Best Gaming — Curated from The Hiro Report

Planet of Lana is a cinematic puzzle-adventure game recently released for the iPhone and iPad — you guide a girl and her loyal animal companion on a rescue mission across a hand-painted sci-fi world, solving puzzles and evading machines along the way. I haven't gotten to dedicate time to playing it through yet, but I love the look and appreciate that it features touch controls, MFi controller support, and iCloud saves for carrying your game saves across devices.

This cool little device lets you plug any Game Boy or Game Boy Advance cartridge into your computer— immediately enabling you to play the game on your laptop on a giant screen, but also letting you do other fun things like back up your saves on old, fragile cartridges. More innovative things like using your old Game Boy camera as your webcam. It's a great concept, and I'm a sucker for transparent electronic design like this. Not bad at $49— certainly cheaper than trying to restore an old Game Boy or grabbing an Analogue Pocket.

OK, this one is cool at one level and SUPER cool at another level. On the iPhone or iPad, Retrocade is a formidable emulator of a number of classic arcade games like Asteroids, Galaga, Centipede, and more. Each game has its own custom frame and controls honoring the original arcade look. It's neat! HOWEVER, if you happen to have access to an Apple Vision Pro, Retrocade will drop you into a fully immersive 1980s arcade, where you can walk up to any of the full arcade cabinets for each of the games and play them just as you would in real life. Check out this YouTube short for a preview of what it's like.

This is the new hotness in retro gaming handhelds—AYN has a great reputation for making overpowered retro handhelds capable of playing games from all the iconic gaming systems. Now their latest has a dual-screen setup for emulating Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS games as they are intended. I've also seen folks playing non-dual-screen games where the main game is on the larger top screen and then a game guide website is open on the bottom screen to help them through challenging parts. Looks like a blast.

This is a ridiculously slick full featured gaming controller that attaches to the back of your iPhone via MagSafe and can easily be folded away so it is completely invisible from the front of your phone in between gaming sessions. It features anti-drift joysticks, Hall Effect analog triggers, and can pair to up to 3 Bluetooth devices for quick switching. Ships late January.

After not playing many games in 2024, I wound up playing a lot more this year thanks to picking up a Nintendo Switch 2. Totally love this device. Donkey Kong and Cyberpunk 2077 have gotten the most play time.

This is my go-to recommendation for someone wanting to get into retro gaming. It’s a great-looking handheld and comes with a nice starter library of games. $

Paper Apps makes super fun games that are played in a small, spiral notebook with just a pencil and one or two dice. I'm a big fan of their Dungeon game that I've written about previously and that has you play through a single-player dungeon crawl on the go. The new Labyrinth is a "3D" paper game from the same folks that has already way exceeded its funding goal on Kickstarter and is due to ship next month. There are three days left to back it/pre-order it; otherwise, you'll need to wait until they get it in stock on their website later this fall.

Grant Sinclair, the nephew of the inventor of the original ZX Spectrum 8-bit computer, invented this beautiful and svelte retro gaming handheld that is the thickness of just a few credit cards. It’s got a 4in high-resolution screen, two touchpads on the front, a USB-C port, and 128GB of storage, which means it’s a super pocketable and slick way to get a quick fix of Yoshi’s Island or Pokémon Emerald, et al. (H/T The Verge)

An awesome, pocketable Gameboy-style retro gaming handheld that comes chock-full of games. ~$85

I've been enjoying my original Backbone controller* for years— It's a handy video game controller that turns your iPhone or Android device into a portable gaming station by docking the phone right in the middle of the controller via a USB-C connection. The new version now not only connects to your smartphone but will also connect to your Mac and AppleTV via Bluetooth. It also appears that they have beefed up the grips a little bit for better ergonomics. This thing is perfect for playing platformers from Apple Arcade, cruising through retro games in Delta for iOS, and even streaming games from your Xbox or PlayStation cloud accounts while traveling.

– Another month, another retro gaming console I’m trying out. The new hotness in the small, EDC-size retro handheld space is the TrimUI Brick, which came out last fall. It strikes a great balance between a compact, Gameboy-style form factor and more comfortable ergonomics with better materials than the Miyoo Mini+ I also own. It comes preloaded with a couple thousand retro games from Atari, Nintendo, and on up to the PlayStation 1. But what really sold me is the ability to install and run PakUI, a custom OS featuring BitPal—a fun digital pet system that has you level it up by playing assigned games from your library. Anyone who’s used one of these systems knows how paralyzing the sheer volume of options can be—I’ve spent entire “gaming sessions” just flipping through titles without actually playing. BitPal seems like a fun way to discover new games and also commit to actually playing them. The PakUI install is a bit of a technical lift, but manageable if you’ve ever set up a Raspberry Pi or similar project.

At South by Southwest this year, I attended an event where Tim Ferriss made an appearance and gifted everyone an advance copy of Coyote, a card game he co-created with Elon Lee of Exploding Kittens fame. Despite some initial skepticism, I’ve played several rounds with my family and we’ve had a blast. The mechanics are simple enough for playing with young kids but offer enough depth to get competitive between adults. There’s also a fun cooperative version. It's light, silly, and great for quick family or party games.

There are a million retro handhelds out there. This one is my current fave and comes with an insane number of retro games. $

Speaking of retro gaming, the brilliant (but evil?) minds at Analogue are back with their much-anticipated Nintendo 64 console. It’s not only stunning to look at but also will natively upscale your old N64 cartridges to glorious 4K! The console will work with original N64 controller as well as more modern Bluetooth and Wifi remotes... I'm no expert, but it should also emulate any N64 games that you may have backed up from your legally obtained cartridges, thanks to USB and SD card ports. Pre-orders open Monday, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to sell out immediately.

Doubling down on their commitment to weird, fun tech, Nintendo released the Alarmo this week. It’s an alarm clock featuring animations of iconic Nintendo characters and music from their games to wake you up. In classic Nintendo fashion, it has a motion sensor that reacts to your movement—if you go back to bed, it’ll reactivate the alarm! I grabbed one as a Christmas present for my eldest—it’s going to be hard to keep it hidden for two months!

As Marco recently pointed out, the retro handheld market is booming, with new models launching constantly. I’ve bought…a few over the last year. My current favorite is this relative newcomer from XUMini. It’s small enough to be pocketable but far more comfortable and performs better than my previous favorite, the Miyoo Mini+. Bonus: mine came preloaded with 100+ GB of retro games. If you’re brave enough to venture into AliExpress, you can often find crazy deals on these devices.

- I’m about halfway through this amazing remake of the Legend of Zelda Gameboy classic. While I loved Breath of the Wild and the more recent Tears of the Kingdom, I’ve been on a retro kick lately and wanted to play a more traditional Zelda game. Instead of firing up one of my retro handhelds, I discovered this gorgeous 3D remaster of the 8-bit original. It’s an absolute blast, and I love that it doesn’t require much “skill.” It’s perfect for casual play without needing to remember complex button combos and techniques. Highly recommended. *Amazon-affiliate link

Love card games, RPGs, or just fun in general? This crazy addictive game combines the mechanics of collectible card games like Magic the Gathering with rogue-like dungeon crawlers like Dead Cells and Hades. It’s perfect for quick 2-3 minute sessions or an entire 2-hour flight. It came out a few years ago on basically all platforms, but I recently picked it back up and am totally engrossed again. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade, it’s available for free here.

The folks at Wyrmwood Gaming are doing their annual Diceapalooza on Kickstarter. If you play any dice-based games (D&D or back alley craps tournaments), check them out for some truly next-level beautiful dice—don’t miss the epic 9-karat gold 20-sided die. I’m torn between the Ancient Bronze set and the Wishing Well set but am definitely getting one of their handmade wooden dice vaults.

Nintendo announced a bunch of new games this week that are all coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year. The highlight for me was a new Legend of Zelda game, where you finally get to play as Princess Zelda rather than Link. Instead of using a sword, Zelda uses a magic wand to copy and paste elements from the environment as tools and weapons. It looks like a fascinating mechanic, and I can’t wait to try it. As the dad of two young gamers, I’m thrilled they’ll have another great action game with a kickass female protagonist.

This looks like a little spiral-bound pocket notebook on the outside, but inside contains an entire rogue-like D&D-style adventure you navigate using just a pencil and a six-sided die. You get to create your own character, crawl through dungeons, collect loot, and level up. Each notebook is procedurally generated too! Super creative and fun concept.

I linked to an article a few weeks back that listed Star Wars Unlimited as on of the best tabletop and card games of 2024 (so far). My son and I picked it up this week and have been playing a round or two every day since. It's a lot of fun, easy to learn, but also with some interesting strategic possibilities to add some complexity. We just got the starter set that comes with two pre-built decks-- The booster packs filled with additional cards are currently sold out across the US, and can only be bought with major mark-ups on eBay. That said, the starter decks have provided plenty of fun for us so far, and my local game store (shout out, Dragon's Lair!) says that the availability of boosters should normalize by July.

After taking a 2 year break, GBA Jam is back. This is a cool event where programmers and hackers huddle up and compete to make the best, really fun game or experience for the old GameBoy Advance platform. I'm routinely impressed by what folks can come up with during these jams, but I'm especially looking forward to it this year now that Delta for iOS is out, which should make it much easier for all of us to actually try out these games as they're being developed.

This is a pretty cool little list of the best new board games this year, I found several I'm eager to try (Star Wars: Unlimited? Spark Riders 3000? AWESOME.)

With the recent Apple App Store policy change to allow emulator apps in to the store, it was just a matter of time until a really great retro game emulator launched for the iPhone / iPad... It arrived this week in the form of Delta, a cleverly designed app that lets you play your old Nintendo NES, SNES, Gameboy, and Gameboy Advance games on your phone. You can even connect a Bluetooth controller to your phone and then AirPlay your phone's screen to your Apple TV to play on the big screen.

The maniacs over at Wyrmwood are back with another Kickstarter to launch their new modular gaming table. Watch the video to see the concept, but in short, it's a made to order, beautiful dining table where the top can be removed in sections to reveal a felt-lined gaming table for tabletop games, puzzles, half-finished Lego projects, etc. I want one.

Afterplay is a very cool, web browser based emulator that lets you play all your old retro games (Gameboy, Nintendo, Atari, Sega, you name it) in any browser-- including on the iPhone and  Vision Pro with a connected bluetooth remote.

Love these vintage playing cards made by General Dynamics in 1964 to celebrate the American Space Program, back when it was really running at full steam trying to get us to the moon. Factory-sealed decks (unopened for 60 years!) are up on EBay for ~$250. Egads!

This tabletop game is a recent arrival in the household and has been a hit with the whole family. Two players build their own castles out of blocks, hide soldiers in them, and then take turns using their catapults to try and destroy the other's castle and take out their soldiers. You can play as simple as that, or you can amp up the game with additional rules, powers, or even expansion sets that add more weapons and castle pieces. Shenanigans ensue!

If you have any familiarity whatsoever with Dungeons & Dragons, or really any sort of RPG, or you just like funny things, please take 1 minute and 48 seconds to watch this absolute masterpiece. It's also a legit banger of a song. I've been laughing about it all week and watch it at least once a day. (Warning: Strong language, not kid friendly.) Tom is also responsible for the equally ridiculous banger, HYCYBH?

The good folks at Iconfactory very graciously let this humble blog writer have a sneak peek at the beta of their next new game that drops on Tuesday this week. I’ve been a fan of their apps for over a decade, dating back to some very early iOS apps and games like Twitterrific and Ramp Champ— both sadly no longer operational. Their next foray into gaming is like a greatest hits of retro games featuring their own delightfully crafted takes on Flappy Bird (“Ollie Soars”), Snake (“Snake”), and Lunar Lander (“Tranquility Touchdown”). I’ll have a proper review written up when I get a little more time in the three games, but for now, I can already say it is worth downloading when it drops on Tuesday.

I regret that I can't remember where exactly I found this, beyond poking around the #pixelart hashtag on Mastodon or some Discord server, but this iOS retro platformer is a total delight. $2.99 buys you a super fun, quick to pick up, platformer game with creative mechanics and challenging (but not TOO challenging) levels, killer pixel art, and no ads. Highly recommended.

Speaking of retro video games, I just stumbled across the Low Rez Jam, a sort of minimalist video game hackathon that's going on right now. A bunch of teams around the world are competing to make a winning video game playable at 64x64 resolution. Tons of great pixel art and game imagineering going on under the #lowrezjam hashtag on Mastodon (and I presume X, if you're still visiting Elon's vanity project.) The development period wraps up August 15th, and then the games will go up for voting. It will be fun to see and try all the final products.

Going further down the retro gaming rabbit hole, I picked up a Retroid Pocket 3+ this last week... and after an admittedly grueling several hour configuration process, I'm really happy with it! It emulates everything from old Atari and Commodore 64 to Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii games. Killer screen and impressive performance for a little device that's half the price of a Nintendo Switch and about 2/3's the size. Now I just need to find some time to actually play more than 5-10 minutes a time.