Video game companies are cashing in on middle-aged gamers seeking retro fun. But can technology recapture a feeling?

Palmer Luckey, the billionaire tech entrepreneur who founded Anduril Industries, a defence contractor that builds killer drones, is in the midst of launching a new product.It’s a hand-held device packed with high-tech circuitry, enclosed in a sleek magnesium-alloy shell with a sapphire crystal face. This US$199 device, called the Chromatic, has only one function: It plays decades-old video-game cartridges originally designed for the Nintendo Game Boy.