Raspberry Pi Pico Enables Real-Time Video Streaming on Nintendo Game Boy Color

Just a few days back, the YouTuber ChromaLock treated his followers to an intriguing peek into his latest tech experiment. This time, he took on the challenge of transforming a Game Boy Color into a device capable of playing videos through its original link cable, all thanks to a Raspberry Pi Pico and a bit of custom software magic tuned precisely for the task.

The trick lies in keeping the video simple for the best frame rate, reminiscent of the clarity and smoothness found when using a USB webcam as opposed to an old-school Game Boy Camera. Yet, due to its color limitations, most videos look their best in monochrome, as the colors are capped at a mere four, making it a struggle to run on the Game Boy Color’s modest 160 x 144-pixel screen.

What you need to make this whole setup tick is an app called CGBLinkVideo—featuring prominently in ChromaLock’s GitHub uploads—crafted from several open-source codes. The app crunches the video quality down to just 1 Megabyte per second. However, given the Link Cable’s capacity to receive only up to 64 Kilobytes per second, the video frames end up being highly compressed. Such compression often leads to common hiccups like dropped or split frames, but against all odds, everything manages to work… mostly.

ChromaLock’s video does more than just show playback; it delves into the nitty-gritty development hurdles of working with the Game Boy Color’s limitations. By using shades of gray or monochrome, you can push playback up to an impressive 60 FPS, while adding color throttles it back to around 12 FPS. Game streaming was also put through its paces, but even attempts with original Game Boy titles paled compared to running apps natively. And trying modern marvels like Doom Eternal proved nearly pointless, given the Game Boy Color’s dated, pixilated display.

The driving force behind ChromaLock’s project appeared to be the sheer thrill of making the renowned Touhou Project piece, “Bad Apple,” play seamlessly on a Game Boy Color. Luckily, since the video was originally in black and white, achieving that smooth 60 FPS playback became a reality. Although, thanks to the streaming process, some significant dithering did creep in.

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