Blippo+: First Contact Will Be Televised

by SC

Imagine if a ’90s CD-ROM game and a 3 AM public access show got together and made something weird and wonderful.

The Setup

I kept hearing little stories about Blippo+—the kind of game people said was too strange to really explain. I knew it started on the Playdate and had that reputation for being the oddball you couldn’t quite pin down. But the second I found out it was coming to the Switch, in full color, I was all in.

Everything clicked the second the main menu loaded. The music. The design. That feeling you were about to tune into something offbeat but familiar. When the program guide first appeared, I was immediately drawn in. It reminded me of the kinds of things I loved as a kid in the ‘90s—things you didn’t quite understand but couldn’t stop watching.

It had the same energy as flipping through cable late at night, landing on shows like Svengoolie, or whatever happened to be on TV at 1:00 am. Slightly spooky. Slightly sleepy. Kind of perfect.

The creators describe it as: “A live-action, new wave, off-cable TV simulator. Tune in to channel-surf the stars and discover the staticky, radical world of Planet Blip, where everything is about to get bent.”

It’s playable, but just not in the traditional sense. You’re channel surfing between short-form shows—each with its own weird rhythm—and slowly uncovering a bigger mystery that ties it all together. You’re not being told a story, you’re piecing one together through all the static. 

Broadcast Memory

Flipping through the channels for the first time was overwhelming—in the best way. There’s this sense that everything is important, that every little glitch or background character might be a clue. I wanted to catch it all, and thankfully, Blippo+ is built for that. Each show loops, so even if you land in the middle of something, it always comes back around. Nothing’s ever really “missed.” It feels more like browsing a memory than playing a game.

Compared to the original Playdate version, there’s a huge advantage here—you can reload archived packets and rewatch earlier broadcasts. You’re not just surfing—you’re cataloging. Replaying. Rewinding something you’re not even sure you saw right the first time.

Some of the channels hit instantly. Boredome gave me strong Nickelodeon Livewire vibes—but filtered through a classic MTV lens. The Days of the for teens by teens shows. 

Werf’s Tavern is like if Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Cheers stories got mashed into one show. Tales from the Tube practically shouted Max Headroom at me, in the best way possible. But really, every show brought something up from the basement of my brain. That feeling of catching something strange late at night and not knowing if it was meant for kids, adults, or nobody at all.

I expected to like this game. I didn’t expect to lose time in it. But I do. Every time. And sometimes, I just let it loop in the background while I fall asleep—like a weird memory I’m trying to drift back into.

Art Style & Emotional Design

Blippo+ doesn’t just look retro—it taps into the feeling of what things used to look like. The fonts, colors, and jagged shapes immediately brought me back to the Memphis-style graphics I saw everywhere as a kid. That loud, bright, totally unbothered aesthetic that used to show up on cereal boxes, school software, after-school TV bumpers, and birthday party plates. It’s all here—softened only by time.

The fonts felt fun and nostalgic like the ones we used in early digital programs. The kind of stuff you’d pick in Kid Pix, or see on a Math Blaster screen when it told you “Good job!” after answering a question right. And the colors—those neon’s, bold pastels, and almost-too-much contrasts—felt like they were pulled straight out of a school computer lab from 1995.

But what hit me most wasn’t any one graphic or interface. It was the whole vibe. Blippo+ reminded me what it was like to just take in media in the ‘90s—not just TV or games, but everything. It had that same kooky, bright, anything-goes energy that showed up on Nickelodeon one minute and those FMV CD-ROM games the next. It was always fun—and weirdly comforting.

Late-Night Drift

Every time I sit down with Blippo+, I start with full attention. I want to catch every flicker of the screen, every glitch, every weird commercial or oddly familiar jingle. But something always happens—I start to drift. Not because I’m bored, but because the game has this pull. The world of Blippo+ isn’t loud or demanding. There’s no action. No violence. Nothing begging you to move forward. And maybe that’s why it works.

It’s genuinely calming.

The way it loops, the way the colors pulse, the way the sound design hums in the background—it feels more like dreaming than playing. I’ve been ending most of my nights lately with Blippo+, especially after long days. It’s become a kind of winding-down ritual. A soft descent into that analog dreamworld where nothing is urgent and everything just… plays.

But even in its softness, there’s something off—intentionally. The underlying mystery that runs beneath the overall story adds a quiet eeriness. It doesn’t ruin the nostalgia, but it tilts it. You’re comforted—but you’re not quite sure why.

The Thread Beneath

There’s clearly something going on beneath the surface of Blippo+. A quiet mystery that builds the longer you watch. You start to pick up on references. Something has happened, and we’re watching the cover-up air in reruns.

The story is woven through the broadcasts week to week. I haven’t gone back into the packet archive system yet, but I know it’s there—ready for the rewatch when I decide to dig deeper. For now, it’s been about feeling the world take shape, rather than trying to crack any code.

And honestly, I don’t want to say too much. This is something you need to experience for yourself.

It might not be everybody’s cup of Murk… but if you’ve got a Peedee and a quiet night ahead, it’s worth tuning in.

There’s a real love behind Blippo+. You can feel it in the casting—musicians, artists, comedians—each show touched by a creator who clearly gets the weirdness of media memory. I’d love to talk to the creators someday. There’s more going on here than nostalgia. It’s quiet magic wrapped in static and it sticks with you long after you shut it off/

Blippo+ is brought to you by YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Dustin Mierau (Playdate Version), and Noble Robot(Steam and Switch Version).