The venerable Game Boy camera is reborn as a fun lo-fi webcam

Of all the low-resolution digital cameras of the 1990s, none had the lasting cultural impact of Nintendo’s 0.014-megapixel monochrome Game Boy Camera. Romanian video game technology company Epilogue turned the Game Boy Camera into a webcam, providing nostalgic entertainment for conference calls.

Epilogue’s new GB Operator allows users to play Game Boy cartridges on their computer. And of course, the Game Boy Camera is, at its core, a Game Boy cartridge.

“Like a cartridge slot for your computer,” Epilogue says, adding that the device and accompanying app work on macOS, Windows and Linux.

As for the Game Boy Camera cartridge, produced from 1998 to 2002, Epilogue writes: “Find your inner photographer. Transfer those 16 KP (or rather kilopixel) photos from your Game Boy Camera to your PC with just a few clicks.” To be clear, the Game Boy Camera’s image sensor measures 128 x 128 pixels (16.38 kilopixels), but the active imaging area measures 128 x 112 pixels (14.36 kilopixels).

When used with the GB Operator, the Game Boy Camera already functions as a still camera. However, to use the Game Boy Camera as a live video camera, there are a few additional steps to take. Users will need to have the GB Operator, the Game Boy Camera, the Playback application, and an open source mGBA emulator.

Epilogue has successfully used the Game Boy Camera as a webcam, as seen in the embedded post from X (formerly known as Twitter) above. However, the team is working on a few details to ensure the feature is ready for the general public. For now, the webcam feature is “coming soon.”

This wouldn’t be the first time people have used the Game Boy Camera as a webcam, though it might be one of the simplest. An approach devised by Bernard Capulong in 2020 requires the Game Boy Camera, the Super Game Boy 2, Super Nintendo hardware (or similar), a capture card, and an external mic. Last year, Federico Viticci got the Game Boy Camera working for FaceTime calls using an analog pocket and an HDMI dock.

Whichever method Game Boy Camera fans choose, one thing is for sure: there’s never been a better time to use a worse camera as a webcam.

Image credits: Epilogue