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.

📸 Screenshots

🕹️ PicoPlay Arcade Carousel	🌐 In-App Lexaloffle BBS Store

⚡ 1-Click Download & Launch	🍓 Pixel-Perfect 60 FPS Gameplay

🚀 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

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

✨ 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).

🕹️ 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

📁 Loading Your Own Cartridges

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

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!
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!
Internal PS4 Storage (FTP): Copy your .p8 or .p8.png files to:
```
/data/picoplay/carts/
```

🛠️ 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.

📜 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

PicoPlay v1.00 (PS4 Fake PKG)

Latest

2026-10-23 19:00:28 +02:00

C++ 45.8%

C 34.8%

Lua 16.3%

Makefile 2.8%

Python 0.3%

README.md

PicoPlay 🎮