byShiny Gen

Shiny Relay docs

Everything for a ModRetro Chromatic with Shiny Relay: installing it, playing multiplayer with no cable, and putting games and apps on the Tetris cartridge.

On this page

Install or update Shiny Relay

Shiny Relay is installed from a browser: open install.shinyrelay.com on a computer and follow its steps. The same page has the current version when there is an update. It is an install on your Chromatic, and the stock firmware can be restored.

Use Chrome or Edge on a computer, with one Chromatic plugged in by a USB cable that carries data. Phones and tablets cannot do it.

After the install, put the Chromatic on Wi-Fi in SYSTEM > WI-FI.

Pair your Chromatic

Pairing ties the Chromatic to your Shiny Gen account, so it can join your rooms and be invited.

  1. On the Chromatic open SYSTEM > ONLINE and press A to pair.
  2. Scan the QR code, or enter the code at shinygen.ai/link while signed in.

SYSTEM > ONLINE shows when the Chromatic is paired.

Before you play online

Way 1: invite your Chromatic (no code)

For a Chromatic paired to the account you are signed in with.

  1. In the Shiny Gen app or on shinygen.ai, open the game and choose MULTIPLAYER, then HOST.
  2. Choose INVITE MY CHROMATIC and pick your Chromatic.
  3. On the Chromatic, start the same game and choose MULTIPLAYER. It joins by itself.

Way 2: room code (any two players)

To host on the Chromatic:

  1. Start the game and choose MULTIPLAYER. The room menu opens (or press MENU, then NETWORK).
  2. Choose HOST. Your room code shows on screen.
  3. The other player chooses MULTIPLAYER, then JOIN, and enters the code.

To join on the Chromatic:

  1. The other player hosts and tells you the code.
  2. Start the game and choose MULTIPLAYER. In the room menu choose JOIN CODE.
  3. Enter the code with the D-pad, press A, then press MENU to close the menu.

The web player

shinyrelay.com/play plays Shiny Gen's Game Boy Color games, or a game file of your own, in a browser. Playing alone needs no sign-in, and your own file stays in your browser.

To play with a Chromatic from the web player:

  1. Open the game and choose Multiplayer on the page, then sign in with your Shiny Gen account.
  2. In the game choose MULTIPLAYER. On the page choose Host a room and enter its code on the Chromatic with JOIN CODE, or type the Chromatic's code and choose Join.
  3. With the same account on both, choose My devices on the page and MY DEVICES on the Chromatic. They meet with no code.

For link-cable games the page has Link cable: host or join a cable there, then start the game's own link mode on both.

Install a game on the Tetris cartridge

The cartridge page at install.shinyrelay.com/cart writes a game or an app to your ModRetro Tetris cartridge over USB. You do not need a flash cart. It backs up the cartridge first, and the same page puts your Tetris back any time.

What you need

Steps

  1. Choose. Pick what goes on the cartridge: a free Shiny Gen game or app, the PARTY BATTLE patch for Tetris, or the + cartridge for your own game file (.gbc or .gb). To put your own save file (.sav) on with the game, use Use my save file (optional) right under your choice. To change only the save and keep the game that is on the cartridge, pick Just a save file.
  2. Connect. Click Connect and pick Chromatic - Player 01. Click Connect once more and pick GWU2X. Chrome asks twice because the Chromatic shows up as two devices, and it asks for GWU2X again on each visit.
  3. Prepare. Click Prepare my Chromatic. It takes about 1 to 2 minutes and the Chromatic restarts twice. This loads temporary cartridge access. Nothing is installed.
  4. Back up. Click Back up my cartridge, then save the game file and the save file. Keep the 2 files together: they are your way back to Tetris. You can skip the backup, but then the game on the cartridge now cannot be put back from this page. To only copy your cartridge's game and save to this computer, with nothing installed, click Save my cartridge's game and save to this computer in step 1.
  5. Install. Click Install, type INSTALL and click Start. Keep the cable in and the Chromatic on until it says done.
  6. Turn your Chromatic off and on. When the page says Done, slide the power switch OFF, wait 2 seconds, then ON.

Limits

How long it takes

Your files

Everything happens in your browser. The game file you choose is your own file, and it never leaves your computer. Nothing is uploaded. Only use cartridges and files that are yours. We host no games besides our own free ones.

Get Tetris back

Open the cartridge page and click Restore a backup under the grid. Pick the 2 backup files you saved, the game file and the save file, then Connect and Prepare, and click Restore my backup (type RESTORE). In the same visit, Restore my Tetris backup on the Done step does it for you. Keep the backup files safe: they are the sure way back.

Tetris patch: PARTY BATTLE

PARTY BATTLE is a patch for ModRetro Tetris v1.4, for a Chromatic with Shiny Relay:

The cartridge page applies a patch straight to your own cartridge:

  1. In Choose, pick the PARTY BATTLE cartridge.
  2. Do Connect and Prepare as above.
  3. In Back up, the page reads your Tetris from the cartridge. Save the copy: it is your way back to the original. Or click I already have a copy of my Tetris file and pick a copy you saved before.
  4. In Install, type INSTALL and click Start. The page patches the game in your browser, checks it and writes it.
  5. Turn your Chromatic off and on.

With the backup, the whole thing takes about 5 minutes.

Playing in an emulator? Patch a file yourself from your own copy of the game.

Internet apps

Five small apps use the Chromatic's Wi-Fi. They are free. Install one on the cartridge like any game (steps above).

Shiny Gen's own Game Boy Color games are free to install too. Games you make in Shiny Gen can go on your Chromatic. Exporting your own creations needs the paid export in Shiny Gen.

Go back to stock

If it does not connect

If a cartridge write goes wrong

Back to Shiny Relay