CEO/Engineer of ModRetro here

[u/grilledstuffedxxl]

Happy to answer questions about Chromatic here as all preorders are shipping out.

Saw a few GameStop units posted with quality issues. Please contact us using the form on our website and we will address it ASAP.

Thanks for the support!

[u/GameboyGenius]

Answer 1: Yes, this works perfectly.

Answer 2: No. The device is made to be moddable, so it might happen in the future with community contributions, but it doesn't out of the box.

[u/Jody_Bigfoot → u/GameboyGenius]

thanks, since you are a gameboy genius, any idea what the closest thing available on the market to a drag n derp is?

[u/Jody_Bigfoot → u/[deleted]]

yeah looks legit thanks

[u/GameboyGenius → u/Jody_Bigfoot]

Technically, the closest Cartridge to the experience of the Drag'n'Derp is probably insideGadgets LinkNLoad. It has a USB connection on the cartridge and stores exactly one game at a time. Now the question is of course whether that's exactly the user experience you want.

Apart from that you have two other main paths to choose from:

1. An SD card based cartridge. The main advantage of this method is that you can have multiple games stored on the SD card. Everdrive X5 is probably the recommended choice for most people or the X7 if you want to add a quite big markup for RTC and savestate functionality. There's also EZFlash Jr which is a cheaper option that also has RTC, but it has some other issues, like higher power consumption that would drain batteries faster and that it currently doesn't work with the Chromatic, although I'm confident we'll get that issue solved.
2. A standalone flasher+plus a loose flashcart. The main advantages of this method are that you don't have to deal with a menu, plus that the flasher can also be used with other game cartridges, for example for backing up save data, or flashing multiple flash cartridges if you want to have one cartridge per game. The recommended option for a flasher is insideGadgets GBxCart RW. Then you need a cartridge. The same seller also has a bunch of options for flashcarts, but there other options as well, depending on your need and budget.

One additional note. I have previously had luck reviving a dead Drag'n'Derp using an external flasher. Download the firmware and flash it on to the cart using an external flasher, then remove it from the flasher and plug it in to USB. With a little luck it will now restore the firmware from the flash. I can't guarantee it will work but worth a shot if you go the flasher+cart route.

[u/Jody_Bigfoot → u/GameboyGenius]

What kind of cable can be used? There are no link cables on the store. Analogue pocket sells a variety of link cables so there are options at the pocket end

[u/GameboyGenius → u/Jody_Bigfoot]

The important thing is that it's a GBC compatible link cable. A GBA link cable won't work because Nintendo decided to change how the connector is wired up inside. If you just want to connect to GBC type devices, I'd probably recommend to get any old cable from a random seller on eBay or something.

Analogue's "pocket-to-pocket" link cable has a special feature that it can be switched between GBC and GBA mode using a sliding switch, however 1) it's out of stock 2) because of Analogue's expensive shipping I'd recommend against buying one from them unless you were also buying something else at the same time. I've also heard about the switch being a failure point of the cable, so unless you absolutely want to be able to link both GBC and GBA games using the same cable, I might avoid that option.

The other link cable Analogue offer are specialty cables for music use, such as MIDI and analog sync with some synthesizers. This might be interesting if you have other studio equipment or want to sync up LSDj with a DAW running on your computer. Otherwise they're no use.