At least in TIC-80, the faux retro limits are still there (including the annoying low-res font which is a bit silly -- actual 8-bit computers didn't have fonts

At least in TIC-80, the faux retro limits are still there (including the annoying low-res font which is a bit silly -- actual 8-bit computers didn't have fonts that bad). The main thing that it gives you over PICO-8 (besides being free) is the ability to use different languages. I don't think there is anything particularly retro about Lua -- it didn't even exist in the 8-bit era these fantasy consoles are nostalgic for. There's a (paid) fantasy console on steam that uses BASIC, which is at least period faithful.