If you’ve been paying close attention to Retro Dodo over the last couple of months, then you’ll know all about the arrival of the Chromatic from Mod Retro. It’s a new handheld gaming console created by Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, and it plays all your original Game Boy (DMG & GBC) cartridges as well as hosting many new and exciting Mod Retro published games.
To log onto a website in 2024 and see a handheld that pays tribute to and expands on one of the most iconic handhelds of all time with modern features and a host of new games to play on it brings so much joy to our hearts. It’s like we’ve travelled back to the 90s all over again. In fact, this is how my mum must have felt when she played Tetris on my new Game Boy all evening when I got it for Christmas.
Mod Retro announces a new Game for the Chromatic, and essentially a new game for the Game Boy every month, and their newest offering is Chantey (think sea shanty, but the ‘sea’ is a ‘C’). If you love titles like Guitar Hero but wish that they were a little more ‘Pirate-Metal’ themed, then this is your lucky day! Dropping early 2025, it’s an 8-bit game that features retro-sounding versions of sea shanties and pirate-metal songs. And if you’re still wondering, ‘What on earth is pirate-metal?’, then imagine the songs from Pirates of the Caribbean but with distorted guitars in the background being played by people dressed like Jack Sparrow, savvy?
Plundering Mod Retro’s website in search of Game Boy treasure brings the following description for the game: ‘Set in an alternate history where Golden Age pirate mythology and headbanging heavy metal riffs collide, embark on an epic journey to collect mystical sea chanteys, navigate treacherous waters, overcome enemies, and survive the horrors lurking beneath the ocean’s waves.‘ The cutscenes look incredible, and the blue colour scheme certainly makes me think of walking the plank into the deep ocean and heading straight for Davy Jones’ locker!
Essentially, it’s an open-world game with non-linear gameplay where players explore and battle in Pirate-Metal-offs. Explore and get your rock on – it’s the perfect title for music-loving adventurers! Speaking with Digital Trends, the game’s director K.C. Apostolakis from Gortyn Code Studios out of Greece says that he’s taken titles such as Pokémon Red/Blue, Guitar Hero, Advance Wars, and Link’s Awakening on board as inspiration when making the game, which is a cocktail I’ve never thought about before but one that I really want to try out! And if you’re heading to Gamescom, then you can try out the game in the Indie Booth right now. Otherwise, head to the Mod Retro website to pre-order your copy for £31!
