Game Boy Capture

Game Boy Capture

To record footage from a Game Boy, you're going to have to use one of three Game Boy Emulators.

Model	System	Notes
Super Game Boy	Super Nintendo	Games run faster. Not all GameBoy Color games are supported
Super Game Boy 2	Super Famicom/Modified Super Nintendo	More accurate than Super Game Boy 1, region modification required to run on SNES. Not all GameBoy Color games are supported
Game Boy Player	Nintendo Game Cube	Supports all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games

Super Game Boy

The Super Game Boy was released as a physical add-on to the Super Nintendo. It fits into the SNES like a regular cartridge and has a slot to insert Game Boy cartridges. The controller that's used is the SNES controller and you have the option to remap the buttons. The Super Game Boy also applied a certain amount of color to games which you could adjust. The Game Boy went through several revisions, its last one being Game Boy Color. Some games were developed specifically for Game Boy color and did not have support for Super Game Boy. Pokemon Crystal is an example of a game that will not run on a Super Game Boy.

The Super Game Boy has a few oddities which you need to be aware of. First, it runs Game Boy Games significantly faster than a real Game Boy. If you do a speedrun on the Super Game Boy, the time of your run will be multiplied by 1.024115. Since the Super Game Boy is running off of a SNES the video footage will be at the same resolution the Super Nintendo uses. That's 240 lines of resolution. Standard definition capture devices won't have a problem with this, but some high definition capture devices may not be able to record this signal.

Super Game Boy 2

There was a second release of the Super Game Boy that was only available in Japan. It plugs into the Super Nintendo, outputs footage in the same quality and resolution, and it is almost identical to the original Super Game Boy design. It has one important improvement. The second release of the Super Game Boy does not speed up games like the first model does making it the ideal version to use. There is just one catch. The Super Game Boy 2 is a Japanese cart and you will need to modify your SNES console in order to be able to play it. The modification is actually quite easy. There are some tabs near the insertion point of the cartridge that need to be cut. That's it. You can find details on how to do this here. The Super Game Boy 2 also does not support some Game Boy Color games.

Game Boy Player

The Game Boy player is an add-on to the Nintendo Game Cube that enabled the GameCube to play both Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games. The add-on contained a slot to load Game Boy / Advance games and a disc to boot up the player. Either a GameCube controller or a GameBoy Advance (with an adapter) could be used as a controller. While the Game Boy player still doesn't play games at a speed identical to the original Game Boy Advance, it is pretty close.

Required Settings

The Game Boy Player contains some picture filter and border options that you must configure properly before recording a speedrun. You can access the settings menu by pressing the Z button on a GameCube controller.

Make sure that the screen filter is set to "Sharp", the frame is set to #20, and that the screen size is set to "Normal." Please be sure to use these settings. If you don't configure these settings correctly your speedrun will be rejected. After you have that set up, just record as you would record a normal GameCube game. For reference, the GameCube video signal is 480 lines of resolution. This signal should be compatible with standard definition capture devices and some high definition capture devices.

As a side note, if you aren't a fan of playing Game Boy Games using the GameCube controller or the GameBoy Advance, the website Retro USB sells some controller adapters that will let you use an NES or SNES controller instead.