Thursday, January 28, 2021
The young and the young at heart are spoilt these days. High powered graphics processing and lightning fast broadband connection brought about better and better gaming technology. Then there are those who occasionally yearn for the past. This is where Pica Pic comes in. Created by Hipopotam Studio, it aims to digitalize handheld electronic games of the 80’s and early 90’s.
There are 26 games in total, with one more coming soon. Handheld electronic consoles at this age features only a single game to be played on a monochrome LCD screen. Some of them acts as a clock and alarm as well, to add to its usefulness. A lot of the handheld are powered by “button-cell” batteries.
The 2 games that I affectionately remember having used to play as a child are Nintendo Game & Watch’s Donkey Kong and Green House. Sadly Green House isn’t here but hey, there are 25 others left to choose from. The multi screen G&W handheld is also very similar to the Nintendo DS we have today.
As the third generation gaming consoles advanced technologically like the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System, it’s amazing how the handheld gaming consoles remain inert and only offered limited controls, some of them only has a two-button control scheme. This is probably because the more advanced backlit LCD handheld devices consume a lot of power and rechargeable battery technology is still in its infancy. It is not until the original Game Boy was release in 1989 when handheld gaming finally took off.
The website is Flash based, however I find it very responsive on Chrome and does not lag. Without further ado, head on over to Pica Pic now for a trip down memory lane. Did you recognize any games you used to own?