The ModRetro Chromatic is one of the year's most exciting retro hardware announcements and will give Game Boy and Game Boy Color fans a new means of reconnecting with their beloved collections of carts.
However, one format the system doesn't play is Game Boy Advance. When we spoke to ModRetro CEO Torin Herndon recently, he explained why the Chromatic doesn't play GBA games like its FPGA rival, the Analogue Pocket:
GBA formats deserve their own dedicated landscape device as much as GBC formats deserve Chromatic and its 160x144 pixel display. Nobody wants to awkwardly hit trigger buttons on the backside of a portrait handheld. Form factor and ergonomics matter. GBA had a 240x160 pixel resolution display, and that display needs to be made so the world can enjoy these games properly in perpetuity.
He also said that we can expect more consoles from the company, hinting that GBA would be a future project – and that sentiment has recently been reinforced by ModRetro founder, Palmer Luckey.
Speaking to our pals over at Retro Dodo, Luckey said:
We’re certainly going to end up doing Game Boy Advance someday. It’s just a matter of the priority list. It’s going to happen at some point because I’m a big Game Boy Advance fan too. There are lots of systems that can emulate GBA games well, and that’s great, but the ergonomics are not optimised for Game Boy Advance games, the button layouts are not optimised for Game Boy Advance games, the type of D-Pad is not necessarily representative of the same kind of pivot feel as the original Game Boy Advance.
If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right! A great thing about retro consoles is that the Game Boy Advance isn’t going anywhere. If I wait 10 years to do this, it’s not like I’m going to be late to the boat.
The ModRetro Chromatic launches later this year.
[source retrododo.com]
Comments 12
When I saw the sp as the thumb nail I was ready to come say something like "but it's gotta be like the original advance!" Way more comfy. But then they specifically said landscape, so took the words outta my mouth. I'd be down, the chromatic came too little too late for me, since I had just built the FPGA GBC from funny playing, I do still want one, but not a priority at all, a GBA however I still do not own!
It's striking that ModRetro's main way of promoting their products is to trash their primary competitor, the Analogue Pocket. In particular, the Pocket's placement of triggers and screen resolution. I guess ModRetro realizes that their target audience in all likelihood already has an Analogue Pocket and will need to be convinced to buy another device, but it comes across as rather mean-spirited.
For me, the Pocket's "flaws" that ModRetro likes to harp on are more than worth it for the vastly greater functionality and number of systems playable on the Pocket versus the Chromatic.
By all accounts I'm interested, but I need to see them deliver on their FPGA GBC first.
Happy to see they'll be doing a GBA system at some point. I loved my GBA SP with a passion.
But I'm rooting most highly for a SNES system from these guys next above all. And doubly so because it means they'll likely want to launch it with some proper brand new SNES titles as well, which I think would be great and might just spur on the SNES homebrew scene a bit more too.
Of all the beloved retro [home] consoles, I actually think the SNES is getting the least love at this time compared to its relative popularity at the time it was around originally, and I'd like to see that imbalance addressed in modern times. If Palmer gets involved, I expect he could do something really great there. But I think he's possibly actually a bigger Genesis fan, which doesn't bode well for what I'm after with SNES. If I'm wrong and he actually prefers the SNES though, well that could be potentially great if he decides to do something on that front.
And I don't say that because I don't like the Genesis or wish great support for it too, but because of that huge imbalance with all these retro consoles in modern times as I see it, specifically the lack of relative support for the SNES compared to most of the other historically less popular systems that are actually seeing pretty great homebrew support right now.
The SNES homebrew scene is just starting to see some signs of life, and the recent reveal of the official physical release of SNES Doom Definitive Edition with a new "FX3" chip alongside a new rumble controller, as well as the announcement that "SNESmaker" support is getting added to NESmaker, might help there in a potentially big way in the future, but SNES still deserves a lot more homebrew love than it's currently getting imo.
@RupeeClock Haven't they already done that?
I hope it’s going to be in a OG classic shell and not the handcramp inducing SP!
@RetroGames
Modretro's Chromatic will be in consumer's hands by December.
@RupeeClock Ah, okay. So it's just a bunch of celebs or whomever that have had their hands on it thus far.
@RetroGames
Yeah, regrettably they had Logan Paul promote the Chromatic and the new officially licensed Tetris game, by playing against competitive Tetris players at the Tetris World Championship. This wasn't well received by the community.
@RupeeClock Yeah, that Logan guy comes across as a bit of a plonker to me. But I honestly don't care about him, just the end product. Hopefully it's as good as it all appears to be. So far, I'm pretty confident Palmer is going to deliver where it counts.
Removed - off-topic
If it actually comes out and has a good build I'd be interested. I mostly use the Pocket for GB/C because GBA is not great for a few reasons. My modded original model GBA+everdrive does really well though. This thing would need a good display. And also it would need to actually release because it seems like every week a new fpga based console project is announced (and often trumped up as an Analogue killer) and they strike as very vaporous.
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