PicoPlay 🎮

A Native PICO-8 Fantasy Console Player & Arcade for PlayStation 4

PicoPlay brings the magical world of PICO-8 indie retrogaming natively to the PlayStation 4. Powered by an optimized C++ SDL2 engine, it delivers pixel-perfect 60 FPS gameplay, full DualShock 4 controller integration, an in-app BBS Store to download cartridges on-the-fly, and an out-of-the-box arcade experience with celebrated community titles like Celeste Classic.

📱 Also Available on Android: Looking for the mobile & handheld edition? Check out PicoPlay Android (birth1mark/picoplay-android) with a custom Pocket Touch Gamepad, Bluetooth controller support, and Google Play Store compliance.

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📸 Screenshots

🕹️ PicoPlay Arcade Carousel	🌐 In-App Lexaloffle BBS Store
⚡ 1-Click Download & Launch	🍓 Pixel-Perfect 60 FPS Gameplay

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🚀 Quick Install (PlayStation 4 PKG)

Pre-built packages are ready to install on any jailbroken PlayStation 4 running firmware 5.05 up to 11.00+ (GoldHEN / Mira / HEN):

📥 1. Download the PKG

• Pre-built Releases: Download the latest picoplay-ps4.pkg directly from the GitHub Releases page.
• Or Build It Locally: Run make pkg to generate picoplay-ps4.pkg in the project root in seconds.

🕹️ 2. Step-by-Step PS4 Installation

1. Format a USB flash drive as exFAT or FAT32.
2. Copy picoplay-ps4.pkg directly to the root of your USB drive (e.g. X:\picoplay-ps4.pkg).
3. Insert the USB drive into your PS4.
4. On your PS4 (with GoldHEN or HEN enabled), navigate to:
   • Settings ➔ GoldHEN ➔ Package Installer (or Settings ➔ Debug Settings ➔ Game ➔ Package Installer)
5. Select picoplay-ps4.pkg and press Cross (✕) to install.
6. Launch PicoPlay from the PS4 Home Screen (XMB) and start playing!

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✨ Features

• In-App Lexaloffle BBS Store: Browse, search and download community cartridges directly inside the application with 1-click download & play!
• Native 1080p Output: Crisp integer scaling with selectable aspect ratios.
• Full DualShock 4 Integration: Seamless mapping for D-Pad, Left Analog Stick, Face Buttons, and tactile controls.
• Plug-and-Play USB Loading: Automatically scans and launches .p8 and .p8.png cartridges from USB drives (/mnt/usb0/picoplay/).
• Starter Classics Included: Ships pre-bundled with open-source masterpieces ready to play without configuration.
• Persistent Save States: Cartridge data and high scores automatically save to /data/picoplay/cdata/.
• Homebrew Store / PKG-Zone Compliant: Built 100% clean-room with the community OpenOrbis toolchain (no copyrighted Sony SDK components).

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🕹️ Controls (DualShock 4)

DualShock 4 Button	PICO-8 Virtual Input	Function
D-Pad / Left Stick	Left / Right / Up / Down	Directional Movement
Cross (✕)	❎ (Button 5 / P8_KEY_X)	Select / Play in Arcade Menu · Action 2 in Game
Circle (◯)	🅾 (Button 4 / P8_KEY_O)	Switch Tab / Back in Menu · Action 1 in Game
Square (▢)	🅾 (Button 4 / P8_KEY_O)	Alternate Action 1 in Game
Triangle (△)	Toggle Scaling	Switch between Pixel-Perfect and Stretched 16:9
Options	Pause / Menu	In-game PICO-8 Pause Menu
L1 + R1 + Options	Exit	Quick Exit back to PS4 Home Screen

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📁 Loading Your Own Cartridges

You can easily add new PICO-8 cartridges using any of the following methods:

1. In-App Lexaloffle BBS Store (Recommended): Press Circle (◯) in the arcade menu to switch to the 🌐 BBS Store! Browse curated community games (Celeste 2, Slipways, Mistigri, Mai-Chan, Hellspawn, Dank Tomb, etc.) or enter any custom cart ID. Press Cross (✕) to download and play immediately!

2. USB Drive: Create a folder named picoplay on the root of your USB flash drive:

   USB Drive -> /picoplay/my_game.p8.png
   

   Plug it into your PS4. PicoPlay will detect and index your carts immediately!

3. Internal PS4 Storage (FTP): Copy your .p8 or .p8.png files to:

   /data/picoplay/carts/
   

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🛠️ Building from Source

PicoPlay features an automated dual-target build system: test locally on your PC/Linux desktop in seconds, or cross-compile and package for PS4 with a single command.

1. Local Desktop Build (Linux / EndeavourOS)

Requires g++, SDL2, and libcurl:

# Compile and run on your desktop
make desktop
./platform/SDL2Desktop/picoplay

2. PS4 Executable (eboot.bin)

Requires the OpenOrbis PS4 Toolchain installed:

# Cross-compiles C++ sources, links FreeBSD 12 ELF, and signs eboot.bin
make ps4

Generates platform/ps4/eboot.bin and stages it in pkg/eboot.bin.

3. PS4 Fake PKG (picoplay-ps4.pkg)

Builds the complete installable Fake PKG image with starter games and assets in one step:

make pkg

This automatically compiles the code, creates eboot.bin, synthesizes param.sfo (PPLA00008) and icon0.png, bundles starter carts, signs PlayGo digests, and seals picoplay-ps4.pkg in the project root.

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📜 Credits & Attributions

This project stands on the shoulders of brilliant creators and open-source contributors:

• PicoPlay Port & Development: birth1mark
• Core Emulator Engine: FAKE-08 by jtothebell (MIT License).
• PlayStation 4 Toolchain: OpenOrbis PS4 Toolchain community developers.
• PICO-8 Platform & Virtual Architecture: Lexaloffle Games (Joseph White / zep).
• Included Starter Games:
  • Celeste Classic (v8) & Celeste 2: Lani's Trek by Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry (Creative Commons).
  • Astero by Alex Morris (Open Source).
• Embedded Libraries:
  • z8lua / Lua runtime adapted by jtothebell
  • LodePNG by Lode Vandevenne
  • miniz by Rich Geldreich / contributors
  • SimpleIni by Brodie Thiesfield
  • SDL2 by the Simple DirectMedia Layer team