Modretro has released the source code for the Chromatic Game Boy Color handheld and the FPGA code it’s running appears to be a fork of the MiSTer’s GBC core. I believe this is compliant with the open source license, which is always excellent to see. It’s also a nod to how incredible some of the MiSTer cores are, as this is proof they can be made into standalone devices. Check out the code yourself here, with some more thoughts after the links:
Source Code: https://github.com/ModRetro/chromatic_fpga
Main Page: https://modretro.com/collections/chromatics
One very cool benefit of Modretro following the open source terms, is they posted their changes…which should allow people to load this core on any Gowin FPGA powerful enough to run it, via the Gowin FPGA Designer v1.9.9.03. You’d still have to create the motherboard and find a way to use existing shells and screens, but at least the option is there for the modding community to have some fun with it.
Maybe I’m just old and jaded, but the other thing that came to mind is the marketing behind this. Not ONCE did I read or hear them talk about MiSTer, or help promote the original devs. Not only that, the creator of the project spends a lot of time bragging about how much time and money they spent developing it. While I’m sure that’s true about the screen (which appears to be great), Makho found (and fixed) a pretty glaring issue with a missing pivot on the D pad, which could result in Left+Right or Up+Down being pressed at the same time. Also, the USB-C output (it shows up on your PC as a USB webcam) only supports video and they’re claiming audio support over USB is “coming soon”…but that could only be added if Gowin adds it to their code. So what’s my problem then? Once again, unless I’m just being a grumpy old man, the creator acts like he designed this from the ground up, which is clearly not the case. I’m obviously biased, as I see firsthand all the hard work poured into the MiSTer project, but I think a bit more recognition (and maybe even a mention of how to support the devs) would have been the respectful thing to do. But once again, I believe they’ve complained with the open source terms, so they certainly didn’t do anything wrong. Hopefully omitting any mention of MiSTer was just a way to hold off cloners, as that is a legitimate concern.
Anyway, I still think the Chromatic is a really cool device for people who love the GBC. For everyone else, I think the Analogue Pocket is a much better choice for the money, especially since you can use both cartridges and ROMs if you’d like, while ROMs won’t be possible on the Chromatic unless you use a ROM Cart. And if Analogue is able to add 9300k color support, the screen could look almost on-par with the Chromatic’s. Here’s a screenshot of the MiSTer reference, just to show:
