Chromatic Hands-on Preview – Hands-on Preview

If you’ve read my hands-on preview and interview of the Chromatic, you probably know that I am very excited about the potential of a new Game Boy device that aims to deliver the most authentic and modern experience. However, I didn’t get around to talking much about the new games that ModRetro is publishing, in physical form no less, for the Chromatic. What’s especially cool about these cartridges is that they are compatible with almost all Game Boy models. So even if you are not interested in getting the device yourself, you can still go out and get some of these games. Chromatic was kind enough to provide me with demo’s for their launch lineup that I’ve been playing on my own devices. As these are short games I figure this preview may give you some better insight into the variety of their lineup. Finally this preview is not ranked, but in alphabetical order.

Chantey – Developed by Gortyn Code. Compatible with all Game Boy devices.
Chantey is a very classic pirate story. As a stowaway you survive a terrible attack by an enormous beast, though thankfully you are picked up by an infamous pirate captain. He wants to lay claim to his grandfather’s pirate treasure that went down with him while fighting a monster from the deep sea. The writing is very charming and immediately places you in a very specific time and setting. As the game is open-world you can explore a section of island with your ship as you fulfill quests and set out on your pirate adventure. While it feels like a pretty normal open-world exploration game, the “combat” was immediately surprising. See in this world there are chanteymen, singers that fight not with swords but the power of music. As such, the game often shifts to a rhythm game that is clearly inspired by Guitar Hero. Your goal is to end the song with enough hype from the crowd to help win the battle. I found the songs to be pretty challenging, even though there are only notes coming on four tracks. There are still noticeable bugs and glitches, such as character portraits popping in and the timing of notes being fairly tricky. But that said, I had a great time playing Chantey. There are very few rhythm games on the Game Boy, so seeing one that combines theme and style into one package is looking very promising indeed.

You can try a prologue of the game on PC via Itch.

Dragonhym – Developed by Spacebot Interactive. Compatible with all Game Boy devices.
What immediately struck me about Dragonhym is its visual identity. At first I almost mistook it for Link’s Awakening. It has clean and clear pixel-art and it really helps with how animated the world and characters feel. The story wants to come across as epic, though for this short demo I could get a sense of how it plays out. You are Kris, the son of a legendary hero, in a world where dragons have been sealed away. But as your dad goes missing, it is up to Kris to not only find him, but figure out why the dragons are suddenly reawakening. Pretty standard affair for a fantasy pixel-art adventure game. What isn’t so standard is that the game combines this with a turn-based battle system that can be easy to learn but hard to master. Of course there’s attacking and defending, but both spells and skills add some good variety to the gameplay. I was especially surprised by how polished the game already feels. You could easily mistake this for one of those legendary lost or rare Game Boy games, but the amount of content and quality of life features really show how much is packed into this cartridge. So for those looking to dig their teeth into a lengthy RPG, with plenty of side-activities and characters to discover, Dragonhym is shaping up to be one of the must haves in my Game Boy collection.

You can play a free demo of Dragonhym through Itch on PC.

In the Dark 2 – Developed by Pearacidic and Gumpy Function. Compatible with all Game Boy devices.

By looking at screenshots of In the Dark 2 you might mistake it for a Sci-Fi RPG, but actually it is a 2D Puzzle game with a large focus on narrative. Now I have not played the first In The Dark, but this game is a pretty straightforward puzzle game. In each puzzle you are tasked by turning off the lights on the board. Each light switches state when selected and also turns off the surrounding lights and vice versa. It is a very simple puzzle game in that sense, though you are challenged by trying to complete the boards in as few turns as possible. As simple as this may sound, In the Dark 2 sets itself apart by the unbelievable production value. Cutscenes are gorgeously lit and have some truly stunning artwork. While it could have been a simple menu to select your puzzle, you actually control a main character while exploring the planets who provide insight into why you are solving these puzzles. The backgrounds, the character animation and the writing is really stunning and reminded me of games like Alone in the Dark on Game Boy Color. Accompanied by a very good soundtrack, I was really hooked on In The Dark 2 and think it goes beyond just being a simple pick-up-and-play puzzle game. The developers seem to be hinting at a lot of variety in the world you’ll visit on your space adventure, so for those die-hard puzzlers out there this is one to look forward to. Especially if you want something that seems to have a little more engagement than straight forward puzzling.

There is a free demo available of In The Dark 2 that is a great vertical slice of the gameplay. You can play it in-browser on Itch or via PC.

Patchy Matchy Puzzle Surfing – Developed by Tom Sutton. Compatible with all Game Boy Devices.

Speaking of full on puzzle games, Patchy Matchy is a super simple, but highly engaging puzzle game. It feels most similar to something like Bejeweled or Candy Crush. On a grid of 6 x 8 you are trying to match sea creatures in rows of four or higher to remove them from the board. The higher the combo, the higher your score. It has a pretty boppin’ soundtrack that you will get accustomed to as you mix and match the pieces on the grid. Some of these grid puzzlers, like Bejeweled, can feel a bit stagnant as you’re only able to move pieces if they become part of the combo. I like that in Patchy Matchy you can move any piece to any spot on the grid. So you can already set up larger combos before the pieces fall onto the board. It makes for a game where you are always looking around for the next combo to make, making it feel like a natural fit for Game Boy. In terms of variety, there are a few tweaks to play around with, but the game mostly encourages you to complete achievements for replayability. It is as straightforward as it comes on Game Boy, but I think that gives Patchy Matchy a sort of universal charm to be played by anyone. Definitely worth a shot to turn your Game Boy into a non-stop pick-up-puzzler!

Tales of Monsterland DX – Developed by Joel Jarman, Works only on Game Boy Color compatible devices.

Tales of Monsterland DX is exclusively designed for Game Boy Color, though you may overlook that at first glance. The game sees you playing as a kid who wakes up in a strange land. It is not long before you encounter the unusual inhabitants of this world and set out on a quest to save the land from the monsters that have driven down tourism. Structurally this game reminded me immediately of Wario Land 3 and that is a very good thing. The overworld consists of several interconnected levels that you can traverse between once you find certain upgrades, treasures or other secrets to help you on your quest. There is a lot of immediate charm to the game, from the way the characters are designed and the manner in which they speak, to how you interact with the world. I especially loved how you can ignore instructions like getting a sword and just set out on your own. The game feels much more modern than traditional platforming action games in that regard. But the highlight is without a doubt the great soundtrack, that uses all of the Game Boy Color’s capabilities to deliver some fantastic atmosphere. Tales of Monster Land really nails that feeling of picking up a platforming adventure and getting lost in the world. The controls are smooth and the jump feels great, so I can’t wait to see what the full game brings.

You can play a free demo of the game on PC in-browser via Itch.

Tetris – Developed by Chromatic and licensed by The Tetris Company. Works with all Game Boy devices.

Now okay, yes. We’ve all played Tetris on Game Boy. In fact, the game is currently only available as a pack-in title for the launch of the Chromatic. So I can be fairly straightforward about this one. It is Tetris on Game Boy. Although there are some slight tweaks that Tetris die-hards, me included, will appreciate. First of all, yes, the Tetris theme A is still here. It is slightly adjusted, but don’t worry, you will get all of the fuzzy feelings. Secondly, I really like that this version of Tetris enables both Ghost pieces as well as being able to see further in advance which pieces are coming up. It just helps to streamline the experience and bring it line with options that we are so accustomed to with modern versions of the game. These options are all in fact optional, so for the purists out there, you can just enable a retro mode that makes the game play exactly as you remember. I will say that this version of Tetris does look a bit wonky on the original DMG Game Boy. While the game is certainly playable, the shapes of pieces can be a tad harder to figure out. On Game Boy Color the game looks gorgeous with all the colored pieces and additional animations that add a little streak once you’re hard dropping a piece onto the board. Finally there are also a few modes like endless, sprint and ultra. Of course you can still play multiplayer via a link cable with someone that also owns a copy of this version of Tetris. So yeah, it is still Tetris. But guess what? Tetris is still great and this just might end up being the best version of Tetris on Game Boy.

Toki Tori: Ultimate Edition – Developed by Two Tribes. Works only on Game Boy Color compatible devices.

Disclaimer: For my day job I have worked with the team from Two Tribes on archiving their games at the Netherlands Institute of Sound & Vision. I have no direct connection to the development or release of this version of the game on Chromatic, but as it is part of the launch line-up I will cover this game as part of this preview.

The original release of Toki Tori came incredibly late in the life cycle of the Game Boy Color. Not only that, but the print run was extremely limited when Capcom published the game in 2001. In turn this really helped to turn Toki Tori into something of a cult classic on the Game Boy Color, showcasing it’s amazing animations as well as some real clever puzzle design. Nowadays, Toki Tori is pretty much playable on every modern system, as it has been re-released, remastered and even got a sequel in the last fifteen years. But what is interesting about Toki Tori: Ultimate Edition is that the developers of the game went back to the original version to make adjustments and improvements. It would’ve been so easy to re-release the game and give people a chance to add this classic to their libraries, but this version truly feels like an ultimate version of Toki Tori. The movement speed is what truly sells it and has been multiplied by the developers. This makes Toki Tori run around a lot faster, but does not impact the puzzles in the slightest. You are of course still collecting the eggs in every stage and avoiding combat, but this change makes such a difference to the flow of the game. Where making a mistake in the original version felt tedious because you were wasting a lot of time back and forth, now it feels like making a mistake is part of learning the game’s design and I for one got to appreciate it even more. The timer has also been removed and you can even auto-jump over short gaps. Toki Tori is still an amazing showcase on Game Boy. While the modern versions of the game added 3D models, there is a timelessness to the original animations and sprites. It is such a smooth experience after nearly 25 years and with the harshest edges now rounded off, there is no better time than to pick it up. Especially considering that this version is less than half of what the original costs on eBay.

Traumatarium: Penitent – Developed by Eligos Games. Compatible with all Game Boy devices.

This game is a little more abstract than the others I got to play for the Chromatic. See, the original Traumatarium was developed as a showcase to really push the graphical limits of the original Game Boy. It had extensive visual key art that looks absurdly impressive on the Game Boy’s 160×144 screen. From its cutscenes to the way you explore towns, dark woods and interact with enemies, its sequel retains that gorgeous art style. Unfortunately the gameplay is quite hard to grasp, as the fantasy lore of the world is very extensive and the demo really dropped me without a clue as to what I had to do or what was going on. In a sense the game reminded me of a really old-school first-person RPG. On each screen you can examine different objects, talk to people or may encounter an enemy. Combat takes place in turns as you use the D-pad to select attacking, defending, using items or fleeing. What makes the game quite a challenge is that aside from HP you also need to keep track of your vitality, which isn’t really explained all that well. As your vitality runs out, due to a lack of food for example, your HP will drop. It was only after the fourth time when I dropped dead in the middle of the town square without any enemies in sight that I started to realize what I was doing wrong. Every screen you explore drains vitality, so navigating your way through these enormous maps is not just a matter of surviving the creatures that haunt the towns, but also planning out when to eat food, drink a potion or save your strength by fleeing battles. It makes for a fairly unorthodox RPG to play and I am still not quite sure if I like this design. Needless to say, the visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting and as a graphical showcase it still looks stunning. This is one for those curious to go beyond the comfort zone of the Game Boy and looking to see how far the development scene of the Game Boy has come.

You can play a free demo of Traumatarium: Penitent via PC in-browser on Itch.

And that’s all the ModRetro releases I got my hands on. ModRetro is aiming to release more titles for the Chromatic, including some games that never got their time to shine back on the original system. So I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for future physical releases that they are planning to release. During the writing of this preview it was announced that ModRetro is releasing Baby T-Rex, developed by Bleem, so it seems that there are still surprises awaiting for those looking to expand their Game Boy and Chromatic libraries.

And in case you missed the original Hands-on Preview for the Chromatic, you watch the video and interview above!