
The Analogue Pocket appears to have some more competition via the Chromatic handheld, which runs Game Boy and Game Boy Color carts via FPGA emulation.
Equipped with the "world's only 160x144 pixels sunlight readable backlit display" which is protected by "super scratch-resistant sapphire front crystal", the Chromatic comes in a magnesium alloy shell, which will surely give the device a premium quality.
It also has "ultra-durable PBT buttons" and video-out via USB-C. As well as running original Game Boy and Game Boy Color carts, it will also run its own dedicated physical games, too. It can run off x3 AA batteries, but an optional rechargeable battery pack will also be made available.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is involved with ModRetro, the company behind the Chromatic. He founded ModRetro Forums in 2009.
Luckey had this to say:
Creating the ultimate retro handheld console has been my passion for nearly seventeen years. The ModRetro Chromatic is my tribute to the form, technical excellence, and cultural impact of the beloved handheld device. With features like a sapphire cover for its custom LCD with identical pixel structure to the original device, and full compatibility with every Game Boy title and accessory, the Chromatic is the first heirloom quality piece of gaming hardware; it’s a masterpiece designed to last for decades. Despite my work in virtual reality and defense technology, my roots are in retro gaming. The Chromatic brings back the simplicity and joy of classic gaming.
Palmer will be appearing alongside Tetris creator Alexei Pajitnov and Henk Rogers at a special event at the Pasadena Convention Center on Friday, June 7th, during the Socal Gaming Expo.
The Chromatic will cost £158 and comes with Tetris for Chromatic. It's expected to launch this Christmas.
[source modretro.com]
Comments 19
I'm not entirely sold on the design (mainly the fatter bottom part), and I wasn't even that interested in this system in general (all these clones systems and so on aren't usually my thing)--until I watched the video and saw it was Palmer Lucky who's making this (and that's a good thing).
This is really cool. I wish it had come out sooner. I built a funny playing gameboy color last year and love it. I love not needing to use old motherboards from original hardware to make this nice handhelds.
Unfortunately I already have what I need and don't have alot disposable income. If those carts can read on an original GBC, I might be interested in picking those up.
@RetroGames
When playing on my GBC that has a LCD Modification, i sometimes wish it would be fat as the original Gameboy, at it is more handy for me
So this could be some Solution to it
I like it and I like that price but I'm going to wait for some reviews first
I like the way it looks better than the Analogue Pocket, but I think the brown/orange stripes on the blue version look a little off, though.
I'd like to see some reviews first, but I have a gut feeling this could be a success. With all of the current interest in retro gaming, providing what looks like a very quality option at a decent price might make this the thing that catches on with older gamers.
MAN that is a cool looking system, I'd buy it just for the looks alone
It looks surprising good as do the games. Limiting it to just GB/GBC games is going to result in minuscule sales, I think. But, he said it’s not about the money, so it doesn’t matter.
Looks pretty slick.
GBA support would have made me get one. Not to interested in GB/GBC
@tektite_captain They might be going for a '70s or early '80s aesthetic with those stripes... charming in its way, but definitely not to everyone's taste!
Technically great, especially the screen, but I'm not keen on the choice of colours or stripes. And the version of Tetris looks quite messy visually.
The guy in the video took retro too seriously with that bad haircut. Or he filmed this after time traveling back to the 80s to have a few beers on a Memorial Day weekend fishing trip.
Loving this but lack of GBA support kills it for me.
That, and I already have a modded GBA, GBC, and GB and an analogue pocket. With that setup I can do all I need to with what I already have. I like how the Analogue is an all-in-one and I don’t need to bring multiple systems with me to do the job that 1 can do.
I wish them luck though! This has a lot going for it for those that want an “in” on FPGA
This seems completely irrelevant when we have the analogue pocket, and i have not even felt the need to purchase one of those as it also feels like it made less of an impact than it would have had it come out before the mister fpga.
Definitely feeling like we are reaching the point of fpga oversaturation, especially with all the forks of mister that are occuring. These devices are going to be everywhere and turn into their own stupid format wars because eventually each fork of this stuff will have its own signature games and cores and exclusive features. Kinda like what happened with all the raspberry pi and odroid and every other ARM rombox people could hack together.
Lesson learned by anyone??? Never!
Cool, not interested since I already have analogue pocket, but the indie games listed seems great 😃
I think what we needs now is fpga console like analogue pocket but in new 2ds xl design with dual screen and great resolutions, I like my new 2ds xl but the screen is too low resolutions.
The only thing I’m interested in, with the right features and cost, is a FPGA home console designed for HDMI out to the tv.
The handheld options seem insanely oversaturated at this point and I’’m awaiting news on a couple console options still in development.
Either way, I have all the original hardware and OSSC, Framemeister, Raspberry Pi, dedicated FPGA consoles like AVS, SuperNt, MegaSg, Duo, and a 4-player MAME (pi) cabinet, so at this point it’s more a fascination with wondering if the experience can get any better or the minor tinkering will yield results that speak to me personally. I’ll be pre-ordering the Analogue 3D when that’s ready to go, and hope one of these FPGA all-in-one consoles comes to fruition, but I don’t have a need for the myriad of handhelds, unfortunately.
I’m excited to see how it all turns out!
I'd be down for a metal FPGA. Analogue Pocket's dpad doesn't work right so I sold mine. That stripe is turning me off though. GB and GBC are 90s systems, why have that ugly late 70s design plastered on a premium build device?
@Nahhhtendo Analogue pocket is plastic. Chromatic looks built to last for many decades. Think of it like a high quality limited edition timepiece.
If you don't want your money going to Donald Trump, do not buy anything made by Palmer Lucky.
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