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, and validated against the original hardware to ensure faithful color reproduction as it appeared on the real device.

Showcase

Preview	Preview	Preview
GBA no shader	GBA (WIP - not definitive)	GBA SP AGS-001 (WIP - not definitive)
GBA SP AGS-101	GB Micro

Handhelds status report

Nintendo Handheld	Display Type	Display Data Collected?	Known Manufacturers	Measurements Notes
Game Boy	Reflective	🔴	?
Game Boy Pocket	Reflective	🔴	?
Game Boy Light	Emissive	🔴	?
Game Boy Color	Reflective	🕐	?
Game Boy Advance AGB-001	Reflective	🕐	?
Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001	Transflective (frontlit on), Reflective (frontlit off)	🕐	?
Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101	Emissive	🔵⚠️	?	- unknown manufacturer
Game Boy Micro	Emissive	🔵⚠️	?	- unknown manufacturer
NDS Phat	Emissive	🔵⚠️	?	- unknown manufacturer
NDS Lite	Emissive	🔵⚠️	Hitachi, Sharp (link)	- unknown manufacturer - greyscale gamma differs between reports (different manufacturers?)
NDSi	Emissive	🔴	?
NDSi XL	Emissive	🔴	?
3DS	Emissive	🔵⚠️ / 🕐	?	- unknown manufacturer
3DS XL	Emissive	🔴	?
New 3DS	Emissive	🔴	?
New 3DS XL	Emissive	🔵⚠️	?	- only IPS top screen analyzed - screen lottery - unknown manufacturer - 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 manufacturer - missing exact model number
PSP-2000 (Slim)	?	🔴	?
PSP-3000 (Brite)	?	🔴	?
PSP-N1000 (Go)	?	🔴	?
PSP-E1000 (Street)	?	🔴	?

Legend:

• 🔴: No data available or not yet analyzed
• 🔵: Data available
• 🟢: Data available and verified by two or more screen reports from different consoles
• ⚠️: Some information is missing (e.g., manufacturer, measurement tools, etc.)
• 🕐: 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.

Note

Some consoles have two shader variants: one with a CLUT (Color Look-Up Table) and one without. The CLUT variant was designed to provide better color accuracy, but this comes at the cost of fewer configuration options compared to the other variant. At the moment, this version is NOT RECOMMENDED, as the LUT does not actually improve color accuracy and out-of-gamut colors are simply clipped.

Shader parameters

Note

Only available in the non‑LUT shader version.

Chromatic Adaptation

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OFF — Original Color Reproduction (Default)

No chromatic adaptation is applied (i.e. absolute color accuracy)

• Pros

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

• Cons

  • Does not model the human visual adaptation system, which can result in reduced perceptual accuracy in some viewing conditions.

• 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.
  • Best choice for consoles with unusual or very warm/cool white points.

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ON — White Point Normalization

Applies D65 white point full chromatic adaptation (i.e. perceptual color accuracy).

• Pros

  • Mitigates 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.
  • Overall perceptual color accuracy is currently lower than OFF due to the limits of the current implementation.

Warning

This option aims to model the human visual adaptation system for perceptual accuracy.

Perceptual accuracy is generally preferable to absolute color accuracy because it takes into account how the brain actually interprets colors under different illuminants. However, the current implementation relies on full chromatic adaptation via the Bradford transform, which—unlike CIECAM02 or CIECAM16—assumes complete adaptation and does not model partial adaptation, luminance, or surround effects as the human visual system does.

When the original console white point is far from D65 (e.g., some Game Boy family systems with very warm displays), full chromatic adaptation can significantly distort colors compared to a partial adaptation model. At the moment, consider to leave this option turned OFF for these cases.

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Example

Chromatic adaptation on the GameBoy Micro shader (OFF = "blue tinted / cool temperature greyscale", ON = "neutral greyscale")

Debug Shader parameters

Note

Only available in the non‑LUT shader version.

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
• Libretro Forum
  • forum thread: https://forums.libretro.com/t/real-gba-and-ds-phat-colors/1540