Ok. I kinda love that this is on the box. It’s the mysterious icon that defined my generation (at least in the US).
It comes with standard alkaline batteries, but you can also use rechargeables. ModRetro is working on a rechargeable battery pack.
Frankly, it’s annoying that it doesn’t ship with that.
This feels SO, SO good in the hands. Far better than I expected. And that's down to the chassis being metal, not plastic. It has heft, it feels durable, built like a tank, but it's not so heavy that it might fatigue you.
The d-pad is just firm enough, clicky, accurate (at least during my time with Tetris). The speaker is loud. The Sapphire screen is super bright! I have zero complaints about the hardware itself, aside from ModRetro shipping it before a rechargeable batt pack was ready.
For my birthday in 1990, I got a Game Boy bundled with Tetris. So there's a TON of warm nostalgic feelings seeing Tetris bundled with the Chromatic. But this is a slight twist on the original, since it adds in both retro and modern mechanics (hard drops, holds, etc). You can play in either mode, and toggle a bunch of options, too.
This is the only launch game I have for the Chromatic, but a handful of others should be here by next week.
Another neat thing: the Chromatic has video out via USB. I captured this using OBS! (It looks much more "authentic" on the device's screen, but it's a cool option to have.
(Right now, capture is only supported on Windows, but Linux and macOS are in active development)
@killyourfm You're better off with LSD cells. That means Low Self Discharge. :)
Buy for example Panasonic Eneloop NiMh cells and a charger and rock on...
@killyourfm Excellent! Eneloops give significantly higher voltage than regular NiMh cells. Not sure if other LSD cells have the same quality.
My guess is that that device is going to run longer with Eneloops than with alkaline batteries. :)
@killyourfm BTW - these funny incidents make Fediverse and Madtodon soo nice. Would not have happened on a platform with strong algorithm...
@killyourfm but isn't using actual standard sized batteries better for both longevity and reduction of ewaste?
@killyourfm is there a setting to use the Kasane Teto Tetoris as background music?
@killyourfm I wonder how similar their cartridges are to nintendo's. I know that analogue did some bitflipping in how instructions work for their own "rom format" that you can load onto the pocket. (of course someone built a tool to patch gameboy cart dumps https://retropatcher.jonabrams.com/)
@killyourfm I saved for ages to buy one. So much nostalgia here!