Portal Comes to Graphing Calculators, Makes Them Useful Again

A few weeks ago I may have said some unkind things about graphing calculators and their place in these modern times, but that was before I saw this version of Portal. That’s right, someone has released a version of Portal for the TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus graphing calculators. Games are nothing new to the world of graphing calculators, but this makes me want to go back and not pay attention in math class all over again.

Portal Prelude is the project of Reddit user BuilderBoy2005, and since this is the final version of a project that took him years to make, I say that today he is a BuilderMan. Prelude has 38 levels of side-scrolling, puzzle-solving Portal goodness. It’s fun to see a 2D adaptation of a game that so heavily relied on thinking in three-dimensional space.

Prelude looks like it makes about as good of use of the calculator’s 94 x 64 resolution as can be expected, but if you’re focusing on the graphics of a game for a calculator you need get your priorities in order. I tried getting this to work in a TI-84 emulator using Linux, but didn’t have any luck. For now I’ll have to settle for watching this video of the game a few more dozen times.

If you happen to have a TI-83 or TI-84 on hand you can download the game for free here and give it a shot. Let us know what you think.

(via Reddit, image via YouTube)

Relevant to your interests

• Graphing calculators are finally getting color screens
• Meanwhile, Google’s calculator is voice activated
• This cardboard box side-scroller is also pretty interesting

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Glen Tickle

Glen is a comedian, writer, husband, and father. He won his third-grade science fair and is a former preschool science teacher, which is a real job.

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