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

A few days back, ChromaLock, a YouTuber known for his creative tech projects, gave his followers an exciting new video. In his latest upload, he revealed an intriguing piece of hardware innovation: a Game Boy Color that plays video. With the help of a Raspberry Pi Pico and some bespoke software, he managed to stream video through the Game Boy’s original link cable.

Generally speaking, simpler video formats allow for higher frames per second, resulting in surprisingly smooth playback. It’s quite a feat when compared to what you get with the classic Game Boy Camera setup. However, the Game Boy’s limited color palette of just four shades often means that monochrome playback delivers the best results. The console’s 160 x 144-pixel screen also struggles with handling color.

ChromaLock’s brainchild—an application called CGBLinkVideo—is available on GitHub. Built upon various open-source software solutions, this program lightens video quality down to 1 MB per second. However, the Game Boy’s link cable can only handle up to 64 KB per second, leading to significant compression. As a consequence, phenomena like dropped or split frames can occur, but overall, the video playback is successful.

If you dive into ChromaLock’s full video, you’ll find it’s more than just about video playback. He provides an in-depth exploration of the development process he went through, considering the Game Boy Color’s limitations. Interestingly, when the video is in grayscale or monochrome, it can reach up to 60 FPS, but when color is introduced, that rate drops to around 12 FPS.

ChromaLock didn’t just stop at video; he also tested streaming video games. Streaming even vintage Game Boy games wasn’t as smooth as running them directly on the hardware. Modern games like Doom Eternal, with their high-definition graphics, were essentially unplayable on the low-res Game Boy screen.

The project seemed inspired by a desire to achieve the impressive feat of running the iconic Touhou Project video “Bad Apple” flawlessly on a Game Boy Color. Since the video is already in monochrome, it was actually doable at 60 FPS, despite some noticeable dithering.

ChromaLock’s creativity and persistence offered a nostalgic yet cutting-edge twist on a classic gaming device, showcasing not only technical skill but the limitless potential of even the most familiar technologies.