Federico Viticci Turns a Game Boy Camera Into a Low-Res Webcam for Apple iPad FaceTime Calls

MacStories' Federico Viticci has used a shiny new feature of iPadOS 17 to bring back a very-much-not-new video device for FaceTime use: Nintendo's Game Boy Camera, a grayscale snapshot accessory released in 1998 for the Game Boy family of handheld consoles.

"A major change introduced by iPadOS 17 that is going to make video creators and gamers happy is support for UVC (USB Video Class) devices, which means an iPad can now recognize external webcams, cameras, video acquisition cards, and other devices connected over USB-C," Viticci explains of his project.

"I started testing iPadOS 17 thinking this would be a boring addition I’d never use; as it turns out, it’s where I had the most fun tinkering with different pieces of hardware this summer," Viticci continues. "Most of all, however, I did not anticipate I’d end up doing FaceTime calls with a Game Boy Camera as my iPad Pro’s webcam."

Released in 1998 as an accessory for the Nintendo Game Boy range of handheld consoles and compatible with the optional Game Boy Printer, the Game Boy camera allowed the user to capture low-res photos on a 128×128 CMOS sensor — though these were cropped in software to 128×112, and stored using the four-gray palette of the original Game Boy.

Despite, or more likely because of, its low fidelity, the Game Boy Camera has become something of an iconic device — and has inspired projects like Michael Fitzmayer's CMOS Holga, Christopher Graves' Game Boy Camera M, and Bastiaan Ekeler's Canon lens mount. Viticci, though, had another idea in mind: using it as a webcam for FaceTime video calls, in all its two-bit blocky glory.

"I have an Analogue Pocket, which is an outstanding modern take on the Game Boy that can play original Game Boy cartridges. I also have the Analogue Pocket dock, which lets me play Game Boy games on a big screen by taking advantage of the Pocket's excellent upscaling mode for Game Boy graphics," Viticci explains. "If I could use the Game Boy Camera on a Pocket and send the video feed from the console to the iPad Pro, would I then be able to do a FaceTime call with someone while looking like a character straight out of a Game Boy game? The answer, my dear readers, is a glorious, resounding Yes."

Connecting the Analogue dock to an Elgato Cam Link capture dongle, which in turn connects to the iPad, Viticci was able to coax live video out of the device — and while it includes the Game Boy Camera's software control overlay, it also supports Facetime's video effects overlays — recognizing gestures and playing high-quality full-color animations over the grayscale low-res video feed.

"That’s when I truly lost it. There I was, performing gestures in front of a Game Boy Camera in 2023 to test video capture and FaceTime on an iPad Pro," Viticci writes. "None of this makes sense, and no regular person will ever need to use this. And yet, somehow, the fact that everything worked as it was supposed to filled me a strange sense of peace and nerd satisfaction."

Viticci's full project write-up is available on his MacStories site.