Retro8

Retro8 emulates Lexaloffle PICO-8.

About this profile

Detail	Value
Type	libretro
Classification	Game engine
Source	https://github.com/libretro/retro8
Upstream	https://github.com/Jakz/retro8
Version	0.1b, stated in `src/libretro/libretro.cpp`
Revision	libretro/retro8@ddc06a142398, Jakz/retro8@ecee6594c5b9
Profiled	2026-03-25
Profile	YAML, JSON
Cores	retro8
Systems	Lexaloffle PICO-8

Technical notes

Open-source PICO-8 fantasy console reimplementation by Jacopo Santoni. Runs .p8 and .p8.png cartridge files. The PICO-8 font is compiled into the binary as a byte array (gen/pico_font.h, loaded in src/vm/gfx.cpp:9). The Lua API shim is compiled as a string constant (gen/lua_api.h, loaded in src/vm/lua_bridge.cpp:1126). The core never calls GET_SYSTEM_DIRECTORY and performs no file I/O from the system directory.

No BIOS or firmware files required.

Next steps

Get your files, for the setup you play on
Every system, and the files each one needs
When a game does not start

Data as of 4 November 2026.