Popular games built on game engine PICO-8
A hardcore platform game for the PICO-8 fantasy console.
Tutankham is a combination of the maze, action and shoot 'em up genres. Taking on the role of an explorer grave robbing Tutankhamun's tomb, the player is chased by creatures such as asps, vultures, parrots, bats, dragons, and even curses, all that kill the player on contact. The explorer can fight back by firing lasers at the creatures, but he can only cover the left and right directions. The player is also endowed with a single screen-clearing "flash bomb" per level or life. Finally, each level has warp zones that teleport the player around the level, which enemies cannot use. To progress, the player collects keys open locked doors throughout the levels, searching for the large exit door. Optional treasures can be picked-up for bonus points. Each level has a timer; when it reaches zero the explorer can no longer fire lasers, and once a level is cleared the remaining time is converted to bonus points.
For 2019 I ran two prototyping classes – one in Pico-8 for the undergraduates and a graduate version with no platform constraint (which generally means they work in Unity). So this year I hid the same prompt in two different interpretations of the same idea. I tuned the Pico-8 game for the youthful reflexes of the undergraduate class, but I did not count on the fact that none of them would have ever played a bullet-hell game, and as a result, only one of them was able to reach the end and find out what the assignment was. I instructed that person that they could keep it a secret if they wanted to.
Inspired by the release of CorgiSpace and SEBI16, the author wanted to try out PICO-8. Here is the result! His first PICO-8 game, made between January 18th-22nd of 2026.
A runner/platformer where play as a samurai trying to save your cat from demons. Your character runs automatically while you control your jumps and attacks.
The Shadow King has invaded the castle belonging to the Knights of Valor and they need your help to get it back! Explore the massive castle in this metroidvania and help the fallen knights back to their former glory! Upgrade your moves and weapons along the way as you fight minions, defeat bosses, find secrets, and unravel what has happened.
A rhythm-based game in the style of Dance Dance Revolution for PICO-8.
Sybil's Tail is a tiny, 15-30 minute long platformer made for PICO-8. Run, jump, slide, grab, and toss your way through 6 bite-sized areas as you search for a mysterious meteorite that fell nearby!
Light matches and read cards. Choose a card to burn & learn a little about yourself.
A demake of the game Dark Echo (Steam, iOS, Android) for PICO-8. You are trapped in a world of absolute darkness and can only see via visualized echolocation.
A noisy, pixellated vampire platformer set in the Nevada desert. When Ysabel, a vampire living in Reno, finds her brother dead with a strange crucifix-like structure attached to him, she finds herself compelled to take revenge on the humans that murdered him.
A Pizza Tower Demake for PICO-8.
In Porter, you play as Yug who may teleport and jump. If Yug teleports into a wall, Yug dies. If Yug jumps into spikes, Yug dies. The goal is to use Yugs teleportation and jump to get to the yellow coin in each level.
A puzzle platformer about using friends to travel.
Shape of Mind is a simple puzzle game similar to Solitaire card games. Connect shapes by dragging them on the board. Shapes of the same color won't connect. You can move strips of connected shapes by grabbing the top-most shape of a strip. Drop shapes onto the Dreamer to begin a Halo. Shapes in the Halo cannot be removed. Once a Halo is complete the shapes will disappear. Complete three Halos to clear all the shapes and win the game!
Be a Space Spelunker!
Rotate the stage and collect all the green pickups to open up the exit. Features 20 stages and 4 bosses and includes a new game plus with reshuffled procedurally generated levels.
The world is overflowing with Poop! You are summoned to help and collect it all! This game has 32 levels, each one has a countdown of only few seconds to clear and collect all of the scat laying around. A simple platformer made with PICO-8 where all you need to do is move left and right and jump from the start point to the exit door after everything is collected.
Yep, just a normal day. Nothing weird is going to happen at all.
A bog standard minigolf game with 4-player pass-and-play multiplayer
A Metroidvania without an interconnected world or character upgrades.
A browser based holiday themed bowling game.
Mouse Required is a web-playable puzzle game where you find and free your cursor friends.
Sebi 16 packs sixteen curated singleplayer games into one charming collection: metroidvanias, puzzle games, platformers, a roguelike, and even a deck builder. Built with love in PICO-8!