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

A few days back, the popular YouTuber ChromaLock unveiled his latest DIY tech marvel on his channel. This time, he delved into the world of retro gaming by showcasing a Game Boy Color that can play videos through its classic link cable, thanks to a Raspberry Pi Pico and some specialized software tailor-made for such tasks.

In terms of playback, simpler videos translate to smoother and higher frame rates. The quality and fluidity of videos, even those from a USB webcam, are quite impressive, especially when compared to the original Game Boy Camera. However, since the color spectrum is restricted to just four shades, monochrome is the way to go for most video playback, considering the Game Boy Color’s modest 160 x 144-pixel display.

The heart of this streaming setup is an app called CGBLinkVideo, which ChromaLock has kindly shared on GitHub. It’s built on several open-source platforms and is intended for use with a Raspberry Pi Pico, the Game Boy Color, and the link cable. Due to heavy video compression, quality is reduced to 1 Megabyte per second; however, the Link Cable can only handle around 64 Kilobytes per second. This means that while the video “works,” it’s not unusual to experience dropped or fragmented frames.

ChromaLock’s video doesn’t just stop at showcasing playback capabilities. He dives deep into the challenges of developing this tool given the Game Boy Color’s hardware limitations. When kept in grayscale or monochrome, video playback can climb up to 60 frames per second. But when color is added to the mix, it drops the fluidity to about 12 frames per second.

He also dabbled with video game streaming, but trying to stream even original Game Boy titles was a far cry from running them natively. Modern games, like Doom Eternal, appeared extremely pixelated and unreadable on the Game Boy Color’s dated screen.

ChromaLock’s real passion behind this endeavor seemed to be driven by the challenge of streaming the iconic “Bad Apple” music video from the Touhou Project onto a Game Boy Color. Being already in monochrome, it was quite possible to play it at 60 frames per second on the handheld device. Despite achieving this impressive feat, the video exhibited significant dithering due to the streaming process.

For those interested in more of ChromaLock’s creative projects or looking to dive deeper into the world of tech tinkering, his YouTube channel is a treasure trove of innovation.