BALL

This is, not to mince words, a PONG adaptation for the Playdate handheld.

Why does the world need another PONG adaptation? Because PONG is a very good game design that seldom gets shown in the best light. This is partially because it's such a simple game that it makes good fodder for first-game attempts, and that people frequently think they can recreate it from memory, and in so doing miss the details that made it such a huge success. And it's partially because PONG is built around an input device -- the rotary knob, used for absolute positioning -- that doesn't have many good equivalents on popular platforms. But the Playdate has a crank, an accelerometer, and a gorgeous 1-bit display. The pairing is inevitable. Heck, the thing's even a pretty fitting shade of yellow.

BALL is not an exact replica of PONG: the look and sound are close but not quite identical. The gameplay basics are all there, but it's tuned a little bit to handle better on the tiny device, and skips one or two limitations born of PONG's CPU-less hardware. Also there's a mode where you play for the longest possible rally, which is harder than it sounds.

Left player can choose tilt controls or D-pad input. Right player gets the crank. Get the ball past your opponent. It's like a tiny, tiny versus cocktail arcade cabinet and it's harder than it looks. What else could you want?