What is Cart Clinic?
Cart Clinic is a feature built right into our firmware updater tool that lets you update your ModRetro game cartridges with the latest bug fixes and enhancements.
Normally, patching a bug on a physical Game Boy cartridge would be impossible. You would need special hardware or a special cartridge. Cart Clinic makes it simple and free using your Chromatic, so you can always get the latest updates for ModRetro games you own. Just pop your ModRetro cartridge into your Chromatic, open the Cart Clinic tab, and it will handle the rest.
Why Did We Make It?
Bugs are part of software development, and games are no exception. Back in the day, if a bug slipped into a cartridge-based game, there was no going back. Developers could not release fixes, and players were stuck with it forever. Occasionally, a later production run might fix the problem, but by then it was already out in the wild.
The rise of the internet and PC gaming changed everything. Developers began releasing patches online, automatically updating games to fix bugs, rebalance gameplay, and add new features. Today, it is common for console games to receive updates.
We built Cart Clinic to bring that same capability to our retro platform, giving developers the ability to improve their games even after launch. It has already been used for updates to titles like Dragonyhm, Chantey, and In The Dark 2.
While the main focus of Cart Clinic is to address gameplay issues, it also opened the door for new content to be added to our games post-launch.
One such addition is the new Battle Mode in Tetris®, a long-awaited game mode in which you can go head-to-head against your opponent, sending garbage lines to each other over a link cable. This update is now available for free to everyone who has Tetris and a Chromatic to update it.
How to Use It
First, make sure your computer supports our firmware updater tool. Game updates can only be applied through a Chromatic.
Getting started is easy:
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Download and launch the firmware update tool on your computer.
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Insert the game cartridge you want to update into your Chromatic.
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Connect your Chromatic to your computer with a USB-C cable and power it on so the game is running.
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Wait for the tool to detect your firmware version. If it suggests a Chromatic firmware update, do that first.
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Switch to the Cart Clinic tab, which has a cartridge icon.
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Click Check to search for game updates. This usually takes 1 to 2 minutes.
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If an update is found, follow the prompts to patch your game. This step also takes about 1 to 2 minutes. If you want to see what is new before updating, click the Changelog link on the screen.
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Once complete, your Chromatic will reset and load the updated game automatically.
Stay Updated
If you want to know which games have updates available, check our Games Changelog. Every Cart Clinic update is listed there. Major updates are also announced on our social channels and newsletter, so follow us and your favorite developers to stay in the loop.
