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My first ever gaming console was a handheld, the original Nintendo Game Boy. It’s a device many of us know and love and, for me, it’s what got me into games and opened the door to home console gaming when the PS1 finally came along.
I spent hundreds of hours playing Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow on my Game Boy, and powered through many Mario and Final Fantasy titles.
As I was preparing to go to EGX 2024, I was contacted by ModRetro about its upcoming Chromatic. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than another variation on the dozens of retro handheld devices that emulate old games without actually running them directly from the cartridge. But it’s another beast entirely.
Back to the Future
ModRetro’s Chromatic doesn’t jump out at you with an obnoxious list of features, and it’s certainly not trying to give you the ability to play multiple consoles’ worth of games on a single handheld. Quite the opposite, actually.
I tested out a couple of Chromatics at EGX 2024, though there’s no difference apart from the colour of each device. The best way I can describe it is a slightly slimmer version of the Game Boy with more heft.
Chromatics have shells that are designed to be driven over by a car and survive without you ever knowing you nearly crushed it. I’m not kidding. The rep I spoke to on the stand is an engineer with ModRetro and didn’t believe the device could withstand that kind of punishment. So, he took one outside, drove over it, and ate his words when it was fine afterwards.
Most of us know about the Game Boy Nintendo ships between its stores worldwide that survived the Vietnam War, but Chromatic could give that very device a run for its money.
While knowing this modern Game Boy equivalent can withstand a beating from my car, and almost certainly my kids, is great, it’s nothing if the thing can’t play games and transport me back to my five-year-old self being wholly amazed by my first experience with a video game.
Well, Chromatic does just that. This isn’t a slight screen upgrade that makes the Game Boy’s decades-old titles look slightly better. Instead, it’s just the best screen for the job, a 160×144 pixel sunlight-readable backlit display.
I plugged in Pokemon Blue and played the game side-by-side with my original Game Boy to see the difference, and it’s night and day. Chromatic takes everything that the Game Boy did so well and just gives you the modern equivalent.
The visuals are crisper but retain the blocky pixels and the same basic colors you’ll remember from back in the day. The screen allows you to play any time of night or day without needing a lamp to see what’s happening, and the whole thing fits in your hands a bit better – without making your wrists ache.
The Chromatic’s buttons feel exactly like a Game Boy’s, and it’s even Link Cable and IR (infrared) Link compatible. These are features that haven’t been relevant for almost three decades, and yet here they are.
I genuinely could have cried at the feeling of plugging in a cartridge that I used when I was a child into a brand-new device that my own child can play at the same age I was when I got started in gaming.
The circle was complete when I watched my daughter become engrossed in the original Pokemon game using the Game Boy’s intuitive controls on a device she’d never picked up before. This is what sold me on the it. The Game Boy was built for kids to enjoy games on, and the Chromatic has been designed to do the same.
However, ModRetro is aware that its audience isn’t only children, so Chromatic also has USB video output. I played a brand new version of Tetris, which you can get with a Chromatic, on a separate larger monitor as if it were a home console.
It’s a small upgrade, and honestly not one that matters too much when you can emulate games on PC or play a remastered version of a classic pretty much anywhere. What I love about this feature is that it doesn’t take away from the handheld format, it just enhances it.
The Takeaway
I really walked up to the ModRetro stand expecting to pick up a device like every other retro emulator out there, just with a slightly better shell. When I finally had to step away, I was buzzing with excitement.
Finally, ModRetro has come along and understood what mattered about the Game Boy and simply built upon its legacy. At around £160/$200 per device, it’s not the cheapest product in the space, but it also does a lot more.
Chromatic raises the bar by taking classic Game Boy cartridges you buy at car boot sales or still have from your own childhood and it breathes new life into them. I’m astounded by its quality and the fact that a company has gone this far to stay true to an experience that’s responsible for an entire generation of games and the fans who played them.
Before you go
Thank you for checking out our preview of ModRetro’s Chromatic. Every member of the team has their own retro titles they love like the Dragon Age series, so consider checking out a few more articles to see if something takes your interest.
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