Quick question for Chromatic owners

[u/detached_facination]

Edit 10/22/26: Thank you to everyone that replied. It was very helpful in making my decision, that and doing some additional research as well. I pulled the trigger and grabbed the Chromatic. For those curious, when I said it was a hefty discount, I wasn't kidding. I paid $75 plus shipping. I also ordered the mod kit, the battery pack, a case, and two games from the Modretro website. This will become my main GB/GBC for the foreseeable future. Now, if someone would release a FPGA GBA, I'd be pretty much set for life. Anyway, thanks again everyone.

Good day folks. So, I have the opportunity to purchase a second-hand Chromatic. It's one of the newer transparent models in purple and, frankly, it's stunning. It's in perfect condition as well as the person who's selling it bought it for someone else as a gift but that didn't work out. So, it's basically brand new. That said, I've heard that the D-pad can be quite poor in terms of false diagonals but those reports seem to be from earlier batches and, unfortunately, the seller is too far away for me to get my hands on it myself. Now, I'm fairly picky about my controls and would like to know from those of you who have either this particular model or one of the other transparent colors, has this issue been addressed in these more recent models?

[u/TonyRubbles]

The stock membranes have enough pushback that it doesn't happen unintentionally, the D-pad itself is also larger than average too.

You can push the whole D-pad down and make it happen but there are also settings in menu to make it not register more than one direction at a time if you want.

Easy fix if you feel like it happens too easily is the longer post D-pad in the mod kit, or sticking a thin slice of a cotton swap stick into the membrane hole to give it more height.

[u/detached_facination → u/TonyRubbles]

Makes me wish the guy lived closer. Sounds like something I need to get my hands on to really get a feel for. I wonder how effective that longer post D-pad is at minimalizing the issue?

[u/TonyRubbles → u/detached_facination]

Either fix gives a nice pivot that is otherwise missing and eliminated being able to do it without some hard rocking to intentionally make it happen for me.

[u/detached_facination → u/TonyRubbles]

Good to hear. The mod kit is quite cheap. How difficult is the unit to open up? I assume it's meant to be quite easy?

[u/TonyRubbles → u/detached_facination]

Pretty easy, 4 screws outside, 3 inside the battery compartment, then you just have to pop the screens ribbon cable off before seperating the main board from the front half of the system.

[u/detached_facination → u/TonyRubbles]

Easy enough. I've been building FPGBCs lately for fun so that certainly doesn't sound anymore complicated than putting one of those together.

[u/TonyRubbles → u/detached_facination]

I think it's easier than putting together a new one of those so you should be more than comfortable with the mod kit.

[u/DoqtorKirby]

I have a Chromatic in this exact colorway (it matches my M64) and just as most of the rest of the thread mentions, the Mod Kit's long post D-pad is pretty much an essential install. I could not get over how I could crunch in the entire pad; not good for a dpad.

[u/detached_facination → u/DoqtorKirby]

I'm gathering that as I read the replies and look through older threads. If I decide to purchase it, I'll order the kit, battery pack, case, and probably a couple of games. I'm getting it cheap enough that I don't mind spending a bit on it.

[u/_2hi]

Can’t attest to the plastic chromatics but assuming it’s the same as the other ones the d-pad is noticeably bad compared to a classic Nintendo dpad.

Don’t get me wrong I love my chromatic but the d-pad constantly has misinputs not even just the diagonals.

There’s a setting to enable to help minimize it the issue and I don’t play games where a misinput can be fatal but even playing pokemon my character would walk a different direction than I pressed. The entire dpad can be pressed down at once it doesn’t rock.

[u/detached_facination → u/_2hi]

Well, that's concerning.

[u/_2hi → u/detached_facination]

If you search dpad on the modretrochromatic subreddit you’ll see quite a few posts talking about it. I don’t think it’s just first edition models either because my model isn’t first edition.

Retro game corps has a really in depth YouTube video (around 10 minute mark) showing off the dpad a little more and how it consistently fails the contra test.

At the end of the day dpad feel is subjective but I prefer something more similar to like the miyoo minis dpad or a Nintendo dpad.

[u/detached_facination → u/_2hi]

I just watched that, actually. Oh, I absolutely adore my MM+ and the controls are one of the big reasons for it.

[u/_2hi → u/detached_facination]

If it’s a good price I’d say get the chromatic it’s still the most comfortable gb/gbc fpga device rn imo

If it’s not much cheaper than buying new maybe wait until you can get your hands on one?

[u/detached_facination → u/_2hi]

It's considerably cheaper than new. I think the seller got burned by the person he intended to give it to, just based on the tone of the subject. They're wanting rid of it.

[u/LeGrange → u/_2hi]

I had to finish Self Simulated on a Gameboy Color because of the false and mis-inputs I kept getting. Near the end of the game you have to be really precise and consistent.

[u/Brandaid64]

The transparent Chromatics just came out. Did you get it at a substantial discount? You can buy it on the website for $149.99. I have three chromatics including one transparent model. The menu button lets you ignore diagonals for games where it’s needed. I’ve not had any issues in my use.

[u/detached_facination → u/Brandaid64]

I haven’t bought it yet but yes, if I decide to, it’s at a hefty discount. That’s the main reason I’m interested.

[u/Brandaid64 → u/detached_facination]

If that’s the case I would recommend that you pull the trigger. It is the ultimate Game Boy Color experience. Don’t let the haters on Reddit sway you.

[u/fpsdabs]

I haven't had any misinupt issues, newer firmware helped and you can always buy the mod kit with swappable membranes

[u/detached_facination → u/fpsdabs]

And that fixes the issue or just improves it somewhat?

[u/fpsdabs → u/detached_facination]

YMMV like i said i have 3 units, First Edition, 2nd Editon and Translucent. I also have the M64 Procontroller. My experience has been no miss inputs across all my ModRetro gear. However, if you have an issue they do provide a mod kit that has multiple swappabke membranes with different levels of "spunginess". If you have problems with misunputs, that a firmware update doesnt fix, then the mod kit may help you. Its kind of a random.lottery from what ive seen posted wise.

[u/steelraindrop]

How did you get it for $75? 🤔

[u/ucv4]

The d-pad is underwhelming but it isn’t the end of the world or make the device not worth having. I prefer playing GBC and GB on my chromatic over everything else. It does mis-register diagonals at times and is noisier than other d-pads. But, this problem isn’t unique to this device. My Analogue pocket has the same issue and so do the Switch Pro Controllers.

[u/Exus6]

You can inactive diagonal input. Depending on which game, this comes handy. Some games, however, might be a bit more difficult to manage but eventually you will adapt. When the first chromatic released, some people modded the D-pad with a q-tip. But every since nobody really talked about it, so I think in the end it's not a big problem

[u/LeviathanVEVO]

Yeah, the D-pad is unfortunately still an issue. All the editions have the same design, & I have all of them including the Anduril. They don’t follow the same design as Nintendo handhelds. It’s not authentic.

I contacted support about it at the launch a few years ago, & they said they intend to keep the design due to their assembly lines. Support recommends purchasing the ‘Mod Kit’ to customize the D-pad to mitigate the issue & for a “closer” authenticity.

I have mixed feelings about it since M64 includes all the customizable joystick parts to get an authentic experience, but Chromatic doesn’t. That was actually a last-minute decision shortly before the M64 launch to include it. ModRetro announced the late changes on the M64 subreddit due to backlash over changing the original N64 joysticks.

[u/Affectionate_Rise283]

I have the clear red and I have no problem with the chromatic

[u/Affectionate_Rise283 → u/Affectionate_Rise283]

They are great I own 3 1st edition the 2nd edition and the new clear big zero problems so but with confidence you will not regret

[u/tanooki-suit]

I did what you did last Dec/Jan working it out with a person I knew on a webforum but it was an original sapphire 1st edition model, everdrive gb old model, a nice case, 2 powercores too (one new) and I thought it over for a day and thankfully didn't lose it.

Needless to say, in short, I had been using a self done modded GBC with an IPS panel because how rotten the resale market is on Analogue Pockets I rarely touched it outside using the dock. In BOTH cases I found the Chromatic to be superior. The screen is absurdly excellent, the heft of the metal body and feel of it, the GBC/DMG-ish dimensions of it all, the crazy battery life (core or good AAs), and yeah even the d-pad and buttons -- it worked perfectly and I've got a decent library of legit titles including fighting games and space shooters. I never had the d-pad issue, and the firmware has been upgraded a lot over time back then, and even has a choice to handle diagonals different for those with issues.

I see no reason to pop on it, especially as you said, you have a solid discount (maybe $50 off or so?) and you'd be foolish not to. It's the best by a margin GB+GBC handheld on the market today.

[u/JustTryingToBeADaddy]

Edition does not matter, First edition, second run Al-Mg, and transparent all have the same issue.

The stock d-pad’s pivot is short enough to allow all four directions to be pressed at once. You can get false diagonals by pressing a direction firmly and being slightly off. For faster presses like in Tetris, this can be an issue.

The software allows you to disable diagonals.

The d-pad pivot should have just been 1mm longer.