An unofficial Flipnote animation player for the Panic Playdate

Flipnote by ぺきら

Features

Smoothly plays any animation made in the DSiWare version of Flipnote Studio
Customisable dithering makes up for the lack of colour on the Playdate's black and white screen
Available in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, and Welsh

Latest Release

Playnote.pdx

Includes 24 sample animations kindly provided by Flipnote artists such as Kéké, mrjohn, ぺきら, and more!
v1.1.1
16.8 MB
March 2023
Install this app by sideloading it
Suitable for all ages
The D-Pad is used for navigation. The crank can be used to scroll pages and turn through animation frames, but this is optional.

You can also add your own Flipnotes by dropping them onto your Playdate's storage!

Questions & Answers

What is Flipnote Studio? What are Flipnotes?

Flipnote Studio is an app for the Nintendo DSi game console where users can create flipbook-style animations with the touch screen, microphone, and cameras. These animations are called Flipnotes.

Who built this?

That would be me, James! But this wouldn't have been possible without a whole *bunch* of favours from very cool friends and members of the Flipnote and Playdate communities, you can find all of their names in the credits!

Why make a Flipnote player for the Playdate?

Little else has single-handedly fueled my penchant for making things quite as much as Flipnote Studio. In a roundabout way it was influencial in pushing me towards a creative career, so this app is a love-letter to a weird little animation tool that inspired me and many others.

It also just so happens that using the Playdate's crank to scroll through one of Kéké's animations is pretty fun!

Can this app create Flipnotes?

It can't, sorry! The Playdate doesn't have a touchscreen, so I came to the conclusion that trying to create detailed animations on it wouldn't be very fun. However, Dustin Mierau's Playmaker might be up your alley!

Can I watch Flipnotes without a Playdate or Nintendo DSi?

Yes! I previously built a free web-based Flipnote player which can play animation files from both Flipnote Studio and Flipnote Studio 3D. There's also fan-made communities like Sudomemo where people are still actively posting Flipnotes!

Why aren't Flipnote Studio 3D animations supported?

Flipnote Studio 3D - the Nintendo 3DS sequel to Flipnote Studio - uses a much more complex animation format compared to the original DSiWare version. I had to pull out a lot of tricks just to get DSi Flipnotes running smoothly on the Playdate, and I feel that the 3DS format might be too complex.

Why isn't the Playdate Simulator supported?

The Flipnote parsing and playback timing code is written in C, which needs to be compiled specifically for whatever platform the Playdate Simulator is running on. I decided to avoid that for now in the interest of saving space!

Will there be any updates?

Maybe! You should follow me on Twitter to keep up to date!

Credits

Programming and UI Design
Flipnote Decoding Library
Based on PPMLib by Simon Aarons
Sound & Music
Sound Design Talon Stradley
Credits Beat madwurmz