After the magnificence of the Switch port, it’s hard to see how Virtua Racing could get much better, without becoming a completely different game. Instead, then, we head in the opposite direction, with an (unofficial) port to a tiny 1-bit screen, to a console without enough buttons, to something that really shouldn’t work – but it does.

Virtua Racing on the Playdate is a limited marvel. It runs incredibly smoothly, although the small range of greys allowed for by the dithering means that it can be tricky to make out what’s happening at times – and overall the darker greys and blacks are underused making the screen just a bit washed out. There are a few control schemes, one of which can allow you to use the crank for steering, but I preferred the d-pad for steering with A and B buttons for accelerate and brake – and the crank allows you to choose the viewpoint exactly, not restricted to VR’s four positions. During replays the crank rewinds and fast forwards the action, which is a welcome addition. Due to the number of buttons you are restricted to automatic transmission.

There is, apparently, a secret car you can obtain from coming first on every track in one play session. I’ve not managed to come first on the easiest track yet, so I suspect that may be beyond me. With the Switch game easily accessible, I’m not sure I’ll spend too much time here, but all it takes is for one delayed train and I know it’ll be there ready to go.

Whitewater Wipeout was one of the first games available on the Playdate, being released in the first week of Season 1, and I think it’s still my favourite on the system. It has the vibes of California Games, but with a clear end point, refined scoring system, and responsive and intuitive controls.

The front of the board goes where the crank is pointing. It is such an immediate piece of feedback that it gives you an innate sense of connection to the character, but the fact that you can turn the crank quicker than the board can turn makes it crucial to plan in advance when to stop your stunts. Being able to shift weight on the board as you launch, using up on the d-pad, gives even more depth to it.

It’s ideal for a handheld game too. Three lives; you lose one each time you land the wrong way or stray to the bottom of the screen. As you travel to the left, the wave slowly catches up with you unless you constantly move, and the further to the left you go the smaller the wave is – making it more difficult to launch and land tricks, and eventually forcing a wipeout. I’ve reached that last point once in all my games.

The top global scores are over 2 million, and I have no idea how they can be achieved – you would need to have a perfect run on each of your three lives, getting a triple and then quadruple 360 on every trick, building up the combo for the whole run, and hitting a few birds along the way. My top score is less than a quarter of that, and even that felt like I was lucky so many times throughout.