Raspberry Pi Pico Enables Live Video Streaming on Nintendo’s Game Boy Color

Just a few days back, YouTuber ChromaLock unveiled his latest tech adventure on his channel. This time, he took us on a journey through his innovative project—transforming a Game Boy Color into a video playback device using its original link cable. With the aid of a Raspberry Pi Pico and some specialized software, ChromaLock has optimized this setup to handle the video workload quite impressively.

When it comes to video quality, simpler videos tend to play more smoothly, offering higher frames per second (FPS) and fairly clear visuals when paired with a USB webcam. This set-up offers a surprisingly better experience than the classic Game Boy Camera accessory. However, given the Game Boy Color’s limitation to a four-color palette, most videos perform better in monochrome, especially since color can be a challenge for its humble 160 x 144-pixel screen.

To achieve this feat, ChromaLock has created an app named CGBLinkVideo, specifically designed to operate alongside a Raspberry Pi Pico, a Game Boy Color, and the trusty link cable. Shared on GitHub, this app is built from various open-source software components. Despite the video data being condensed to 1 Megabyte per second, the link cable limits the transfer to a mere 64 Kilobytes per second. This results in very compressed video frames, leading to dropped or split frames on occasion. Nonetheless, ChromaLock’s setup successfully handles video playback.

ChromaLock’s YouTube video goes beyond just showing off video playback; he delves into the intricate process of developing this tool while navigating the Game Boy Color’s system constraints. In monochrome mode, the playback can soar up to 60 FPS, whereas the introduction of colors scales it down to around 12 FPS.

The experiment even extends to video game streaming, though the experience is much less satisfying than running native Game Boy applications, and modern 3D titles like Doom Eternal appear as illegible blobs on the Game Boy Color’s vintage display.

The catalyst for this project seemed to be the challenge of smoothly playing the iconic Touhou Project music video “Bad Apple” on a Game Boy Color. Since the video is grayscale, achieving 60 FPS was plausible despite some pronounced dithering due to the compression method. It’s quite a spectacle to behold, demonstrating ChromaLock’s dedication and the Game Boy Color’s enduring charm in the realm of tech experiments.