Game Boy Color Streams Live Video Using Raspberry Pi Pico

Just a few days back, the YouTuber ChromaLock unveiled his newest hardware endeavor on his channel. This time around, he’s crafted a Game Boy Color that can play videos through its original link cable, thanks to a Raspberry Pi Pico and some finely-tuned custom software.

When it comes to video playback, simpler visuals translate into smoother frames per second, offering a pretty remarkable clarity when hooked up to a USB webcam compared to the old-school Game Boy Camera. Yet, most videos really shine in monochrome due to the color limitations—restricted to just four colors—which complicates things on the Game Boy Color’s humble 160×144-pixel screen.

ChromaLock has adapted an app named CGBLinkVideo, shared on GitHub, designed to work in harmony with a Raspberry Pi Pico, a Game Boy Color, and its link cable. Built on open-source software, it reduces video resolution to 1 Megabyte per second, but since the Link Cable handles only up to 64 Kilobytes per second, the video frames are heavily compressed. This compression leads to an occasional hiccup like dropped or split frames, but it generally gets the job done.

The ChromaLock video does more than just show off video playback—it dives into the development journey considering the Game Boy Color’s hardware restrictions. With grayscale or monochrome settings, video can reach up to 60 frames per second, while adding color brings it down to about 12 FPS.

Some gaming streams were tried as well, but even classic Game Boy games struggled streaming-wise compared to running them directly. And forget about modern giants like Doom Eternal—those were just way too detailed for the Game Boy Color’s tiny, aged display.

The driving force behind ChromaLock’s endeavor seemed centered on executing a smooth playback of the well-known Touhou Project music video “Bad Apple” on a Game Boy Color. Since it’s already monochrome, getting it to run at a solid 60 FPS on the device was actually within reach, though the streaming process left it with a fair bit of dithering.

For those interested, you can catch the full breakdown and demonstration on ChromaLock’s YouTube channel. It’s a fascinating peek into the world of retro tech and modern innovation.