Shipping a Game Boy “Wario Synth” from real MIDI

A web app (wario.style) that searches for real MIDI files online and resynthesizes them in-browser using a procedural Game Boy-style four-channel synth engine with zero samples or server audio. The team shipped an MVP with MIDI search, deterministic parsing, and reliable Web Audio playback, but had to remove the MP3 download feature because modern browsers silently block downloads after long async rendering work due to expired user gestures. Key takeaways include prioritizing reliability over cleverness and treating browser policies as hard product constraints.