Popular games built on game engine PICO-8
A hardcore platform game for the PICO-8 fantasy console.
Boomby explodes (aka: jumps) every 2 seconds. Keep track of the timebar at the bottom of the screen, time your moves right. There are multiple routes to the pool, keep exploring if you get stuck or frustrated at a section of the map. Trampolines are a tricky, patience pays off. Try not to rush out of the first explosion after touching one. After the first explosion, the bounce rhythm balances out. There are 3 bomb "keys" (red, green, blue). These allow you to destroy colored bricks. Yellow Coins: $1, Platinum Coins: $5, Green Coins: $20 The only purpose of crouching is to move the camera down (and to look cute, actually).
A juicy remake of Breakout/Arkanoid with 15 levels and a high-score list.
Feed the Ducks is a short casual platformer game with pixel graphics.
A break-neck taxi driving game. Welcome to the Whiplash Taxi Company, where our motto is "The slower you're there, the lower the fare!" As a valued employee and taxi driver, your job is to pick up passengers and deliver them to their destination as fast as possible, by any means necessary. Passengers are easy to spot, just look for the big red arrows over their heads.
Pixel Rift Adventure is a fast‑paced Pico-8 roguelike dungeon crawler that blends the room‑by‑room exploration of classic Zelda titles with the procedural unpredictability and challenge of Binding of Isaac. Each floor is a freshly generated grid of interconnected rooms, packed with randomized enemies, destructible obstacles, and hidden treasures. Your hero starts modestly equipped—three hearts, basic sword reach, and no special powers—but every playthrough offers new opportunities to power up via treasure chests, vending machines, and a unique letter‑collecting mechanic. The heart of the game lies in its letter system. Scattered throughout the dungeon are consumable letters that spell out SUBPIXEL and MATTA. Completing the former permanently extends your sword’s reach; completing the latter grants a limited‑use ranged projectile attack. Vending machines sprinkled on each level sell letters for coins you’ve hoarded, adding a strategic layer: do you spend now for a chance at a powerful upgrade, or save for health and keys? Boss rooms punctuate your descent, each featuring a thematic “family” of bosses—wiggling slime overlords, spectral ghost generals, and subterranean plant tyrants—that grow tougher as you advance. Defeating a boss opens a portal to the next floor, and reaching level 10 without succumbing to traps or overwhelming odds crowns you the ultimate Pixel Rift champion. Tight controls, i‑frames after damage, and a reactive HUD keep you always in the action—dive in, adapt on the fly, and see how far you can go!
A PICO-8 demake of Tetris Effect.
Explore tide pools and consult the cards as you pick which rumors about yourself to spread.
Spend some time with a depressed, laconic Luigi as he chain smokes and wanders through a crumbling Mushroom Kingdom, ruminating on ontology, ethics, family, identity, and the mistakes he and his brother have made.
Explore an archipelago, encounter fellow explorers, and seduce and haggle with them to help you complete your map!
A roguelike action-platformer where you use upgradeable weapons to combo powerful enemies to their doom! Overcome tough fights, platforming challenges, puzzles, and more in your effort to free the titan who is incarcerated in the shifting prison's depths.
Survive waves of enemies on a hostile alien world and contend with random modifiers every 10 seconds. Find new weapons scattered across the map. Watch your stats and try to use the most optimal damage type. How many waves will you survive?
A two-player juggle fiesta!
A demake of Japan's best selling action game Thexder in PICO-8.
This sci-fi themed platformer is the sequel to Laser Blast! Play as the advanced robot Atom Girl and progress through a platforming level, defeating enemy forces along the way. Destroy the end boss to complete Atom Girl's mission and buy her time to repair herself so that she can escape the planet Garlock-7, where a hostile force has taken over.
Pushamo is an arcade push-em-up that challenges you to organize different shapes into squares to clear blocks and earn points! It's no easy task, though - as you push on, shapes will come faster and more frequently until you find yourself as overwhelmed as you are engrossed.
A PICO-8 port of Irem’s R-Type, featuring the 4 stages in a 32kb cart! (Similar to the PC-Engine port, with 4 in a 256kb hu-card.)
Gather resources and build a cosy little town!
A port of Another World game engine & assets to PICO-8.
A puzzle PICO-8 game by benjamin_soule in which the player must group blocks of the same pattern and/or color and clear the screen.
A top-down, fast-paced shooter where you pilot a plane and use it to dogfight against those that seek to bring you down. Easy to understand but hard to master, the balance of risk-reward for score maximization while trying to not get overwhelmed is what this game is about! Try to reach to the highest score!
A port of Kian Bashiri's flash game of the same name.
A port of Omega Race for PICO-8. Kill all enemies to advance to the next level. Use the shield to avoid enemy fire and the rotating lasers. Collect yellow coins for the bonus level.
A boss fight against a charming opponent!