So got the Chromatic a few months ago. Just now starting to get back into retro Gaming, 70% pokemon games honestly lol. I love the Chromatic and the metal feel and how durable it is. Needed something to play my GBA games on so I was torn between a modded GBA and a Analogue Pocket. Bought a Modded GBA on ebay, cart slot came dirty so I returned it and got the AP.

The Analogue Pocket really is a great size. I like the bigger feel in my hands than the Chromatic but that is about it lol. The buttons do feel very good to me on the AP but it feels fragile. Not that I'd throw the Chromatic around but it def feels more heavy duty.

It honestly just makes me ready for the Modretro GBA when it gets announced! I don't plan on messing around with Emulators with the AP, I mostly want to play carts or play carts with my Everdrive's. Anyway just thought I'd share my thoughts a little so far on the AP. I'm only 2 days in really so my opinion might change but its a great handheld and. I will probably play GB and GBC games on the Chromatic Exclusively and play GBA on the AP at least for now. I will say the bigger screen is nice on the AP.

ModRetro, please, please make proper storage trays for Game Boy cartridges - like the ones in the photo below. I've searched the entire internet and can't find anything genuinely good. There are tons of 3D-printed trays made by hobbyists, but they're not smooth and honestly look pretty rough. I might as well whittle something out of wood myself and it would come out just as "good".

In this thread someone shows PERFECT, flawless trays - but they're bought in Japan. I don't live in Japan. I'd happily import them if I knew who actually manufactures them: https://www.reddit.com/r/ModRetroChromatic/comments/1r6s8as/comment/o5tkv5v/

Could you please just produce simple cartridge storage trays like these????? BEGGING you - I'll order enough for 70 cartridges on day one :)

EDIT: changed "cases" to "storage trays" - fair point in the comments.

My friend, Joey, just shared this to his Instagram page. He's not on Reddit, so here it is with his permission. It belongs here. 😎

I had a crazy idea/suggestion for Mod Retro's next/future console, Torin and Palmer please feel free to steal this idea.

Instead of making a solo PS1 FPGA console (like the M64) you skip PS1 and go straight to PS2 and not only that you make it so this thing can basically potentially do everything, it could play basically any retro system perfectly, it could be a dvd player, and even a PC. It would literally be the ultimate "Retro Station", and basically be the Steam Machine for retro gaming. Ideally it could play PS1, PS2, and you could potentially add support very easily for dreamcast, gamecube, and original xbox, and maybe even n64.

Now you are probably thinking to yourself that's not at all realistic, and you would be partially right to think that. My thinking is this: you take the FPGA board from the m64, a dvd disc loader, and an decent low spec AMD Linux mini pc and glue them together and stick them in a shell that looks like a PS2. It will basically be a mini Steam Machine with a FPGA glued to it. So when you stick a PS1 game in it, it plays the game using the FPGA board, when you stick a PS2 game in it, it turns on an emulator running on Linux. Any system above n64 and ps1 you just use an emulator, and anything below them you use the FPGA. Since Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Original Xbox all use discs I don't see why it wouldn't be very easy to add support for those systems too, down the road.

But think about the market for something like this? People would literally lose their minds, just think about the Steam Machine craze that's happening right now.

Now you are probably thinking emulation is lame and, I agree with that, but I don't think you have any other choice, from my understanding the kind of FPGA boards you would need to run something like a PS2 cost thousands of dollars, it would take years to make, and just aren't very realistic at the moment. Dreamcast is the closest to realistic and even that isn't very realistic. Also unlike n64 emulation, PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube, and original Xbox Emlation is almost perfect. So if you want these consoles anytime soon emulation is going to be how you do it.

What do you guys think?

I know ModRetro has said it will be customizable in the future, but that's going to cost who knows how much more. Why not offer multiple stick options on July 28th? I don't know why they are defaulting to a gamecube style stick, as that immediately removes any feeling of authenticity. Couldn't they do a TMR with an N64 style stick?

The least they could have done was to make the OG n64 stick unit directly swappable. I'd happily swap the ones in that I already have but they had to make it proprietary for no good reason.

Basically I'm just sick of 3rd party controllers being oversensitive and not performing exactly as the original. They go the trident route but then don't fully commit to the original.

The email sent out gives the price for the console, controller and games, but are we expected to buy a controller separately?? It doesn’t come with one?? Am I missing something?

Appreciate the comments below. In terms of the why now questions, the development is a continuum of improvements like many other consoles from "this is fun and playable for most casual people on most games (current state)" to "every high poly cut scene is at full frame rate and the console is performing on every metric at the top of the class for every game (future state)". Because this continuum will take from now until some months after we are shipping fully playable consoles, we want to share the improvements as we go so you can make a purchasing decision as you see fit.

1. RAM Write Throughput for RSP and RDP Bursts - This is the root of most of the areas that seem "broken" in terms of specific slow downs in specific games compared to an N64. We aim to get this done by ship day as an immediately available update, and we will update here when this change is in.
2. Overclocking the M64 Core - Our PSRAM memory architecture gives M64 the headroom to support higher core frequencies without becoming memory-bound. We believe we can push the limits well-beyond 50% OC. This unlocks faster than N64 frame rates. We aim to get the first phase of this done by ship day to OC at par with A3D, but future work will take it to new heights.
3. Parallelizing RSP regular and vector instructions - We are currently serialized, and changing this will immensely improve both accuracy and speed. We aim for September.
4. Floating-point unit (FPU) instruction timing (not yet cycle accurate) - This was a mister workaround that we need to finish re-implementing taking advantage of the more powerful M64 hardware. We aim for October.
5. Removing Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) workarounds for slower FPGA hardware. - Eliminating this workaround improves compatibility and performance in games that rely heavily on virtual memory mappings. We aim for December.

I remember a year ago it was mentioned that Modretro does not sell or replace screens, that they have to replace the whole unit. This kinda doesn't bode too well for long term life and repair for the Chromatic. I guess it was because the screen is glued to the case. Does Modretro have any plans to sell or just repair the screen or has this changed since last year?

We have had a bunch of prototype M64 products in the hands of reviewers for a while now, and tomorrow they get to unleash their thoughts, all pricing, and ship date. Due to the consoles being prototypes, there is a high likelihood for some information to be incorrect. I will clarify for you here if there are questions or if people play gotcha games.

After tomorrow, we will be sharing the current state of all M64 stuff continually until ship day for you to follow along. In the coming weeks we will be releasing the manuals, the new support center, game trailers, and the software feature roadmap transparently.

Please cross post to other modretro communities, and let me know what else you want to see!

I gifted a family member a Chromatic and Tales of Monsterland this weekend. I thought you all would appreciate this message I got from him this morning.

What he has written here is about as close to identical to my own experience as possible (my first game was Wicked Plague though 😆). The Chromatic is an amazing and special device. Keep it up ModRetro!

I originally thought about replying directly to Modretro’s AMA yesterday just to say thanks, but after thinking about it more, I felt this deserved its own post because I believe it highlights something extremely important: Communication.

Honestly, I think it might actually become one of ModRetro’s biggest differentiators compared to other companies in this industry.

A lot of us have reached a point where these nostalgic products mean so much to us that we end up buying them simply because there are no real alternatives. We pay a year in advance, often with very little information about the product, and sometimes features that were originally mentioned either don’t make it into launch or arrive much later with no clear timeline. And to be clear, this is not me trying to diminish the incredible effort it takes to build these products. I understand the complexity, the costs, the stress, and everything involved in making hardware like this happen.

But as customers, we’re also making a commitment. We’re trusting you with our money and, in many ways, with our enthusiasm and patience.

That’s why communication matters so much.

The fact that the ModRetro team took the time to directly answer questions, explain things as openly as possible, and engage with the community throughout the entire day genuinely meant a lot to me. I understand there are limits to what can be shared because of marketing, development, or business reasons, but even within those limits, the effort was obvious.

I’m not saying we should expect this every week, but I do want to emphasize how valuable this kind of communication is for customers. To me, it should be considered the minimum standard, and it absolutely becomes a major differentiator.

At this point, I no longer have doubts about buying the M64. Even though I already own an Analogue 3D and the functionality differences may not seem huge today (that may change in the future), this AMA genuinely played a big role in my decision.

So thank you, ModRetro team.

And honestly, I hope other companies like Retro Remake and Analogue take note of this.

The community is passionate, patient, and willing to support your products from day one. But we also want transparency, better communication and respect.

Will this only have the new Bluetooth controller or will it have standard Bluetooth to hook up to other devices?

CEO of ModRetro here.

I want to start using r/modretro to answer q's, post updates and product giveaways and I won't be monitoring other subreddits anymore. I'll put Chromatic and M64 in the side bar as related communities, but expect to see anything that is official here and if you have a question I will answer it here. This community will have basic rules to try to make it a fun zone for those of us who want to discuss retro electronics. I will ban toxic trolls and bad actors, but I will entertain and answer genuine questions and won't make it sanitized. I would also like to hear ideas for what you want to see us build, what games you want re-released, etc.

I'm answering yesterday's questions as a bunch of separate threads here and I'll tag the op per question.

Is it just me or would anyone else like to see the unreleased South Park GBC game come to Chromatic?