33 Years Later, There’s Finally a Capture Card for Recording Game Boy Gameplay

If you wanted any extra proof that the 33-year-old Nintendo Game Boy nonetheless has a loyal fan base, Sebastian Staacks has created a easy plug-and-play system that permits gameplay from the hand held to be streamed to a computer over USB and recorded, with out requiring any modifications to the console.

This isn’t the primary time we’ve coated Staacks’ prowess with making the Game Boy do issues it’s by no means accomplished earlier than. Earlier this yr, they created a customized cartridge that allowed the hand held to stream video wirelessly, which they demonstrated by exhibiting Star Wars taking part in on the Game Boy’s ugly inexperienced and grey display screen. That was adopted up with a hack that turned the basic Nintendo handheld right into a sport streaming system able to taking part in fashionable titles like Grand Theft Auto V.

Those hacks ultimately gave Staacks the concept for a tool that Game Boy followers most likely didn’t understand they wanted. Although it wasn’t a function at launch, there are actually a number of methods to seize Game Boy gameplay footage. The authentic console may be modded with a video out connection, or avid gamers can go for fashionable alternate options, just like the Analogue Pocket, which might hook up with a seize card over HDMI. The best resolution is to only play basic Game Boy titles by means of a software program emulator working natively on a PC, however for aggressive gamers or pace runners hoping to set official information, the unique Game Boy {hardware} is a should.

The GB Interceptor is paying homage to the Game Shark and Game Genie units of yesteryear, which interfaced between a console and a sport cartridge to facilitate dishonest or different sport modifications. You insert the GB Interceptor right into a Game Boy’s cartridge slot, insert a sport cartridge into the GB Interceptor, after which join it to a PC with a USB-C cable. The PC treats the sign from the GB Interceptor like a sign from a webcam, permitting Game Boy gameplay to be recorded and even streamed throughout the web. Yes, which means you should use the Game Boy Camera as your webcam for Zoom conferences, if you happen to so select.

For these not accustomed to the internal workings of the Game Boy, there isn’t any video data handed between the sport cart and the console for the GB Interceptor to… intercept. Instead, what it’s basically doing is intercepting sport play instructions entered by means of the Game Boy’s controls, then replicating them completely by means of a customized Game Boy emulator Staacks created. So what’s being streamed over USB-C is an ideal real-time copy of what the participant sees on the Game Boy’s native display screen.

In its present type, the GB Interceptor does have a few limitations. It solely works with authentic Game Boy video games, though the customized cartridge can be utilized on the Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance units—simply with OG video games. It can also’t recreate a sport’s audio, so that might should be individually captured utilizing the Game Boy’s headphone jack. If that’s not a dealbreaker, Staacks has supplied the entire mandatory code and supply information to make your individual on GitHub (plus a detailed build video shared on YouTube), however sadly doesn’t appear to have any plans to fabricate and promote these en masse.