Here's how WipEout looks on Playdate
Race to it.
The dinky yellow Playdate handheld has plenty of odd games already - but here's an even odder proposition we thought we'd never see: WipEout.
Yes, that WipEout, of PlayStation fame. Except not quite.
For starters, this version of Psygnosis' classic retro racer is based on rewritten code that has been floating around the internet since at least last year for PC, Mac and Linux. This version, in turn, was written based on the original WipEout's leaked source code, posted online by Forest of Illusion in 2002.
Most obviously, though, this version of WipEout is designed to run on Playdate itself - which means it's in black and white and has no textures (yet, though apparently this is being worked on).
"People are talking about it on the Playdate Squad Discord Server right now," Playdate game developer Matt Sephton wrote on social media platform X, posting a gif of WipEout's current build. "Some tests being done. Jump on in."
As for the legalities of WipEout's previously-rewritten code, its author Dominic Szablewski previously noted that Sony had "demonstrated a lack of interest in the original" WipEout and described the original release now as "abandonware" (thanks, Ars Technica).
"If anyone at Sony is reading this, please consider that you have (in my opinion) two equally good options: either let it be, or shut this thing down and get a real remaster going. I'd love to help!"
Christian Donlan described Playdate as "a fascinating puzzle in itself" in Eurogamer's Playdate console review. "Now I've seen it, I want more of it."
Last month, $400k worth of Playdate console stock was reported missing in Las Vegas.