The Pico-8 is great, but https://tic80.com/ is really cool too.

TIC-80 is cool, but it's a clone of PICO-8, and like Doom clones, some of them are great, but they're still not Doom.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that TIC-80 is not as great as PICO-8 is, and I would never recommend it over PICO-8 to someone who wants to start their adventure with game development.

But it is not a clone of PICO-8. It offers a resolution that's very similar to that of the Game Boy Advance, so it serves as a nice transition stage towards GBA development. You can then enjoy your games on a console like Anbernic RG351P that's optimized for GBA games (2x integer scaling, same screen ratio). It's a specific use case, but one where TIC-80 shines.

Just for information. The Powkitty rgb30 is the current defacto pico8 handheld because of it's 1x1 ratio screen running at 720x720 pixels.

Yep. I bought a yellow one with the intention of making it a dedicated PICO-8 machine, and it is wonderful. It's not as perfect as 351p is for GBA, as 5x integer scaling leaves you with some unused screen space, but still, an absolute joy to play.

Can you – or someone else – write about why Pico-8 is so much better than other fantasy consoles? In particular, I've been intrigued by WASM-4 recently, and someone else mentioned TIC-80 which also looks good. I remember reading about Pyxel and getting inspired. All three of those have the benefit of being free, so why would I pay for Pico-8?

Pay because it’s inexpensive and you are supporting the development of a platform that brings joy to a lot of people (including children). It’s hosted (splore for finding games), a community forum is maintained and is a wealth of knowledge. It’s a hub for learning. Paying for pico-8 is like donating to Wikipedia. Basically, you are putting a few dollars towards a “good thing”.

I don't buy that argument – why shouldn't I donate to TIC-80 instead, since it has the potential of reaching also children whose parents don't have $15 burning a hole in their pockets?

I'm not trying to be contrary, I'm really just trying to find what the unique thing about PICO-8 is since nobody has been able to articulate it, yet many people appear to feel it.

TIC-80 is heavily inspired by PICO-8. Supporting PICO-8 enables the creator of the original technology to continue producing creative works that seem to inspire a lot of derivative projects. Whatever the case, if you don’t agree, then don’t buy it. It’s pretty simple in that regard.

I think you missed the point, I perceived the question (which I'm asking myself too) how do these differ? What makes one more fun or better than the other?

I use both pico-8 and tic-80. I like both of them, but I like pico-8 better. Why? Aesthetics pretty much - and isn’t that enough? These aren’t tools to get things done; they are more like songs you listen to.

It feels a little like iOS vs android at that point.,,

Why not both? If you can afford it, of course.

That could make sense if both are equally good, or if it's down to personal preference and one has to try both.

But GGP made the argument out to be altruistic, that paying for one over the other is because it's better for the world. If that is the motivation, I would want to donate however much I could afford to the one with highest impact!

Not sure if you'll read this but I did end up buying Pico-8 mainly for the reason embedded in the middle of your comment. It really is a hub for learning. That feature seems undersold (or I didn't appreciate its value).

PICO-8 has a free online edition: https://www.pico-8-edu.com/

This is super useful to know about! The sprite designer & waveform editor / tracker is a really good creative introduction to computers for small children. And you can jump straight in to doing this with the above web link.

(For those new to Pico-8, hit 'esc' from the Lua console to bring up the editor tools, then click on the icon in the top right.)

>Pico-8 was and is one of the most pleasant pieces of software I have used

Indeed, but I have a gripe with it that I cannot get over, the editor's font is too damn hard to read, I tried get used to it but to no avail. The games however are very playable, fun, inspiring and the community couldn't be better.

I now only use vscode to code p8 files. And only use the IDE for everything outside code.

I'm too spoiled by modern text editors to accept the embedded one for any long time