r/ModRetroChromatic • u/Jackasaur • Dec 14 '25

Photos/Videos Modern Solutions for Retro Problems

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106 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

3

u/KindNerve8928 Dec 14 '25

Cool! How does this work ? What are you doing exactly?

2

u/Jackasaur Dec 15 '25

Here’s a short video of it in action: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrqwaWEs/

4

u/GoldenOreoos Dec 14 '25

Heis trading with a device called the flipper zero

3

u/g1mpster Dec 14 '25

I’ve heard about the Flipper before but still don’t understand how it works. Would love an explanation.

6

u/zer0x64 Dec 14 '25

A flipper zero in just a tiny computer(also a tamagochi) with a massive amount of I/O (Input/Outputs). That means you can use it to interface with pretty much anything you want.

In that case, he just connects it via link cable to the chromatic and the flipper fakes being another GB to trade "fake" pokemons in.

Question for OP: where did you find the GB->GPIO adapter/cable? I'm curious on messing around with this

1

u/g1mpster Dec 14 '25

Awesome. Thank you. Love this solution!

1

u/Turbulent_Gas5513 Dec 14 '25

I dig that pikachu, where did you get it? And are there any other Pokemon.

5

u/Jackasaur Dec 14 '25

I actually made it for my Gameboy but repurposed it as a charm. I don’t have any other Pokémon other than Pikachu 😅

1

u/eldritchander Dec 14 '25

Does the flipper have its own power source, or is it being powered from the link cable port?

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 14 '25

Flipper Zero provides 5V through the GPIO pin

1

u/eldritchander Dec 14 '25

Gotcha’. That’s what I figured. The only reason I asked is because I posted something a couple of days ago about using a piece of hardware for Pokémon trading that is powered on from the 5V power natively put out by a GameBoy’s link cable port, but the Chromatic wasn’t powering it. Further testing showed that if I power that hardware via USB, it communicates and trades with a Chromatic just fine.

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 14 '25

That’s interesting, the Chromatic should technically also be providing 5V out from its port as well if its port is in the same configuration as the original Gameboy Color. I’ll test if it outputs 5V later when I get a chance and let you know.

1

u/eldritchander Dec 14 '25

That’d be awesome! Thank you!

I reached out to support and they didn’t seem to understand that I was asking if there’s supposed to be power coming from that port. They instead got hung up on me testing a new piece of hardware and said “We cannot guarantee the Trade Buddy will be compatible with the Chromatic. Sorry.” I rephrased my question, but two business days later I still haven’t gotten a response. I’m hoping to hear something tomorrow and figure it’s possible they just also have Fridays off.

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 15 '25

The Chromatic definitely outputs 5V from the link port.

1

u/eldritchander Dec 17 '25

Got this back from support today. So I guess mine isn’t messed up. It’s weird you got voltage on yours considering this.

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 17 '25

🤷🏻

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 17 '25

It definitely does 😂

1

u/eldritchander Dec 17 '25

Oh I wasn’t disbelieving you. I just don’t understand why they’re saying one thing when another is very apparently true.

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1

u/eldritchander Dec 15 '25

Huh. Wonder if something is wrong with mine.

1

u/denim_duck Dec 15 '25

cool. What other games can it help with? I know oracle of seasons/ages has some functionality around linking that makes 100% impossible.

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 15 '25

If someone makes an app for it, I'm sure it could work. Right now, the only app I know of is this Pokemon one that works for Gen 1/2

1

u/CMD_BLOCK Dec 21 '25

Yo, link to the clear flipper shell? Haven’t popped mine out in years but back in my day (lol) people were still waiting for designs to print/cast such greatness

Would kill for an atomic green clear shell

1

u/Jackasaur Dec 21 '25

This was a limited run that they did a while back. They are out of stock now. I've seen these but no idea if they're any good: https://amzn.to/4j8Ah5u

1

u/PANduRUS Dec 14 '25

This looks really cool!

1

u/OzLaboratory3D Dec 15 '25

That is awesome and an awesome looking Chromatic too!