TIC-80
Hacker ApprovedFantasy console in Games & consoles
Free, open fantasy console for making small retro-style games, with support for many languages and a free alternative to PICO-8.
Free, open fantasy console for making small retro-style games, with support for many languages and a free alternative to PICO-8.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free, open alternative to PICO-8
“TIC-80 is a nice free as in freedom alternative to PICO-8, and it allows more inputs”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “another advantage over PICO-8 is TIC-80 has native support for Fennel”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “TIC-80 is great indeed, I had even ore fu with it than with PICO-8”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” Supports many languages, including Fennel
“I really like that it supports other languages, even if that kinda inhibits its ability to be embedded into small hardware.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” “another advantage over PICO-8 is TIC-80 has native support for Fennel”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “LÖVE: 2D Game Framework for Lua” Fun to make games with
“Both have pretty full featured dev environments and have a set of restrictions that make developing for them fun.”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026” “I absolutely loved making them in a way that I haven't enjoyed making anything on a computer in a long while.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: The HN Arcade”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PICO-8 | 35 | 6 | 85% | 12 | — | Approved |
| TIC-80This page | 11 | 1 | 92% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“all have simple web exporter”
“But they aren't real hardware platforms.”
“Both have pretty full featured dev environments and have a set of restrictions that make developing for them fun.”
“Those are great but they don't beat Roblox on distribution nor multiplayer by a long shot.”
“play with Picotron and TIC-80 to create fun little things, no AI”
“They are designed to emulate the experience of 8 bit consoles”
“TIC-80 is great indeed, I had even ore fu with it than with PICO-8”
“another advantage over PICO-8 is TIC-80 has native support for Fennel”
“I really like that it supports other languages, even if that kinda inhibits its ability to be embedded into small hardware.”
“TIC-80 is a nice free as in freedom alternative to PICO-8, and it allows more inputs”
“I absolutely loved making them in a way that I haven't enjoyed making anything on a computer in a long while.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.