Game Boy Camera
You plugged this cartridge into your Game Boy, twisted its chunky lens ball around to face you, and snapped a grayscale selfie — in 1998, years before anyone had the word. Four shades, 128×112 pixels, printable on thermal paper. That lo-fi bleakness is exactly why people treasure the photos today.
Nintendo released the Game Boy Camera in Japan on February 21, 1998, and in North America on June 1 at $49.95 — a cartridge topped with a swiveling eyeball lens that turned the world's favorite handheld into a camera. Its 128×128-pixel CMOS sensor saved 128×112 grayscale images in the Game Boy's four-shade palette, giving every shot a chunky, posterized look. The lens swiveled all the way around for self-portraits: selfies before the word existed.
The photos didn't have to stay trapped on the handheld. You could print them on thermal paper with the companion Game Boy Printer, copy them between Camera units over the Game Link Cable, or move them through the N64 controller's Transfer Pak. The cartridge even packed in minigames for the moments between photo shoots.
Manufacturing ceased in late 2002, long before the selfie became a cultural fixture — which is exactly why the Game Boy Camera reads as prophetic now. The four-shade portraits have become a beloved aesthetic in their own right: blunt, affectionate, and unmistakably of their moment.
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