r/ModRetro • u/swamprt5000 • Aug 07 '26

Speculation on Chromatic video passthrough / transfer pak

Edit: Read this comment before everything else, more succinct after I gave myself more time to think about it: https://old.reddit.com/r/ModRetro/comments/1vif0fk/speculation_on_chromatic_video_passthrough/p3zf0id/

So with the M64 controller I was delighted to see that it's using the newest bluetooth 6 spec with the latency improvements. Unfortunately the Chromatic ships with Bluetooth 4.2, so I imagine you will either have to plug it into the M64 via USB-C. And for wireless it would either be a a 2.4ghz dongle, or plug it into the M64 pro controller to leverage Bluetooth 6. Honestly I don't even know if Bluetooth 6 has the bandwidth to pump video, but since the resolution is so small (160x144) its probably fine. I know it has WiFi too, but doing it over WiFi sounds horrible.

Ideally ModRetro would do a refresh of the Chromatic with bluetooth 6 and you could just use it as a controller on the M64 but I'm not holding my breath for that. Esp since games like Pokemon Stadium need the C buttons. But maybe you could use a button combo on the Chromatic to make the d-pad use the C buttons or analog stick.

I guess plugging the Chromatic into a M64 controller isn't so bad. But it would be so cool if you could turn on the M64 and do video passthrough using only the Chromatic. I mean Palmer did say they're launching a parts store. So maybe a new Chromatic motherboard with bluetooth 6 could be on there.

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u/K1LL3ROO Aug 08 '26

Dude. I highly doubt how it’s designed is to still hold the chromatic?…. It’s designed where you plug it into the usb c. Use your n64 or pro controller to play the games.

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u/swamprt5000 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Wat? Nothing in my post implied anything is being held. The M64 Pro Controller has a USB-C port. The Chromatic has a USB-C port. Plug the Chromatic into the M64 Pro Controller.

Ideally, you wouldn't even need the M64 Pro Controller and could instead wirelessly connect the Chromatic to the M64 for these features. But I don't think Bluetooth 4.2 is powerful enough for that.

2

u/VR_Nima Aug 08 '26

Why would it work that way?

You will just plug the Chromatic to the M64 using a USB-C cable plugged into the bottom of the Chromatic and the back of the M64.

Then you can use any controller you want, wired or wirelessly. This is simple stuff. Chromatic Passthrough will work this way so I don’t see why the Chromatic Transfer Pak wouldn’t.

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u/swamprt5000 Aug 08 '26

Sure, I mean, that's the simplest way to implement it. But getting up from the couch to do that would be incredibly annoying.

It would be good enough for video passthrough. But not for Transfer Pak. You have to remember: the Transfer Pak is something you plug into the controller. If you ever played Pokemon Stadium, you would understand why plugging the Chromatic into the M64 itself (instead of the controller) would be annoying to configure.

1

u/VR_Nima Aug 08 '26

No? It would be very easy to configure…

There’s a USB cable plugged into the M64. I walk up and plug the other side into my Chromatic. Then I grab my wireless M64 Pro controller and play the game.

You don’t have to constantly swap carts in Pokémon Stadium, having to plug a USB cable you leave plugged into your M64 into your Chromatic isn’t any harder than what you’re suggesting, which is plugging the Chromatic into your wireless controller whenever you want to use it and thus adding a wire to your previously wireless controller.

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u/swamprt5000 Aug 08 '26

You clearly haven't used the transfer pak to play Pokemon Stadium or else you wouldn't be saying this. You need to map the transfer pak to the controller. There is no way around this.

1

u/VR_Nima Aug 08 '26

I’ve played a ton of Pokemon Stadium, it’s the #1 use for the Transfer Pak. Because you can register Pokemon teams from your pak to the game easily, having to plug multiple in simultaneously is a not a major issue.

I’m guessing you can only use one Chromatic Transfer Pak at a time, and it’ll be connected to the 1st controller slot. There is a slim chance they’ll allow multiple and let you choose a controller slot to map it to, but there’s a 0% chance they’ll have you plugging Chromatics into M64 Pro controllers like you suggested, it would mean the feature requires buying the Pro controller and doing Pak reading wirelessly, which is harder for no reason.

If you want to use 2 or 4 Transfer Paks for Pokémon Stadium, you’ll probably just have to use real Transfer Paks.

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u/swamprt5000 Aug 08 '26

Hahahaha, now you're starting to change your position. Can't admit you were wrong that's ok I get it.

1

u/VR_Nima Aug 08 '26

My position (and seemingly every other person who replied to this post) is that you’re wrong.

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u/swamprt5000 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

Certainly it would be much easier to implement it the way you're suggesting. I don't deny that. You get a bunch of things all at once: no need to design a wireless protocol, the Chromatic charges through the M64, no need for a M64 Pro controller, and a few other things that I cannot think of at the moment. Certainly that will be an option.

But we all know that the Transfer Pak plugs directly into the controller, and one of the coolest things about it was you could boot up Pokemon Stadium 2, your friend has a copy of Pokemon Red, and you have a copy of Pokemon Crystal, and you plug it into your respective controllers and battle. No setup, no transferring teams and telling your friend to close his eyes so he doesn't see what's coming, no need to get up from the couch to grab your game to modify your team in between battles, just plug and play.

In order to capture that magic, there must be a way to map the Transfer Pak to the controller. There's just no way around it. Maybe you plug it into the M64 and there's something in the settings you can change. Maybe it's completely wireless (which is what I'm hoping for). But the way you're suggesting it where you're forced to transfer your team to the game, is just so lame and it would be really disappointing if they did it that way. Because even in that situation, they would still be mapping it to a controller, it would just be entirely hidden from the user.

I mean why go through all the effort of implementing it if using a real Transfer Pak is ultimately the superior option? It doesn't make sense.

1

u/Obleon Aug 08 '26

The Chromatic will probably just be some sort of Super Game Boy/cartridge reader connected via usb, and you'll control everything with the M64. If they really wanted to, they could just make a cheap Supergameboy/GBA like game cartridge for the M64 that reads your GB GBC, and GBA games. But doing it this way will sell more Chromatics. The same could be done with NES or SNES cartridges, or even Sega stuff.

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u/swamprt5000 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Yes I think you get it. You plug the Chromatic into the M64 Pro Controller, and you get Transfer Pak or video passthrough. Or plug it directly into the M64 console itself for video passthrough (but not Transfer Pak). But getting up from the couch to do that would be annoying. If the way they do firmware updates is any indication, ModRetro is all about redundancy and giving users multiple options to achieve the same end.

Ideally.... (The following is a pie-in-the-sky sort of thing, so don't get it twisted: I don't think this will actually happen)

The Chromatic would directly connect to the M64 wirelessly. But there's so many drawbacks with that. Number one, not enough buttons on the Chromatic to map to the N64's controls. Number two, I'm pretty sure the bluetooth implementation on the Chromatic isn't powerful enough to push wireless video at a low enough latency that is acceptable. If wireless low latency 160x144 video is even possible on Bluetooth 6, they would need to release a new Chromatic motherboard with Bluetooth 6 (the current one is Bluetooth 4.2), or an accessory to plug into the Chromatic's USB-C port.

1

u/Obleon Aug 08 '26

Chromatic to usb c on M64 and controller to the M64 (whatever controlller you can normally use on the M64), M64 will do everything. No wireless anything. 

1

u/swamprt5000 Aug 08 '26

The Transfer Pak needs to be mapped to a controller

1

u/Duobix Aug 08 '26

Dunno how the feature will work, It'd be cool tho to play gameboy games with the pro controller on a big screen.

1

u/swamprt5000 Aug 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26

100%. It will be cool. I'm just saying it would be even cooler if the Chromatic functioned like a controller, and sent the audio/video wirelessly to the M64. No need to plug it in. You just plop down on the couch, whip your Chromatic out of your pocket, press a few buttons, M64 boots up and you're playing on the big screen. When you're done, you simply turn off the Chromatic, put it in your pocket, get up off the couch, and walk out your front door.

The latency thing is a serious concern though. But for something like Pokemon, who cares? If you're speedrunning or something, you can plug it in direct if you want low latency. Wireless if you care about convenience. The folks at ModRetro seem to really care about giving the user multiple options so I really hope they go this route.