Game Boy Camera
Encyclopedia
The Game Boy Camera, released as in Japan, is an official Nintendo
accessory for the handheld Game Boy
gaming console and was released in 1998. It is also compatible with the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color
, Super Game Boy
, Game Boy Advance
, and Game Boy Advance SP
. The camera can take 128x112, black & white digital images using the 4-color palette of the Game Boy system. It interfaced with the Game Boy Printer
, which utilized thermal paper
to print any saved images, making a hardcopy. Both the camera and the printer were marketed by Nintendo as light-hearted entertainment devices aimed mainly at children in all three major video game regions of the world: Japan, North America, and Europe. N64 Magazine (which has since been superseded by NGamer
) dedicated a monthly section to the device.
The Game Boy Camera comes in five different standard colors: blue, green, red, yellow and clear purple (Japan only) There was also a limited edition gold The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
version, which contains different stamps from the standard versions and was available only in the USA through a mail order offer from Nintendo Power
.
The game has numerous references to other Nintendo products. Also, there are a few differences between the North America
n and Japan
ese versions, including the unlockable B album pictures and the stamps that can be placed on pictures.
The Game Boy Camera was featured in the 1999 edition of Guinness World Records
for being the world's smallest digital camera, though this record has since been broken. Nintendo reportedly had plans to release a successor to the Game Boy Camera for the Game Boy Advance called the GameEye which would take color photos and feature connectivity with the Nintendo GameCube
through a game titled Stage Debut
, but neither the GameEye nor Stage Debut ever saw release. The Game Boy Camera would be the only handheld Nintendo product to feature a user-accessible camera until the release of the Nintendo DSi
.
Hot-Spot can be used in a number of creative ways. For example, it could be used for creating a game where a player can go from one photo of a room in a house to another by pressing certain spots on the photos. The location of the hot-spots are customizable by accessing the Special menu via the Select options and choosing "Hot-Spot". In this mode, up to five one-eyed blobs can be placed on each picture, which become invisible hot-spots during "Hot-Spot" mode. Each blob can be programmed to send the player to a different photo and include a visual transition
and a sound effect. Then, in Hot-Spot mode, when the player presses one of the hot-spots, he or she will be sent to a photo of another room, where additional hot-spots will send the player to additional photos, and move him or her throughout the virtual house.
arcade game created by Nintendo. At the beginning of the game, two spaceships will appear, one marked with a "B" and one with a "D". Shooting the "B" ship will send players to the Ball minigame. Shooting the "D" ship will send players to DJ mode, an open-ended music video game
. By avoiding both of the ships, the player will begin playing Space Fever II. After scoring 2,000 points in Space Fever II, a new minigame called Run! Run! Run! will be unlocked. Once unlocked, a new ship marked with a "?" will appear alongside the "B" and "D" ships at the beginning of each new game of Space Fever II. Access Run! Run! Run! by shooting the "?" ship.
The following are options that appear when Start is pressed on the main screen:
regarding the development of the software for the device, which solidified the project. The camera's built-in software was co-developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1
and the Japanese company Jupiter
, with Tanaka directing the project.
created a link cable for the Game Boy Camera that allowed it to be connected to a computer's parallel port
for the transfer of photos in bitmap
format. This utilized the camera's "print" functionality, which was normally used to print photos to a Game Boy Printer
.
Some users have found the "Mega Memory Card" Game Boy accessory, manufactured by InterAct, a useful accessory for the Game Boy Camera. This device could store multiple Game Boy save files and allowed the user to swap them out, greatly increasing the number of photos that could be taken with a Game Boy Camera.
. If the "Run" button was pressed while the user was on one of menu screens, the game would sometimes freeze, and an image of a "vandalized" face would appear with the text "Who Are You Running From?" often startling the user with its disturbing image. The U.S. version of the game had three such faces, that would appear during different times, such as after system errors. The Japanese version had two additional faces not available in the American version. Usually however, a different screen that has a picture of Africa
and says, "You are now crossing the equator - Jambo Nintendo!" pops up.
If, during the credits, the user pressed the "B" button, a dancing man would appear on the screen. The man appears to be Shigeru Miyamoto
, creator of Mario; the music you can hear in the background (while he's dancing) is actually a jamaican riddim called punnany (played by several reggae/dancehall artists).
On the title screen, pressing the up button on the D-pad will make Mario dance faster, and pressing the down button on the D-pad will make him dance slower.
In the Japanese version, the first Space fever II boss is a drawn picture,Mario dances differently,frames 2 and 7 are different,almost all stamps are different,there are no mario stamps,there are more pokemon stamps,the animation page shows an anime girl,wild frames 2,5 and 6 are pokemon frames,the edit page shows a bird house,a doll,a face, and happy?. Lastly, Album B photos are different,
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
accessory for the handheld Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
gaming console and was released in 1998. It is also compatible with the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Light, Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
, Super Game Boy
Super Game Boy
The is a 16-bit adapter cartridge for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as the Super Famicom in Japan. The Super Game Boy allows game cartridges designed for use on the Game Boy to be played on a TV display using the SNES/Super Famicom controllers. When it was released in...
, Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
, and Game Boy Advance SP
Game Boy Advance SP
The , released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in Game Boy Advance SP stands for Special. The SP was marketed at US$99.99 at launch. In September 2004, Nintendo lowered the price to US$79.99...
. The camera can take 128x112, black & white digital images using the 4-color palette of the Game Boy system. It interfaced with the Game Boy Printer
Game Boy Printer
The Game Boy Printer, known in Japan as the , is a thermal printer accessory released by Nintendo in 1998. Nintendo ceased manufacture in 2003. The Game Boy Printer is compatible with the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance systems and is designed to be used in...
, which utilized thermal paper
Thermal paper
Thermal paper is a special fine paper that is coated with a chemical that changes color when exposed to heat. It is used in thermal printers and particularly in inexpensive or lightweight devices such as adding machines, cash registers, and credit card terminals.The surface of the paper is coated...
to print any saved images, making a hardcopy. Both the camera and the printer were marketed by Nintendo as light-hearted entertainment devices aimed mainly at children in all three major video game regions of the world: Japan, North America, and Europe. N64 Magazine (which has since been superseded by NGamer
NGamer
NGamer is a British magazine which mainly covers Nintendo video game consoles and software, and also to a much lesser extent, Sony and Microsoft consoles. The first issue was released on 13 July 2006...
) dedicated a monthly section to the device.
The Game Boy Camera comes in five different standard colors: blue, green, red, yellow and clear purple (Japan only) There was also a limited edition gold The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released in Japan on November 21, 1998; in North America on November 23, 1998; and in Europe on December 11, 1998...
version, which contains different stamps from the standard versions and was available only in the USA through a mail order offer from Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
.
The game has numerous references to other Nintendo products. Also, there are a few differences between the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese versions, including the unlockable B album pictures and the stamps that can be placed on pictures.
The Game Boy Camera was featured in the 1999 edition of Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
for being the world's smallest digital camera, though this record has since been broken. Nintendo reportedly had plans to release a successor to the Game Boy Camera for the Game Boy Advance called the GameEye which would take color photos and feature connectivity with the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
through a game titled Stage Debut
Stage Debut
Stage Debut was a game planned to be published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Gamecube video game console. The game was intended for a 2004 release, but was indefinitely delayed, probably due to the cancellation of its sister peripheral for the Game Boy Advance, the...
, but neither the GameEye nor Stage Debut ever saw release. The Game Boy Camera would be the only handheld Nintendo product to feature a user-accessible camera until the release of the Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
.
Gameplay
There are three main parts of the interface:- Shoot
- View
- Play
Shoot
Shoot contains the following choices:- Shoot (Take a picture)
- Items
- Self-Timer (Take a picture automatically after a delay)
- Time-Lapse (Take pictures automatically at regular intervals)
- Magic
- Trick Lenses (Mirror and zoom effects)
- Montage (Take two pictures and mix them together)
- Panorama (Take multiple pictures and combine them in a row or column)
- Game Face (The picture taken will appear at least once in every game on the camera, usually as the main character)
- Check (View pictures taken)
- Run (Prank option)
View
View contains the following choices:- Album (View the albums stored in memory)
- Show
- Slideshow (Display and edit a slide show of the current album)
- Animation (Choose background music and view pictures in sequence to make it look like they are moving)
- Hot-Spot (Link pictures together by clicking on certain spots of the picture)
Hot-Spot can be used in a number of creative ways. For example, it could be used for creating a game where a player can go from one photo of a room in a house to another by pressing certain spots on the photos. The location of the hot-spots are customizable by accessing the Special menu via the Select options and choosing "Hot-Spot". In this mode, up to five one-eyed blobs can be placed on each picture, which become invisible hot-spots during "Hot-Spot" mode. Each blob can be programmed to send the player to a different photo and include a visual transition
Dissolve (filmmaking)
In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. The terms fade-out and fade-in and are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image. This is in contrast to a cut where there is no such transition. A dissolve...
and a sound effect. Then, in Hot-Spot mode, when the player presses one of the hot-spots, he or she will be sent to a photo of another room, where additional hot-spots will send the player to additional photos, and move him or her throughout the virtual house.
Play
Play is a built-in Space Fever II minigame, which is the sequel to the Space FeverSpace Fever
is a 1979 arcade game by Nintendo R&D1. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Space Fever. It was released in both monochrome and color versions. It is Nintendo's version of Taito's 1978 Space Invaders. The game was distributed by Far East Video.-Gameplay:Similar to the...
arcade game created by Nintendo. At the beginning of the game, two spaceships will appear, one marked with a "B" and one with a "D". Shooting the "B" ship will send players to the Ball minigame. Shooting the "D" ship will send players to DJ mode, an open-ended music video game
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
. By avoiding both of the ships, the player will begin playing Space Fever II. After scoring 2,000 points in Space Fever II, a new minigame called Run! Run! Run! will be unlocked. Once unlocked, a new ship marked with a "?" will appear alongside the "B" and "D" ships at the beginning of each new game of Space Fever II. Access Run! Run! Run! by shooting the "?" ship.
- Ball is a juggling game, in which the player moves his or her hand around to catch and throw balls. It is very similar to the Game & WatchGame & Watchis a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from to . Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock and an alarm ....
game of the same name, only with Mr. Game & Watch's head replaced with the "Game Face". Interestingly, the background music to this game is "Mayim Mayim," an Israeli folk song. - DJ is a music sequencer known as "Trippy-H" where players can mix and create their own simple chiptuneChiptuneA chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
s. The "Game Face" is the DJ. - Space Fever II is an homage/sequel to an early Nintendo arcade gameSpace Feveris a 1979 arcade game by Nintendo R&D1. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Space Fever. It was released in both monochrome and color versions. It is Nintendo's version of Taito's 1978 Space Invaders. The game was distributed by Far East Video.-Gameplay:Similar to the...
. In this minigame, the player controls a spaceship which fires missiles at other ships throughout three unique levels, followed by a boss at the end of each level. The first boss is a giant face of a man with horns, the second boss is a giant face of a mustachioed man, and the third boss is the "Game Face". Once all three of the bosses are beaten, the cycle will start over again, only harder. - Run! Run! Run! is the bonus minigame, which is obtained by reaching a score of 2,000 or more in Space Fever II. The "Game Face" is attached to a cartoon body, and the player races against a mole and a bird for the finish line.
"Start" and "Select" options
The following are options that appear when Select is pressed on the main screen:- Doodle
- Stamp (Decorate a picture with stamps)
- Paint (Draw on a picture)
- Link
- Print (Set printing options and print a photo using the Game Boy PrinterGame Boy PrinterThe Game Boy Printer, known in Japan as the , is a thermal printer accessory released by Nintendo in 1998. Nintendo ceased manufacture in 2003. The Game Boy Printer is compatible with the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance systems and is designed to be used in...
) - Transfer (Send and receive photos from a friend's Game Boy Camera by linking two Game Boys via a Game Link Cable)
- Print (Set printing options and print a photo using the Game Boy Printer
- Special
- Hot-Spot (Hot-Spot configuration mode)
- Compose (Split and fuse pictures)
- Edit
- Album (Delete pictures)
- Animation (Animation configuration mode)
The following are options that appear when Start is pressed on the main screen:
- Username (Input name, sex, and birthdate)
- Record (Photo and trade stats)
- Hi-Score (Minigame high scores)
- Credits (Staff credits, must be unlocked first by completing Run!Run!Run! in under 27 seconds.)
Development
Initially, the Game Boy Camera was not well received at Nintendo. However, Kuwahara approached Creatures, Inc. President Hirokazu TanakaHirokazu Tanaka
is a Japanese composer and musician, best known for his scores for various video games produced by Nintendo. He is also the current President of Creatures, Inc.-Video game soundtracks:*Radar Scope *Space Firebird...
regarding the development of the software for the device, which solidified the project. The camera's built-in software was co-developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1
Nintendo Research & Development 1
was Nintendo's oldest development team. Its creation coincided with Nintendo's entry into the video games industry, and the original R&D1 was headed by Gunpei Yokoi...
and the Japanese company Jupiter
Jupiter (company)
Jupiter Corporation is a Japanese video game and hardware development studio that focuses on handheld consoles. It is based in Kyoto, though they have a secondary branch in Tokyo...
, with Tanaka directing the project.
Third-party accessories
Prominent third-party video game hardware manufacturer Mad Catz InteractiveMad Catz
Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...
created a link cable for the Game Boy Camera that allowed it to be connected to a computer's parallel port
Parallel port
A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
for the transfer of photos in bitmap
Bitmap
In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap, it commonly refers to...
format. This utilized the camera's "print" functionality, which was normally used to print photos to a Game Boy Printer
Game Boy Printer
The Game Boy Printer, known in Japan as the , is a thermal printer accessory released by Nintendo in 1998. Nintendo ceased manufacture in 2003. The Game Boy Printer is compatible with the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance systems and is designed to be used in...
.
Some users have found the "Mega Memory Card" Game Boy accessory, manufactured by InterAct, a useful accessory for the Game Boy Camera. This device could store multiple Game Boy save files and allowed the user to swap them out, greatly increasing the number of photos that could be taken with a Game Boy Camera.
Easter Eggs
The Game Boy Camera's software came with a few Easter eggsEaster egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
. If the "Run" button was pressed while the user was on one of menu screens, the game would sometimes freeze, and an image of a "vandalized" face would appear with the text "Who Are You Running From?" often startling the user with its disturbing image. The U.S. version of the game had three such faces, that would appear during different times, such as after system errors. The Japanese version had two additional faces not available in the American version. Usually however, a different screen that has a picture of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and says, "You are now crossing the equator - Jambo Nintendo!" pops up.
If, during the credits, the user pressed the "B" button, a dancing man would appear on the screen. The man appears to be Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....
, creator of Mario; the music you can hear in the background (while he's dancing) is actually a jamaican riddim called punnany (played by several reggae/dancehall artists).
On the title screen, pressing the up button on the D-pad will make Mario dance faster, and pressing the down button on the D-pad will make him dance slower.
In the Japanese version, the first Space fever II boss is a drawn picture,Mario dances differently,frames 2 and 7 are different,almost all stamps are different,there are no mario stamps,there are more pokemon stamps,the animation page shows an anime girl,wild frames 2,5 and 6 are pokemon frames,the edit page shows a bird house,a doll,a face, and happy?. Lastly, Album B photos are different,
In popular culture
- The Game Boy Camera was used to take the photographs for the album cover of Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's Silver & GoldSilver & GoldSilver & Gold is the twenty-fifth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 2000. Many of these songs were written in the late 1990s, though the song "Silver & Gold," which by his own estimation, he had been trying to get "the take" for around ten years, was written in...
. - The Game Boy Camera was featured prominently in the Hong Kong zombieZombieZombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
film Bio ZombieBio ZombieBio Zombie is a 1998 Hong Kong zombie-comedy film, starring Jordan Bem Chan. It spoofs George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and shows many similarities to Peter Jackson's Braindead.- Plot :...
. - In Banjo-TooieBanjo-TooieBanjo-Tooie is a platform and action-adventure hybrid video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 as a part of the Banjo-Kazooie series. The game is the successor to Banjo-Kazooie and was one of the most anticipated sequels for the Nintendo 64.The game's story...
, Chris P. Bacon uses a Game Boy Camera to take pictures.
External links
- .sav converter converts gb camera sav files into gif images.
- Game Boy Camera at NinDB
- Photos taken with Game Boy Camera and printed on the Game Boy Printer
- Photos taken with the Game Boy Camera and transferred directly to the PC
- Photos taken with the Game Boy Camera and in some cases animated.
- Photos taken with the Game Boy Camera and transferred with USB Cartridge Programmer
- Game Boy Camera Video Output Tutorial By Gijs Gieskes
- M64282FP data sheet Game Boy camera lens data sheet
- The Pellucid World, Pixielation Experimental Game Boy Camera films
- "Why" by Epichunt Pop music made with a Game Boy Camera and vocals
- Game Boy Camera - Idiot's Guide Helpful guide to using the Game Boy Camera's functions
- Trippy-H Blog A site dedicated to Trippy-H, the music sequencer found in the Game Boy Camera