Digital Trends can solely reveal that ModRetro is publishing Chantey, a pirate-themed metallic rhythm sport from Greek indie sport studio Gortyn Code that’s coming to each Game Boy and Chromatic.
The Chromatic is a brand new online game handheld inspired by the Game Boy. It’s appropriate with cartridges for authentic Game Boy and Game Boy Color video games, however ModRetro can be publishing titles on devoted Chromatic sport cartridges. Chantey might be one such sport when it launches within the first quarter of 2025. Developer Ok.C. Apostolakis tells Digital Trends that the Chromatic is “identical to the Game Boy Color in every respect (right down to the screen resolution), but everything has been cranked up to 11 so that the Game Boy playing experience can be modernized and brought up to speed with today’s gaming standards.”
Chantey is an 8-bit open-world rhythm sport constructed to work on the unique Game Boy and follows an up-and-coming pirate as he will get swept up in a battle between descendants of the legendary Nightingale Pirate and collects mystical sea chanteys. It encompasses a soundtrack with authentic pirate metallic tracks and chiptune variations of sea chanteys resembling Drunken Sailor and Bully within the Alley. Check out its reveal trailer under to see the sport in motion.
Chantey options an open world with 11 totally different cities to discover by way of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening-style top-down gameplay. There are additionally battle of the bands-style rhythm battles the place gamers must hit the Chromatic’s A, B, and D Pads to the beat of pirate metallic chiptunes. Rhythm is a sport style we didn’t see a lot of on Game Boy, which Apostolakis says prompted some challenges through the improvement course of.
“Unlike the top-down adventure elements, there were no major Game Boy game references (that I was aware of, at the time) to work off of, to base the rhythm sections on,” Apostolakis says. “I had to try (and fail) with several different prototypes, scene layouts, and optimization tricks before I finally found a way to implement the synchronization and reaction-heavy gameplay in a way that made the note-matching responsive and fun to play. It probably did not help that I elected to cram the admittedly demanding rhythm gameplay into what are probably the most visually complex scenes of the game, such as offering a close-up view of the combat and depicting the portraits of commanding officers, whose expressions change based on the player’s performance. Despite the added challenge, I believe that these rhythm scenes are exactly what gives Chantey a unique edge. Managing to make them work as originally intended was one of the most rewarding experiences in Chantey’s development journey thus far.”
Apostolakis cites Game Boy and Game Boy Advance video games resembling The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Pokémon Red and Blue, Guitar Hero, Advance Wars, and Yggdra Union: We’ll Never Fight Alone as inspirations. If you get pleasure from any of these video games, Chantey is value maintaining a tally of.
Chantey might be launched for Game Boy and Chromatic someday through the first quarter of 2025. You can preorder a bodily copy of the sport on ModRetro’s website for $40 or check out the sport for your self on the Indie Arena Booth at Gamescom.