The Game Boy Camera will soon get a second life as an awful webcam

This is made possible using the GB Operator: a USB dock that allows Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges to be played on a computer (or the Steam Deck) through an app called Playback and the open-source mGBA emulator. The dock can also back up save game data or easily extract photos captured by the Game Boy Camera.

Epilogue, the company behind it, shared a short video of the new feature on X and told Time Extension, “We now have a live feed from the Game Boy Camera, but still need to fine-tune some things and allow for configuration options.”

It also described the new feature as “the worst and the best webcam you’ll ever have.”

A previous attempt at turning the Game Boy Camera into a webcam required a stack of hardware, including a Super Nintendo, a Super Game Boy cartridge, a device to convert a composite video signal to HDMI, and a video capture card for a PC. Epilogue’s solution looks much simpler and nearly painless — except for those forced to see their co-workers livestreamed through a relic of digital photography.

In addition to the Game Boy-focused GB Operator, Epilogue recently shared the first images of its upcoming SN Operator, which offers the same functionality and PC connectivity but for Super Nintendo cartridges. There are currently no details on when the SN Operator will be released, and “coming soon” is the only timeline shared for the GB Operator upgrades.