• Introduction
• Javascript/html5 tool
• Command-line tool
• My technique to read RAM
• A quick overview of other approaches

Introduction

kilo pixels) pictures in black and white (4 grey levels / 2 bit per pixel). The 128K battery-backed RAM built into the cartridge can hold a maximum of 30 photos.

There are a few ways (here's mine) to read the content of the cartridge RAM and store it in a file.

Photos contained in the save file can be extracted using special software. I found one named GBCameraDump, for Windows. It works fine in Wine, so even on other OSes it can be used to convert the photos to bitmap (.bmp) files.

Even though the above tool already existed, I decided to make my own. I began by doing a command-line tool for Linux outputting .png files.

Then, somewhat inspired by a Javascript N64 controller pak (memory pak) editor I knew of, and wanting to play with HTML5 Canvases, I made yet another tool, this time using Javascript/HTML5!

Here are a few pictures I recently took. The color theme matches what you get when the camera is used on a Game Boy Player (on a Gamecube).

Javascript/html5 tool

• Displays the "large" (128x112) photos.
• Also shows deleted photos.
• Customizable color theme (using hex color codes) for the 4 "grey" levels.
• 3 built-in color themes: Black and White, Gameboy and Gameboy player.
• Export to .PNG using the "Save as..." browser features from the right-click on image menu.

Black and White

Game boy

Game boy player

Command-line tool

• Extract "large" photos (128x112) to .PNG
• Extract "small" (thumbnail) photos to PNG
• Extract the "Game Faces" photo to a .PNG
• Recover deleted photos
• Single photo or batch (all photos) extraction
• List photos

Use

Displaying help with -h

  Options:
    -h              Display this help text
    -i index        Source image index (first image is 0). Default: 0
    -g              Use gameface as source photo
    -o output.png   Export a single photo to a .png file
    -b basename     Export all photos to png files, using the specified basename
    -d              Display selected photo (see -i) to the terminal
    -l              List photos in save file
    -a              Also export deleted photos
    -s              Export/display small photos (32x32) intead of large photos (128x112)
    -v              Be verbose

Listing photos (shows which one are active and deleted)

./gbcam2png source.sav -l

Exporting a single photo (index 0) to a .png file

./gbcam2png source.sav -i 0 -o output.png

Exporting all active photos

./gbcam2png source.sav -b test

Exporting all photos, including deleted ones

./gbcam2png source.sav -b test -a

Displaying a photo in a terminal (-d)

./gbcam2png source.sav -i 15 -d

This project is also available on GitHub!
To request features, report issues or contribute, you may send me an email or use the GitHub repository:
https://github.com/raphnet/gbcam2png

My technique to read RAM

• A raphnet-tech N64 to USB adapter (V3)
• A N64 controller
• A Transfer Pak
• A Game Boy Camera

raphnet-tech N64 to USB adapter V3

N64 controller

Transfer Pak

Game boy camera

USB adapter, Controller, Transfer Pak and Camera

A quick overview of other approaches

• Taking a picture of the Gameboy screen
• Using the Super Game Boy or the Game Boy Player with a video capture card
• Printing the pictures using a Game Boy printer
• Using a Game Boy printer emulator (the pictures are received directly by a PC pretending to be a printer) https://github.com/mofosyne/arduino-gameboy-printer-emulator
• Use a product called Mega Memory Card to read the camera RAM, then copy it to a reprogrammable Game boy cartridge. And then read the cartridge content trough USB (or SD card, depending on the cartridge). Source: Source: http://jamesumber.com/how-to-transfer-photos-from-a-game-boy-camera/