Never underestimate the power of nostalgia. In an age when there are more megapixels stuffed in the sensor of a smartphone camera than the average computer display can even represent, why would jagged images from a 20-year-old grayscale camera with pixels numbering in the thousands still grab attention? Maybe what’s old is new again, and the coolness factor of novelty is something that can’t be quantified.
The surprise I had last Monday when I saw my Twitter notifications is maybe only second to the feeling I had when I was invited to become a Hackaday contributor. I’d made a very simple web app which mimics a Game Boy Camera using the camera from your phone or desktop, and it got picked up by people so much that I’m amazed my web host is still holding. Let’s look at why something seemingly so simple gained so much traction.
What Is The Game Boy Camera?
The Game Boy Camera was a 1998 Nintendo peripheral for their popular Game Boy handheld, first released in 1989. Looking like a slightly odd cartridge with a bulbous addition at the top, it was designed to turn a relatively inexpensive video game system into a digital camera at a time when such devices could come at a significant premium. Internally however, the project wasn’t as popular with Nintendo executives during development as it is today. To make it more appealing, the team led by Hirokazu Tanaka also included minigames and different camera functions, adding value to a project that would be otherwise seen as uncharacteristic for the company.
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
