Unleash the Power of Retro Gaming: ModRetro Chromatic, an Arms Dealer’s Game Boy Masterpiece

Would You Buy a Lockheed Martin Game Boy?

As a kid in the 1990s, I was obsessed with military aircraft. Tom Cruise’s Top Gun had made fighter jets cool, and I was fascinated by the high-tech angular "Stealth Fighter" and the legendary SR-71 that could outrun missiles. In hindsight, I realize that cool aerodynamics are just the tip of a deadlier geopolitical iceberg. Lockheed Martin makes weapons, and I don’t have a say in who gets to buy them or who they’re used against.

But what if Lockheed Martin made a Game Boy? Would I buy one? Maybe. I was always up for a new gadget, and the idea of a high-end remake of the classic Game Boy sounds enticing. The ModRetro Chromatic is a luxury handheld that justifies its $200 price tag. It feels more like the Game Boy I remember than many of Nintendo’s actual handhelds.

However, the Chromatic is also the product of Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus Rift VR headset and the founder of Anduril, a defense contractor that makes weaponized drones, networked surveillance systems, and other military tech. Luckey’s views on war and power are… concerning. He recently told a Pepperdine University audience that celebrating the power of weapons is not a bad thing, and that "societies have always needed a warrior class that is enthused and excited about enacting violence on others in pursuit of good aims."

Real life contains no inherently good drones or inherently good missiles. And two major throughlines of Tolkien’s work are that war is hideous and that power inevitably corrupts. The joy I find playing with fake swords in the ModRetro Chromatic is now weirdly intertwined with a general fear: that Anduril’s real weapons might be misused.

The Chromatic: A Luxury Handheld with a Complicated Past

The ModRetro Chromatic is a high-end remake of the classic Game Boy, with a premium build quality and a screen that’s pixel-perfect. It’s a great device, but it’s also a symbol of a company that makes weapons and has a questionable moral compass. I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that.

The Chromatic isn’t the ultimate Game Boy, even if it has the best build quality and the best screen. There’s still room for a better pair of rose-tinted glasses than the ones Luckey has paid to create.

The Verdict

In the end, the ModRetro Chromatic is a great device, but it’s also a complex one. It’s a luxury handheld that justifies its $200 price tag, but it’s also a symbol of a company that makes weapons and has a questionable moral compass. I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that.