The Game Boy Camera isn’t dead! Or not quite, at least. Yes, we know we could go dig out an old Game Boy and the camera attachment would probably still work, but what’s the point if we can’t share the images with our friends or through social media? Thankfully, a more modern solution is now at hand for our retro cravings
Created in the days before cameras were embedded in literally everything we own, the Game Boy Camera was a brilliant little tool which, attached to a Game Boy or Game Boy Color, could snap pixelated photos to be displayed on your device’s screen. It didn’t really serve much of a purpose back in the day besides shoving your face into a few Game & Watch style minigames but, oh boy was it cool.
it's done!!
— maple "mavica" syrup, professional lesbian (@maplesbian) October 18, 2020
i've implemented all functions i wanted to my web gameboy camera app and it seems to be working alright
please let me know if you find any bugs and do share pictures, i'd love to see them!https://t.co/E1xJh6Ev0e pic.twitter.com/ThvGqB2QSj
Cameras have come a long way since then, but if you’ve been itching to see your own mug (or surroundings) rendered in a delightfully retro image, you now can! Twitter user and game developer maple has created a website that’ll take your webcam or phone camera input and shove it through a blocky filter to display an image eerily accurate to the Game Boy camera of old. Give it a try by clicking here!
You can pause the image at any time, adjust the brightness or contrast, and swap between several different color palette options. Be warned, it’s best not to open this on a work day or you could lose hours to just playing around with photos of stuff in your house or office. Pretty much everything looks great through the camera, and the replies to maple’s announcement tweet are filled with great images of objects and people playing around with settings. Naturally, we couldn't resist getting Mario and Bowser in on the action for a selfie.
Again, you can play around with maple’s Game Boy Camera tool by visiting the webpage or checking it out on Twitter. The program is still in development, with maple potentially adding different resolution downloads and other features further down the line.
