okay so some of you might have seen that Palmer Luckey has launched his own Gameboy clone, an FPGA console called the ModRetro Chromatic. you may remember another FPGA Gameboy, the Analogue Pocket, a console i own and greatly enjoy and endorse.

for those who dont know, Palmer Luckey (in increasing badness):

  • at one point worked for Facebook
  • donates vast sums of money to Trump
  • founded Anduril, a war drone company

that alone should be reason enough to never touch this thing.

unfortunately, the thing also includes an officially licensed Tetris game. so i wanted to provide some alternatives to people who were interested in playing a "modern" tetris on a portable device. dont even pirate the rom of it, play these instead.

  • first off, you dont need an FPGA like this or the Analogue Pocket, you can get a comfy emulator device for a sixth of the cost that supports more consoles. dont spend money you dont have.
  • the best gameboy tetris is the homebrew clone Apotris. it is by far the most extensive in feature set and i play it daily. i dont care for the default visual settings but the customization is incredible. https://akouzoukos.com/apotris
  • if you have a soft spot for the old gameboy tetris of yore, theres Rosy Retrospection, a mod that brings several modern conveniences while keeping the original spirit. https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5813/
  • it also has a color version. https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8259/

please do not give this monster money, and do not give his tetris the time of day. fan projects deserve your attention more than a warmonger's vanity project.

Apotris - Multiplatform Block Stacking Game

Play Apotris! A free block stacking game in the same genre as Tetris, featuring responsive controls and tons of customization! Also available as a GBA ROM.

@rachaelspooky this content warning goes crazy
@rachaelspooky I don't think I want to even touch the fact that mr "I see nothing wrong with naming my fucking military industrial complex drone company the Flame of the West, which is not at all gross, at ALL" has an officially licensed fucking tetris like are you kidding me

But seriously, it cannot be overemphasized just how incredibly gross everything about his fucking stolen-from-Tolkien name is. I suspect most war profiteers (which is what he is: a war profiteer. He is trying to profit from war) at least think calling themselves "the flame of the west" is a little too on the nose.
@rachaelspooky Also he's a little whiny baby who absolutely would search on Twitter for people talking about him, then jump into their mentions to defend his WAR PROFITEERING OF AUTOMATED DEATH because of course that's the kinda guy he is.
@aud @rachaelspooky from what I've seen war profiteers actually love on-the-nose names. People like that have no shame. Anduril isn't even the only one to rip off Tolkien. Palantir is a successful seller of spying technologies.
@rachaelspooky dang, that's a real juicy tetris clone!
@rachaelspooky yay, i'm very happy that Apotris is still out there! i remember downloading the itch.io version a few years ago and recently found out that it got taken down by The Tetris Company :(
Apotris is really my favorite version of tetris!! it has nice dynamic gameplay and is very satisfying to play!
@rachaelspooky @mcc this is ALL over my news feed today and the people who really need shaming, as usual, are journalists. They just cover this like it’s another fun thing to own. Maybe they mention drones in an aside. But ooh shiny, from the Oculus guy, who has done nothing else, apparently.

@rachaelspooky If you're interested in fun new twists on Tetris, there's "From Below" for $5.

"As the Kraken climbs the walls of your fortress, repel it by hurtling blocks down at the monster. As lines are cleared, the Kraken will retreat, but only momentarily.

Can you survive the night, and live to fight another day?"

https://mhughson.itch.io/from-below-pocket

From Below Pocket by Matt Hughson (NES Dev)

A brand new Game Boy game!

itch.io

@rachaelspooky Also this fuckboy's Gameboy clone isn't even the only FPGA Gameboy out there. Besides the Analogue Pocket there's also the Funny Playing FPGBC kit.

https://funnyplaying.com/products/fpgbc-kit

FPGBC KIT

@bunny_jane @rachaelspooky I was coming here to mention From Below Pocket, you beat me to it. Excellent Tetris game, with the added mechanic of a sea monster.

And you can buy a cartridge, or put it on a cartridge, and play it in your original Game Boy, your Analogue Pocket, your FPGBC, whatever works for you.

@rachaelspooky and don't forget he probably sanctioned a mob hit on his Oculus co-founder just so he could sell to Facebook.
@rachaelspooky what comfy emulator device do you recommend?
@dzil123 @rachaelspooky Check out the #gamedad hashtag here for discussions about the various device options. Anbernic devices and the Miyoo Mini seem to be popular choices, but I haven't tried any of them personally yet.

@rachaelspooky This thing is _also_ compatible with Gameboy cartridges, but the Tetris is a new version, licensed via the Tetris Company, right? I.e. nothing to do with Nintendo?

P.S.: https://modretro.com/collections/games
Fuck, Toki Tori for 42€. I might just keep checking that page to make absolutely sure I'm boycotting everyone who collaborates with those arseholes.

Games

@rachaelspooky YIKES. Thank you for the warning. I was intrigued because I have really wanted to get a gameboy and play tetris on it.

You mention there are emulator devices. I'm not techy in this way much... would you have some links? Or even names so I could search myself?

@rachaelspooky Just so you know, Kevtris (who did the FPGA stuff for Analogue) is also a Trump supporter last I checked in. Been a while though.

Not part of the MIC, however. Does cryogenics stuff. And they were always friendly on IRC.
But I'm saying if you really don't want to support trump supporters, play original hardware.
(I still like kevtris overall, btw. I just can't afford rich people fpga hardware and i got my original game boys when they were affordable)