GB Inceptor is making a DIY video (Do it yourself or do it yourself) for the first Game Boy that was released three decades ago and is also compatible with the Game Boy Color. The good thing about the GB Inceptor is that it doesn’t seem to require opening the console, instead it’s a device that fits into the cartridge slot and in turn makes another slot available for games.

As we said before, GB Inceptor inserts into the cartridge slot and according to its creator Sebastian Staacks, it works on unmodified Game Boy units. After connecting provides a USB interface that is responsible for transferring images from the console to the PC like a mirror (or at least that is one of the modalities). The developer showed a game of the legendary Tetris ported from the first Game Boy to a PC running Linux Mint and using VLC to record video.

Basically a GB Inceptor consists of a custom circuit board with a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller as the brain and a Game Boy compatible connector. At the software level, it is able to emulate the Game Boy processor and graphics processing unit to recreate the video RAM that is used for capture and transmission. Once connected to a computer, the capture card is identified as a webcam, which should make streaming and recording video easier, as well as being compatible with capture solutions such as OBS Studio. For now, and perhaps to the surprise of some, it looks like it’s only compatible with Linux for now, although it can’t be ruled out that it will work on at least Windows in the future.

Sebastian Staacks has posted the documentation, PCB, firmware and instructions on how to order and build the GB Inceptor, plus more details on his blog, it should be there. Of course, although seemingly simpler than other similar solutions, the developer insists on publishing a disclaimer for any damages that his invention may cause.

The GB Inceptor is not revolutionary in itself, but given the options it has, it can be a good invention for streamers who want to use original hardware instead of emulators, although Nintendo will surely already try to knock down any content that doesn’t 100% comply with the draconian restrictions it has placed on its intellectual properties.