Mini Games Retro 90s just landed on Steam—a full collection of LCD handheld throwbacks straight out of the 80s and 90s.
I’ve got to say, the title might be the most generic thing possible. Not even accurate either—LCD handhelds weren’t just a 90s phenomenon, they were the handheld experience of the 80s. Still, the concept is fantastic. You’re getting 23 individual LCD mini-games right out of the gate, with more promised down the line.
For those who missed that era, here’s the deal: before Game Boy dominated the world (and even for a while after), handhelds weren’t cartridges or pixels—they were one-off devices with pre-drawn LCD frames. Backgrounds were static. Characters blinked between frames. That was the whole charm.
Sports titles ruled the racks at Radio Shack: basketball, racing, fishing. And yes, they’re here. But there’s variety too—Dragon, Ghost Buster, and other non-sports games break up the monotony.
And this isn’t just a museum of old games. It comes with a Console Factory mode that lets you design your own handhelds. Change the shell, swap colours, choose sprites, even tweak animations. You can literally design an LCD console that never existed in the 80s.
Presentation-wise, it nails the period. The LCD animations flicker exactly the way they should, and the sound is all high-pitched beeps and chirps—the tinny audio you remember from Tiger Electronics. My one knock is that the handheld shells look pretty samey. But that was also historically accurate: Tiger reused plastic moulds like nobody’s business.
Controls? Keyboard and mouse, Xbox pads, DualShock—all supported. Specs are laughably light: dual-core 1.6 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM, 200 MB storage, and integrated graphics are more than enough. Officially Windows-only, though no one’s tested Proton compatibility yet.
It’s the debut Steam release from developer Ewerton José Wantroba, published under his Wantrobapps label. No reviews in yet, but the idea alone has my attention.
Launch price is C$6.62—with a small introductory discount.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3844720/Mini_Games_Retro_90s
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