Htmx 4.0, the first JavaScript library to release exclusively on the Game Boy
by rcy on 7/26/2026, 12:00:11 PM
https://swag.htmx.org/en-cad/products/htmx-4-the-game
Comments
by: blister
I've been using htmx for three years now, and it's completely unlocked new ways of building software for the web, especially if you use a server-side templating language.<p>But more importantly (as this "Game Boy" option reveals), the head honcho is really responsive with the items in the store. I had purchased a coffee mug a few years back and complained on Twitter that they need to sell larger mugs instead of only offering little tiny baby mugs that only hold ~8 ounces of liquid. The next day, he added giant 48-ounce monsters to the store and I've been drinking out of that mug every day since.
7/26/2026, 3:52:06 PM
by: rpdillon
HTMX's whole vibe is amazing. It's good tech, kept simple, useful in gobs of situations, but doesn't take itself too seriously. I've used it in professional and side projects since intercooler.js, and still love it. Here's a crazy unicorn-laser-eyes mug[0] that evokes the vibes of NROL-39[1]. I adore it.<p>[0]: <a href="https://swag.htmx.org/collections/octohorse" rel="nofollow">https://swag.htmx.org/collections/octohorse</a><p>[1]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-247" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-247</a>
7/26/2026, 3:32:11 PM
by: aarondf
I was at Big Sky Dev Con when they unveiled the GameBoy game. I kid you not my jaw dropped. I thought it was some sort of like emulator gimmick until they said "everyone can take a physical cartridge home!"<p>One of the most delightful little swag stunts I've ever seen, and emblematic of the HTMX crew just how much they care about craft and delight in everything they do.
7/26/2026, 8:00:00 PM
by: ballon_monkey
I love HTMX and use it in a few projects, but its amusing how whats old is new again. .NET Framework / Web Forms had update panels to do partial rendering of web pages back in 2005. Outside of .NET developers it got a lot of hate. But to a certain extent HTMX is a super well refined and more capable version of update panels and more.
7/26/2026, 7:19:09 PM
by: throw2ih020
HTMX is awesome. I've replaced several OSS web apps on my home server with HTMX + Go + PostgreSQL replacements. The results are lightweight, responsive, work great on desktop and mobile alike, all with the absolute minimum complexity required. The codebases are easy to understand and modify, and so far I'm going months between updates (mostly just minor bugfixes for my applications). I fully expec my mature apps will go years if not decades between required upgrades.
7/26/2026, 4:13:51 PM
by: gen220
Thank you to the HTMX-folks for keeping software fun! I've been a happy HTMX user and Grug essay forwarder since it first made the rounds here on HN. This was an instant purchase :)
7/26/2026, 5:35:11 PM
by: factorialboy
Is it true that the person who authored the "Grug-brained developer" essay also created HTMX?
7/26/2026, 4:35:53 PM
by: andy800
Amazing... an HTMX thread without any haters interjecting or critics telling everyone why HTMX wont work.<p>Even React-aholics have to tip their hats to a Game Boy release.
7/26/2026, 10:47:36 PM
by: zelphirkalt
What I don't like about Htmx is, that it is still a JS framework, without good automatic fallbacks for a noscript situation. This leads to web devs thinking it would be great to do all the things in Htmx, even if all they have is a static page with static content.<p>Just recently I looked at hosting an old school forum. I don't want to load all the PHP and MySQL baggage on my server or even run it in docker, so I looked for Python solutions. Found PunkwebBB. Was happy for a short time with it, until I tested it more in depth with no scripts. Unfortunately, while it has some good fallbacks in some places, it doesn't have them everywhere and some buttons just don't do anything without JS. It also uses Htmx. Completely unnecessary JS, considering the function of the buttons.<p>I considered forking it. But the amount of work to remove the needless JS, and repair it ...<p>So now I am building my own forum completely without JS, and with Python Django doing a lot of heavy lifting.
7/26/2026, 9:35:26 PM
by: recursivedoubts
hello all, we are releasing htmx 4.0 on the Game Boy and Gameboy Color (thank you rcy for submitting)<p>it is a real, honest-to-goodness mario-bros inspired GameBoy game with four levels over three biomes ending in a slop factory where you battle final boss warren buffering (an online character I beef with, we are friends)<p>if you beat him it unlocks the source code for htmx 4.0<p>game was written by Stephen Mitchell (aka scum) by hand, using GBStudio w/heavy customizations, hoping to get an essay by him up soon talking about the creation of the game<p>carts were produced w/the expertise of Jarason Banes who also did the cover design. Cover art is by Ash (<a href="https://www.fiverr.com/ae1996/" rel="nofollow">https://www.fiverr.com/ae1996/</a>) who also did the soft-cover art for <a href="https://hypermedia.systems" rel="nofollow">https://hypermedia.systems</a><p>Hope you find it enjoyable if you get a copy and at least find it funny if you don't :)
7/26/2026, 3:34:30 PM
by: wvbdmp
I’m amazed at how cheap this is. How is this possible for what I’m assuming is a relatively low-volume physical product? I don’t suppose it’s produced on-demand, but also Carson Gross probably doesn’t have 1000 of these boxes at his home, or I would have seen the pics on twitter.
7/26/2026, 6:42:02 PM
by: buildwrangler
I made the switch to HTMX recently After 12+ years of building web apps with Javascript and its been nice. I always hated the build complexity of modern Javascript, so much tooling, dependencies and packages to get basic functionality.
7/26/2026, 7:08:44 PM
by: Aachen
Exclusively? Htmx runs in a browser, as people in this thread are attesting with how they've been using it for years
7/27/2026, 12:55:01 AM
by: luciana1u
next release ships on a Tamagotchi and if you don't feed it, it deletes your DOM
7/26/2026, 5:52:36 PM
by: hollow-moe
Love to see new stuff on ancient platforms. Surprised I couldn't find a post about Micro Mages on HN, only comments. <a href="https://youtu.be/ZWQ0591PAxM" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/ZWQ0591PAxM</a> Spoiler, when the time will come you'll never see something like this on the play station 4.
7/26/2026, 9:11:35 PM
by: hirvi74
While I am not particularly a fan of HTMX, I do absolutely adore how Carson and the team always have such a great sense of humor with the project.<p>I used HTMX in a few projects, and the library worked well enough for what I needed, but I found it to be a bit too limiting compared to accomplishing the same task in Vanilla JS (my go-to).
7/26/2026, 5:35:14 PM
by: vkaku
This might be my first new Gameboy Cart in like ever. So looking forward to this HTMX release.
7/26/2026, 8:51:08 PM
by: felixrieseberg
This is beautiful, the title alone gave me a good chuckle.
7/26/2026, 4:53:30 PM
by: 0gs
htmx is so great. i feel like every week i discover some lovely way it helps things run more smoothly
7/26/2026, 5:00:42 PM
by: dzonga
this is the counter culture we all live for.<p>well done to the htmx team.
7/26/2026, 7:40:36 PM
by: dizhn
There is one thing I don't like about htmx. It's that they like to use the HATEOAS acronym. It's a bad acronym in every conceivable way.
7/26/2026, 5:13:10 PM
by: all2
As a side note, anyone is welcome to add 'CEO of HTMX' to their LinkedIn profile.<p>...I may have done this.
7/26/2026, 7:31:31 PM
by: ai_fry_ur_brain
[dead]
7/27/2026, 12:11:27 AM
by: dfaoidsoi
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7/26/2026, 3:33:00 PM
by: nih567
[dead]
7/26/2026, 5:56:31 PM
by: thrance
The box and cartridge art feels... AI-generated. There's a significant lack of intentionality in e.g. the backgrounds or the details on the car. The letters on the sides of the cartridge feel wonky too.<p>If its's really the case, that would be sad for a game that is about fighting slop.
7/26/2026, 5:40:50 PM
by: inigyou
Error: Forbidden<p>Your client does not have permission to get URL /en-cad/products/htmx-4-the-game from this server.
7/26/2026, 4:24:48 PM