers and early adopters. Game critic Janet Garcia tweeted a cool comparison video:

I feel like the Playdate's ethos is creativity and fun so for the retro part of the size comparisons I did stop motion animation for the first time. pic.twitter.com/JYnQpDBaug
— Janet Ghoulcia 🎃 (@Gameonysus) April 11, 2022

There is also much to be said for the portability of the Playdate console.

I can't share much about the Playdate yet but I can tell you it fits into my skinny jeans which is shocking. Full unboxing here: https://t.co/WmkrzXt2iZ pic.twitter.com/xoFwK0ZmuS
— Janet Ghoulcia 🎃 (@Gameonysus) April 11, 2022

Squeezed into the literally pocket-sized Playdate is a 180MHz Cortex M7 CPU, 16MB of RAM, 32KB L1 Cache, and 4GB of Flash. It has a USB-C port, 802.11bgn 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 400×240 monochrome display. Audio is through a built-in mono speaker or TRRS headphone jack/mic-in port, and games are controlled using a D-Pad, A and B buttons, and the infamous 3-axis accelerometer crank.

The Playdate console also has a 14 day standby battery with 8 hours of active play.

@PocketTactics snapped the Playdate alongside other handheld consoles.

A tiny new handheld joined our collection recently! We can’t wait to talk about it, so look for our full review of the @playdate next week 🎮 pic.twitter.com/JCNugGPjnB
— Pocket Tactics (@PocketTactics) April 11, 2022

Meanwhile, @KahliefAdams took some very nice snaps of the Playdate ahead of a review next week.

Remember when I talked about playing more with product photo shoots? I’ve had the pleasure of taking this amazingly fun device for a spin for the past couple of weeks. My full review of the @panic #Playdate will drop on April 18th at 10AM PST! ✊🏾❤️ pic.twitter.com/8SSmQHvXiE
— Kahlief “I’ve been digitally kidnapped” Adams (@KahliefAdams) April 11, 2022

Sadly we were unable to get hold of a Playdate for review. But if you have one ordered, we hope you enjoy it!