Note

Some parts of this guide were developed with AI assistance.

Warning

I'm not a color scientist or expert. This guide may contain inaccuracies or misleading information. Please take it with a grain of salt. If you notice any issues, feel free to open an issue.

Handheld Color Space Project

This project aims to accurately reproduce the original color output of handheld console screens on modern displays.

All data is based on instrumented colorimetric measurements of real hardware. Subjective, visual, or “by eye” adjustments are explicitly excluded.

Each display measurement is translated into a dedicated RetroArch shader, designed using color science principles, high-precision mathematical modeling.

Showcase

Reflective displays

Note

Physically accurate simulation of ambient illuminant effects through measured screen reflectance data, enabling the modeling of the display's reflective behavior instead of relying on chromatic adaptation.

Warning

The GBC shaders are based on "-45°" screen reflectance measurements (45°/0° geometry + 180° orientation), which produce a washed-out image due to the reflective properties of the original display. The screenshots shown here were generated using the "45° Simulation" parameter (45°/0° geometry + 0° orientation), a rough approximation that better represents the display's intended appearance.

GBC no shader	GBC Illuminant A (WIP)	GBC Illuminant D50 (WIP)	GBC Illuminant D65 (WIP)

Emissive displays

GBA no shader	GBA SP AGS-101	GB Micro

DS no shader	DS Phat	DS Lite

3DS no shader	3DS	New 3DS XL (IPS)
no shader - already D65	D65 chromatic adaptation	D65 chromatic adaptation

Handhelds status report

Nintendo Handheld	Display Type	Display Data Collected?	Known Manufacturers	Measurements Notes
Game Boy	Reflective	🔴	Sharp (link)
Game Boy Pocket	Reflective	🔴	?
Game Boy Light	Emissive	🔴	?
Game Boy Color	Reflective	🕐	?	Currently provided data have issues
Game Boy Advance AGB-001	Reflective	🔴	?	Currently provided data have issues
Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001	Transflective (frontlit on), Reflective (frontlit off)	🔴	?	Currently provided data have issues
Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101	Emissive	🔵	?
Game Boy Micro	Emissive	🔵	?
NDS Phat	Transflective (backlit on), Reflective (backlit off) link	🔵	?	- only emissive mode has been measured
NDS Lite	Emissive	🔵	Hitachi, Sharp (link)	- greyscale gamma differs between reports (different manufacturers?)
NDSi	Emissive	🔴	?
NDSi XL	Emissive	🔴	?
3DS	Emissive	🔵	?	- equal primaries across measurements (except blue) and similar gamma
3DS XL	Emissive	🔴	?
New 3DS	Emissive	🔴	?
New 3DS XL	Emissive	🔵	?	- only IPS top screen analyzed - screen lottery - other info here - Erica Griffin
2DS	Emissive	🔴	?
New 2DS	Emissive	🔴	?
New 2DS XL	Emissive	🔴	?
Wii U	Emissive	🔴	?
Switch	Emissive	🕐	Innolux	- other info here - Erica Griffin
Switch Mini	Emissive	🔴	?
Switch OLED	Emissive	🔴	?	- other info here - GamingTech
Switch 2	Emissive	🔴	?

Sony Handheld	Display Type	Display Data Collected?	Known Manufacturers	Measurements Notes
PSP-1000 (Phat)	Emissive	🔵	?	- missing exact model number
PSP-2000 (Slim)	?	🔴	?
PSP-3000 (Brite)	?	🔴	?
PSP-N1000 (Go)	?	🔴	?
PSP-E1000 (Street)	?	🔴	?

Legend:

• 🔴: No data available / Invalid data
• 🔵: Data available
• 🟢: Data available and verified by two or more screen reports from different consoles
• 🕐: Measurement data validation in progress

Index

• Retroarch Shaders
  • Shader parameters
    • Chromatic Adaptation
  • Debug Shader parameters
    • Show out of Gamut colors

Retroarch Shaders

In the handheld folder, you’ll find the measured consoles and their corresponding RetroArch shaders.

Note

Currently, only the sRGB color space is supported. I haven’t found a way to instruct RetroArch or the operating system (at least on macOS) to interpret the shader’s output framebuffer as a non‑sRGB color space (such as Display P3, Rec. 2020, etc.). Given this limitation, there’s little benefit in supporting other color spaces, since you wouldn’t get the expected colors. If you know of any way (even a partial workaround) to overcome this limitation, I’d appreciate your support.

Shader parameters

Chromatic Adaptation

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OFF — Original Color Reproduction (Default)

No chromatic adaptation is applied

• Pros

  • Most accurate representation of the original display behavior.
  • Preserves differences between screens of the same console model (often referred to as “screen lottery”).

• Use case

  • Currently recommended for general use.
  • This option must be used if you want to make side by side comparisons with the original console.
  • Recommended for consoles with unusual or very warm/cool white points to preserve the original look & feel.

Warning

Currently, it does not fully model the human visual adaptation system, which can result in reduced perceptual accuracy in some specific viewing conditions. A full CIECAM02 / CIECAM16 pipeline must be implemented to address this problem.

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ON — White Point Normalization

Applies D65 white point (full chromatic adaptation)

• Pros

  • Can mitigate screen lottery by enforcing a shared white reference across displays.
  • Can slightly reduce out-of-gamut colors as a side effect.

• Cons

  • Can noticeably alter color balance on consoles with unusual or very warm/cool white points.

• Use case

  • You can use this option as a trade-off between the display’s original color reproduction and a neutral white balance tipically found on modern displays.

Warning

Currently, it does not fully model the human visual adaptation system, which can result in reduced perceptual accuracy in some specific viewing conditions. A full CIECAM02 / CIECAM16 pipeline must be implemented to address this problem.

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Example

Chromatic adaptation on the GameBoy Micro shader:

• OFF (bottom left) = "blue tinted / cool temperature greyscale"
• ON (top right) = "neutral greyscale"

Debug Shader parameters

These parameters are used to analyze the shader's output image.

Show out of Gamut colours

Enable this option to highlight in red the colors that cannot be represented in the sRGB color space. These colors are only approximations.

Special Thanks

• Pokéfan531 for almost all the consoles’ screen measurements and feedback
  • GitHub: https://github.com/Pokefan531/Handheld-Colorspace-Shaders
  • Tumblr: https://pokefan531.tumblr.com/post/766008194709454848/handheld-lcd-shader-projects
• Pica200 for the 3DS and New 3DS consoles’ measurements
• Anikom15 for helping me fix some issues with the shader code and and OS/program-specific color space management.
• Libretro Forum
  • forum thread: https://forums.libretro.com/t/real-gba-and-ds-phat-colors/1540