The second season of Playdate brought me back to the little yellow handheld console.

The second season of Playdate has once again captivated me with its tiny portable console. It's easy to forget about the Playdate — it's colorful, quirky, and very small. Like the Game Boy Micro before it, you occasionally toss it into your bag, and over time, it's hard to remember exactly where you placed it. But over the past few weeks, this bright yellow device has been a constant presence at home, despite major distractions — Mario Kart World and Death Stranding 2 — thanks to the second, now completed season of games for Playdate.

A unique feature of Playdate is its seasonal structure. When the device launched in 2022, owners gained access to a set of 24 games that were released gradually. This was a fantastic introduction to the device and its features — the crank, the small display, and the black-and-white graphics. At the beginning of 2023, the second season kicked off, which is not as extensive — 12 games for $39, plus something FMV-based called Blippo Plus. However, it started off very promisingly, and since then, a diverse selection of new games has emerged.

Among them are the post-apocalyptic adventure The Whiteout and the object-finding game Shadowgate PD, a remake of the classic 80s game. The second season brilliantly showcases the capabilities of Playdate. I was particularly impressed by the games that cleverly utilize the device's unique feature — the crank. For example, Tiny Turnip is a climbing game where you control a turnip with hands, using buttons to grab and the crank to move. Initially, it felt a bit awkward, but over time I got into the rhythm and enjoyed the smooth controls.

Another interesting game is Taria & Como. This is a side-scrolling platformer where you move and jump in a pixelated world. Using the crank, you control a drone or harpoon, which you can launch and swing, reaching up or down. This adds a tactile sensation and makes the gameplay engaging. My favorite and the strangest game is Long Puppy. It feels like a spiritual successor to Noby Noby Boy. The goal is simple: you are a dog trying to retrieve a ball. But it's always in a hard-to-reach place, and the only way to get it is to stretch. To stretch more, you need to eat food. Each level is a chase for food and the ball before a mischievous ghost dog appears. The movements resemble a caterpillar crawling through the levels, quickly devouring everything around. Initially, it was challenging, but the time constraints forced me to better learn how to manage the stretching, and it was a lot of fun. At the end of each level, you need to "poop" with the crank.

These games are a joy to play and simply in the store Catalog. But what excites me the most is the seasonal structure of Playdate. I eagerly await new releases each week, not knowing what they will bring. They could be new channels for a fictional television service or the cutest fetch game I've ever played. Such a steady stream of quirky and fun games makes Playdate an unforgettable and very hard-to-forget console.