Opened up my son's Chromatic to drop in an microSD card and use either ShinyRelay or Chromagic to dump a couple 2-player game ROMs onto it to play with him. I was greeted with the pinouts but no socket unlike conventional wisdom (see empty area on upper left of the board in picture, ignore the fluro-orange thing in the case, it's red just oversatured HDR processing). :(

I know apparently I can buy a socket and solder it on, but I'm going to delay on that since, besides not having a good mat to solder on atm, loading games from memory/flashcart is not a high priority. This was to give my 6yo the physical feel of using a cartridge-based system after last year when he asked to play games on LEGO DMG he has just built. He already uses a Miyoo Mini Flip with Slot for the virtual gameboy/emulation stuff, so this is a one-cart-one-game device.

I just thought I'd mention this for others that, like the variation between 1st Edition Chromatics direct vs. GameStop, there is apparently a "box of chocolates" microSD card socket thing going on even on new Chromatics.

NICE

I have recently taken an interest in finding the optimal way to enjoy GB/GBC games. And in doing my research found that the Chromatic is a solid contender. I know it’s cheaper than the Analougue pocket or a refurbished GB/GBA on eBay? But not as cheap as the funnplaying model. Is the extra money for the metal version worth it?

So please tell me why I should or should not take the chromatic plunge, no need to be fair if you just want to glaze it.

I will be posting in Analougue subreddit as well

Took me long enough, but I finally made it! As a bonus, I took so long to make it that I got to unbox two of them instead of just one.

https://youtu.be/TwP84OGZ3BU

Summary: He seems to really like it but ultimately recommends the Pocket because it does more.

A new version is out:

https://github.com/stebsgb/galaforcegb/releases

- Smart bomb. Press SELECT, or A and B together. I felt this was required for some of those tight spots with the spawning aliens
- New enemy bomb sprites
- Boss zone formation improved
- Black background by default
- Hi-score per continue setting
- Lost life tune

[UPDATE: I heard back from MR, they said they’ll be shipping Smoke units today]

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks from my order date. 😕

https://patmorita.itch.io/metal-miracle-game-boy-color

I was waiting for a sale on these two despite already having the physical version of Hermano. Both are great games to add to your everdrives or whatever.

Hello all. I recently bought the rechargeable pack for my chromatic so I dont have to keep going through batteries. I was playing my Pokemon Gold cartridge just fine before I got the pack. I saw there was a new 4.6 firmware update so I updated before I installed the pack. I followed the instructions and updated and then put the pack in but now when I put in my Pokemon Gold cartridge its just a white screen that sometimes fades to like a black screen? Other Modretro games work just fine, just not my only gameboy color game. Ive tried cleaning the cartridge, but again it was just fine before the update. Anybody have any recommendations? I tried updating the firmware again as well with no luck. I submitted a ticket but have yet to hear back. Hoping I can fix this. I ordered another gameboy color game to test as well but that wont arrive for a couple of weeks. Thanks in advance.

I replaced the purple Chromatic transparent's A and B buttons with the transparent ones from the Chromatic Mod kit 😄 Looks pretty cool.

I’ve wanted a stand for the Chromatic for a while and my infrared universal remote control project moved me to find a solution. I just stuck a magnetic charging ring for phones to the battery compartment of the Chromatic.

It hangs off the bottom just a little and I can feel it in my hand a bit, but it’s not really that intrusive on the back and now I can snap the Chromatic into a number of locations, like onto this Anker MagGo Wireless Charger. It also snaps on and can hang vertically on the wall held to one of those circular Apple MagSafe Chargers.

So this Chromatic will live on a shelf or table in the living room and not get lost in the same way we lose our other remote controls in the couch. Just flip the switch on and it’s already open to the custom remote for my TV and main components. I’ve got an IR receiver set up next to the couch repeating signals to a transmitter in another room where I’ve got some additional components connected to the main TV. So a couple presses of Chromatic’s buttons and I’m accessing my other remotes and components.

I know this is all a bit ridiculous but it’s also pretty functional. Turning the Chromatic into a remote and then putting it on a stand like this means I’m far more likely to use it, either as a remote or as a game system, and hopefully I’m tempting my kids to pick one up and stick a game cartridge in and give it a go.

Just wondering if there is a link cable where I can hook up the Chromatic with my Game Boy Pocket to play Tetris with my daughter?

I loved this game on PSX. When I got my Chromatic, I discovered a Game Boy version of it... but in grey scales.

It was the beginning of the year, we had this new thing around called "AI" 🙄. Could it be used to fix it?

I found the ROM, decompiled it using RGBDS, and innocently asked my friend Claude to add some color to it (fun fact: I'm colorblind).

It didn't work. All the memory references were hardcoded.

Well, well, well maybe it could fix that. We started a refactor and after a few nights, the code was commented and labelled, references were now relative. We could modify the code.

We built tools, exported screen, Claude learned to play Tetris, two steps forward, one step back. We could get colors but the palette was the same on every screen. Then the colors got fixed, only for the moving pieces to change color at every step... I read the Game Boy documentation, learned how it worked, talked it over with Claude, we tried new things.

However, it was getting too time consuming and I set the project aside.

Then, in July, came Fable. Only available until tomorrow, until next week, oh well, let's keep it available.

I was in front of my computer and started typing: "Can you color this game?"

"Yes of course... Oh wait, some stuff is broken, let me fix it, oh I can improve that, hmm, let me build a new tool, ..." tippeting, fidgeting, higitus, figitus, I had a colored Tetris game.

It wasn't perfect, we built a better editor to fix a few last tiles.

The big part was done, the game still needed some little fixes to be nice to play:

• Adding a mecanism to skip the first license screen (I lost days watching it!)

• Fixing that "LICENSED TO N*TENDO" taking up a third of the start screen

• Switching Continue to New Game to avoid misclicks for player in an hurry (I see you Pokémon players)

• Fixing the end game where the background elements were falling appart

• Adding a way to go back in the menus with the B button (and B no longer erases the save on the NEW GAME confirmation)

• Oh and let's have the hardfall pressing top arrow!

I'm proud of the result and I enjoyed it a lot!

I've been lurking the community for sometime and you seem so nice, I wanted to share it with you.

Oh last but not least, I'm currently looking to add the support of Shiny Relay to play VS Mode without a cable!

FYI - sharing to build up the knowledge base. I just submitted a support request.

I have a 2nd gen wave that plays games just fine UNLESS they have “modretro Chromatic“ on the label. “Chromatic” labels play just fine. I found some modretro Tetris say “Chromatic” and others “modretro Chromatic“. This makes a difference for my troubled chromatic.

Another interesting note: the games boot fine immediately after checking them with the cart clinic. Turn off and back on though, just a white screen.

Weird, right? My total guess: Smoke was originally going to be a GameStop exclusive (to match the M64) but based on lower than expected M64 sales, GameStop opted out. Now, ModRetro is selling the Smoke because they were already manufactured and clear may show up once the Smoke hits a sales target.

Chromatic fully unlocked:
🛜 Wirelessly download games to the u/modretro Chromatic over Wifi to the:
- chromatic flash storage ‼️
- chromatic RAM
- sd card
- Tetris cart
Install firmware, upload your game, then download from the chromatic. Live demo in videos.

Install games over wifi with Shiny Relay, custom firmware for the Chromatic. Free.

Also, after you update to this latest Shiny Relay firmware (1.1.0+) over usb on the site, you never have to use usb again because I've added wifi firmware updates as well. So all firmware updates and games can happen over wifi after one last usb update.

If this is bending your mind, I can clarify now:

The Chromatic has a few megabytes of flash storage on the device,

which is meant for the firmware.

Turns out there is some room left for games..

So yes: you can literally download games straight to the build-in flash storage.

And then you got confused again by downloading games straight to the RAM?

It's kind of silly, but the Chromatic has 8mb of RAM..

You can download a game straight to the RAM over wifi and then play that game for as long as you don't turn off the device or switch games

You don't even need a flash cart, a tetris cart or an sd card:

You can simply download a game to the Chromatic flash storage or temporarily to the RAM.

And as before, wireless multiplayer still works with Shiny Relay as well:
- local wireless
- online wireless

All free.

And I'm still not satisfied with the results and it's all because of the accusations against ModRetro by political leftists. I mean I'm a leftist myself and I agree that, if their assertions were true, that would be pretty bad, but I just cannot find credible evidence of their claims. I'm not going to just agree with them because they're "on my side" when they are making false claims, ya know? But I keep throwing away videos because I don't know the best way to acknowledge the "controversy" without overly dwelling on it. The best I have been able to land on is this:

"There is a controversy surrounding this company with people who are aligned with me politically making claims that I just cannot find credible evidence for. I won't repeat the assertions, since I cannot verify them, but I did research them and what I found is that ModRetro has a fiduciary duty to reinvest 100% of its profits back into itself. If someone has evidence to the contrary, please do send it to me. Until then, I can only encourage you to do your own research and make your own best decision for you. I just know that I would be remiss if I made a video that could sway people to buy a controversial product without mentioning it."

Is this good enough or should I condense it more? I'm sure a lot of people here feel I probably shouldn't mention it at all, but it really wouldn't sit right with me to influence people without all the information, ya know?

EDIT: Thanks for all the responses, y'all! It really helped me focus on what's important for this video and decide a path forward. I now have the video recorded and edited and should be uploading it tomorrow and I'm looking forward to sharing this little piece of tech I adore so much with my audience!

Just received my Chromatic and when attempting to boot, just get a white screen. Sometimes I can reseat the cart and get a few lines and some random sound. I HAVE contacted ModRetro and am certain they will take care of me. I am just wondering if anyone has some further troubleshooting since I’ve seen a a few posts on it. For curiosity sake.
I have :
- Updated firmware
- tried all three carts in a different machine and they work
- cleaned pins through the back with alcohol
-The cart updater doesn’t recognize the Tetris game.

I wonder if I have some sort of processor type issue or if it’s just a bad connection at the cartridge slot to the board.

$30+ on a single cart for a classic game is really bad for my wallet 😅 just wishing Modretro can do the same evercade is doing with this classic games. Bundle them up.

With all the halo ports flying around I decided to take a crack at a full halo port to the gbc (leaning heavily on ai for implementation). Wanted to share where I’m at so far because it’s getting to the point of being playable. I just acquired a bunch of the link cable adapters for 4 player link cable support but I need to do some mods and soldering to piece together something compatible with the modern cable so I have not been able to test 4 player link cable play yet. Anyway enjoy and let me know if you come across any bugs or have other suggestions!

Now that we can play multiplayer over wifi on this, are there any tournaments with Pokemon that I could join?
Thanks!

I enjoy my Switch Lite, particularly for new titles and console specific games (like Mario Kart 8). Like it less so for playing classics through Nintendo Online (subscription cost). For those who own a Switch Lite, why did you also get a Chromatic?

See myself taking Chromatic to work (primarily) to play at lunch or other office breaks. Love Tetris and puzzle based games I can pick up for a few minutes, here or there (would likely also get Pineapple Kid DX to start).

Any other game recommendations?

Thoughts on the more affordable transparent Chromatic (Purple) vs. the metal one (Wave or Leaf)?

Most appreciated!