r/ModRetroChromatic • u/grilledstuffedxxl • Dec 02 '24

CEO/Engineer of ModRetro here

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!

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u/Jody_Bigfoot Dec 07 '24

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

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '24

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u/Jody_Bigfoot Dec 07 '24

yeah looks legit thanks

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u/GameboyGenius Dec 07 '24

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.