Yes, you read that right. In a world of cloud streaming and teraflops, a gamer from New York is striving to release their own 8-bit home console with its own gaming infrastructure. Meet the GameTank, its simple controller, and its chunky cartridges that are looking to bring 8-bit gaming back
Not offering HDMI support is a mistake
Yup, I wonder if that’s HDMI Forum’s fault though. I hear they are insufferable.
A 8 bit console with a DisplayPort would be funny
Super easy to find a DP to HDMI cable, why not?
It’s very easy. Even easier than DPing yo mamma which is also pretty easy.
Hey-yo! (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
Yasss queen
Those use HDMI signaling over the displayport connector, so still need the blessing of the HDMI overlords, which costs a lot of money upfront.
Even better than HDMI
There are all sorts of licensing shenanigans when dealing with HDMI, so I wonder if it’s compatible with their open source policy. But personally I’d have put a VGA output on it as a compromise between period correctness and modern usage. Easy to output as analog from the console, and easy to convert cleanly for modern displays with inexpensive adapters.
Basically, a nice idea. BUT:
What a graveyard of 74xx chips. Maybe just using a FPGA would have been a smarter solution?
RCA video jack? What year is it? Yes, it’s a retro design, but it still has to interface with something in this world. And display devices that still use RCA video are not exactly common.
Literally all4 of my tvs have rca, lol
Then you are four TVs ahead of me. Oldest I have to offer has a VGA.
I might have a digitizer box somewhere with an RCA input and USB2 link producing mp4 or avi. But that probably will have delays that would make playing anything about impossible.
Tvs all my life have had rca, it works perfectly and cables are cheap. Works with all my consoles. I see no reason to change.
Hdmi-cords break a LOT, and can be spendy. Its fine, but I dont need high resolution.
One of the few left.
I saw these guys at Portland Retro Gaming Expo. I played the demo a tiny bit, and while it was interesting in a way… it felt a bit too early to be showing to people. Maybe it was the 3D printed stuff that made it amateurish.
That said, if I am recalling correctly, the was open-source (oh I found the site and it is) so maybe that whole booth was to demonstrate how someone could build their own unit.
It’s cool as a fun project, but I don’t see how this could possibly be commercially viable, especially with cartridges. The need for physical distribution alone is already a huge money burden on both the producer and the consumer.
Why does it need to be commercially viable? What’s wrong with doing it for love of the game?
It’s a product for sale.
There are tons of people who are fine not profiting from their cottage industry projects, but it’s not expected that someone wants to lose money on them.
Is this…sarcasm?
no, this is earnest anti-commercialism
I don’t think that’s a great model for the maker who is clearly trying to SELL things.
Seems that might be a competing idea…
Depends on if they’re trying to make a profit or just share their cool stuff
I mean, we have Evercade and it’s not failed yet.
Evercade has the advantage of a huge software library to draw from (they have a few native games but the majority are emulated), whereas this will only run it’s own software, which puts it at a disadvantage.
Mind you, the Playdate seems to be going well.
I think one of the things playdate has going for them is they are portable.
Good point. With the specs fully open, hopefully we get a portable of this, at some point.
Evercade distributes digitally though.
No they don’t? The games are only sold on physical cartridges (or built-in in some models).
There’s no online store or downloadable games, besides the ‘game of the month’ trial thing they occasionally run.
I wonder if I could port Petsci Robots to it.
I think in order fpe this to succeed they are going to NEED good games. No really that’s what people care about.
Video looks like an 8-bit Strider clone which isn’t a bad idea.
Strider:
Strider is one of my favorite arcade games. I love the graphics and the mood of the setting. Still holds up to this day, imo 😆
Good luck to them, but IMO too little too late. The only strength is like nostalgia, the rest is just worse than what exist already, again IMO.
I think an evergreen 8 bit system can be great for gaming an a tight budget. But whater this system will appeal to enough people to justify indefinite support or if the team is even capable of delivering this product remains to be seen.
It’s open hardware so I don’t think profitability is a factor.
Getting it to display on a screen is gonna cost enough to kill any value proposition.
How many people in 2025 are still going to be using a display with vintage inputs?
Is it really that hard to find a composite input? All my TVs have them, though the newest one is at least 5 years old so what do I know…
Any idea on how tight? I mean the concurrence is hard at lower pricepoints.
People are still developing games and software for the original 8-bit hardware.
Sure no problem there, but will it run on this “better” 6502? And most people probably emulate it anyways. Or go full nerd and buy the real thing!
I think there will always be interest in exploring the limitations of the time. This is a new way to do that. I think it’s pretty cool, even if it’s not the most “optimal”.
I don’t mean to be rude given this is clearly a passion project, but who is this for?
This is for me.
I love open hardware and the modern 8-bit game scene.
Wow, this is pretty cool
If anyone has direct access to the developers, could you ask them to release an version of Nethack? I swear to God, I never get tired of getting massacred in that game (or dying from falling off my horse, down stairs, etc.).
The controller has like 3 buttons.
If Final Fantasy and other older games can have submenus and the ability to select individual characters to name objects, so can ports of old games on new systems.
I really kind of doubt it’s even possible to make a game as complex as nethack on anything like a traditional 8-bit system but maybe something like Powder?
Had never heard of Powder before, but it looks like a well-crafted submission despite its minor differences from Nethack. Might have to check back in with it when I have more time.
Honestly I would at least expect the animation to be smoother. Seems kind of pointless when a $20 handheld can do better. By all means, develop new 8 bit games or games with that look but why run them on this?
What a weird 3 button controller design that’s missing shoulder buttons.
Hey, it worked for Sega
Is Sega in the room with us now?
