Accessories Game Boy Camera: Nintendo's Own Photography Play-Thing

When digital cameras broke out in the 1990s, that was thought to be the last evolution for photography; finally, you didn’t need film, you could store your photos on the camera itself and even transfer and print them from a computer! While a generally antiquated idea by today’s standards, digital cameras were nonetheless a huge deal for the consuming public, and it wouldn’t take long for game companies to notice.

Released in 1998 as a tie-in with the printer accessory, the Game Boy Camera was a basic but more compact version of the already portable standard digital, being able to fit in to the cartridge slot of Nintendo’s handheld device. With the capacity to take 123 x 112 pixel resolution, monochrome photos (unless you used it on a Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance), it essentially worked like a typical camera; you point the lens at something, with a digital interpretation being displayed on the Game Boy’s screen, adjust contrast and brightness, press the A button and Voilà, You got a photo, which you could then either save to the storage of the camera, or delete it and try again.

One of the more novel features was the ability to manually rotate the camera 180 degrees, essentially meaning you could take photos of yourself. Long before the age of ‘selfies’, photos were generally taken by a second party, or you had to pay to get a professional portrait shot. With a rotatable camera however, you could now snap close ups of your face…if you could even see your face.

See, one of the drawbacks of an extremely portable camera was that it had no flash whatsoever; if you wanted to see what you were taking a photo of, that sun had better be angled perfectly, not just to easily display the photo subject, but also because the Game Boy didn’t get a proper internal light until the release of the SP in February 2003, five years after the camera. As a result, there were more than a couple of pics that consisted of vague shadows against an indiscernible background, which could then only be viewed during the day. Needless to say, the shots weren’t exactly ground-breaking at the best of times but hey, it was cheaper than buying a proper camera.


However, developers Creatures Inc., Jupiter and Nintendo R&D 1 weren’t satisfied with just a camera, giving aspiring picture enthusiasts the ability to take, edit and play with photos using a massive selection of different tools; for those who wanted the subtleties of picture manipulation, there were trick lenses and composition effects, including mirrored images, fisheyes, panoramas and even a mix-and-match, progressive photo capture, while the more post-production savvy had access to paint and stamp tools that let you digitally graffiti all over your photos – a novel concept at the time – slideshow and flipbook style animation studios, a music sequencer, a strange interactive “Hot Spot” function, there was seemingly no end to the variety of features contained in what was essentially just a camera.

Finally, if you wanted a physical copy of your photos, there was the option to print using the patented Game Boy Printer and Link Cable. How this would work is that the image would be burned onto officially produced thermal paper and, since it was self-adhesive, you could make stickers out of them. While a really cool idea at the time, most other thermal paper was incompatible, with photos typically not showing up at all. This led to a long, awful crusade as the later the printer got in its lifecycle, the harder it was to track down more of the paper before it ran out.


For me though, what I remember the most about the camera was the games. If the plethora of features still weren’t enough, the Game Boy Camera also included three mini-games: “Ball”, essentially a port of the Game and Watch title of the same name, “Run! Run! Run!”, a button basher that had the player compete in a series of hurdled races and “Space Fever II”, a pseudo sequel and nod to Nintendo’s previous Space Invaders clone. Together, they weren’t masterpieces, but a fun way to break up the monotony of photography.


Where things take a weird turn however, was the picture integration. Maintaining the camera façade of the device, the player could also take four silly photos of their face and inject themselves as the main character in “Ball” and “Run”, with “Space Fever II” saving them for the final boss, just in case you really wanted to express some pent up aggression against yourself.

Using the camera was only half the fun however; it was the interconnected, almost art gallery-esque presentation that made it all the more special. Moving from one menu to another, the player was always treated with some elaborately detailed pixel artwork, typically of something completely unrelated and artistically contrasting to the previous menu; sometimes it was a meticulously detailed Dalmatian, other times it was a rendition of the solar system, you just never knew what you were getting next. Since the menus were always hidden and concealed - with literal items inaccessible until meeting certain requirements - navigating them was always like moving through a bizarre rabbit hole, prodding you to keep exploring...Even if it was to uncover the disturbing faces awaiting you.

Whenever the player incorrectly tried to perform a task, like attempting to print off without a connected device, they would be treated to a randomly selected, grotesque caricature accompanied by an error message, most times accompanied with an unsettling droning ’song’ which, if you can imagine, sounded like a psychopathic musician pressing down twenty keyboard keys at once. This burned into many young people’s minds – as it did mine – being unofficially classed on modern social forums as Creepypasta, becoming almost as famous as the device itself.


Financially, the Game Boy Camera was a hit, selling nearly 500,000 units in Japan during its initial three weeks, before being released internationally several months later, also to critical acclaim, though in no small part due to the marketing from the American published Nintendo Power Magazine, which even had an exclusive, mail-order “The Legend of Zelda” gold cartridge variant, complete with exclusive Hyrulian-themed stamps and photos. It won a Guinness World Record for the “Smallest Digital Camera” at the time and was even used to create the cover art for Neil Young’s 25th studio album “Silver & Gold”, but otherwise saw very little attention outside of its target demographic.

While obviously not in circulation any more, having been made obsolete with modern phone cameras, the limitations still haven’t stopped people like Jean-Jacques Calbayrac, aka “gameboycameraman”, a devoted Instagram photographer who still captures with the Game Boy, making mild changes like using a colour filter. Otherwise, the device has retained its cult status thanks to photography and game console technicians making modern innovations, most notably the Game Boy Mini Camera, which Frankensteins most of the original device with modern iPhone technology.


Maybe it’s the novelty of taking photos directly from your Game Boy or the unapologetically retro aesthetic, but for one reason or another, there’s still a special thrill that comes from capturing low resolution, colourless photos. Proving a tricky device to digitally replicate, Nintendo may release a new ‘retro’ version of the camera one day, or integrate into a future console. Until then, there are old units still frequently available online at a moderate price, or the aforementioned Game Boy Mini Camera at a not so moderate price. So pick one up if you have the time - and finances - and appreciate its quirky charm for yourself.

 

[Max]

Pretty nice