The first version of the Game Boy console is more than thirty years old, but it marked a before and after for handheld gaming systems. However, that original hardware has certain limitations that make online gaming sessions difficult, starting with the lack of a video output. Of course, there are official and emulated solutions for this, but Sebastian from the channel there oughta be decided to create the GB Interceptor, an adapter that can capture video from a Game Boy without modifying it.
The original Game Boy is a fabulous piece of retro hardware, and it deserves a privileged place in any collection, but it would be foolish of me not to recognize the conveniences that emulators (and other compatible modern consoles) offer when playing. In fact, something as simple as the Super Game Boy adapter (which allows reading Game Boy cartridges on a Super Nintendo) eliminates its main limitations (lack of backlight, batteries, etc.), but there are situations where the original system is the only valid option.
That brings us to Sebastian from the channel there oughta be. Sebastian explains that a Tetris enthusiast contacted him because he needed to do a streaming session with the Game Boy Tetris for an online tournament... using the official hardware. The problem is obvious: The Game Boy has no video output, but if all the information from the cartridge must reach its processor one way or another, then that information can be intercepted, read, and copied. The end result is the GB Interceptor.
GB Interceptor: An Adapter to Capture and Record Video from a Game Boy
The GB Interceptor is basically a man in the middle, a device that sits between the cartridge and the console like a Game Genie. The difference is that the interceptor doesn't change anything in the game: On the contrary, its main objective is to read the intact information, rebuild its image, and send it to a computer via USB, working like a webcam, without drivers or patches.
The brain of the GB Interceptor is an RP2040, the same microcontroller used by the Raspberry Pi Pico. Why? In very relaxed terms, the RP2040 runs a partial emulator with its own video memory. The same instructions that the cartridge sends to the console are also recorded by the GB Interceptor, and it discards everything that isn't necessary for video reconstruction. The most important example is audio, but that is solved using the headphone output.
If there is a major restriction in the GB Interceptor, it's that it only works with classic Game Boy games. Its connection to a Game Boy Color or Advance doesn't cause problems, however, the title must be first generation (Tetris, Link’s Awakening, the early Pokémon, etc.). In the second video, Sebastian explains how to build and acquire a GB Interceptor, but the project is open source, and that means all the material has already been published on GitHub.
GB Interceptor on GitHub: Click here
