Nintendo Game Boy Printer
October 14, 2008 - 1:52 pm - Posted by Sean
The Game Boy Printer by Nintendo is a thermal printer designed for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color systems and was released in 1998.
Earlier today while I was out in search of random classic gaming stuff, I found one for sale and at a really good price: only $3.00 USD.
It prints images from compatible games on rolls of white, pale blue or pale yellow thermal paper with adhesive backing, 3.8cm wide, and runs on six AA batteries.
It primarily functions with the Game Boy Camera, although some late-generation Game Boy and Game Boy Color games also work in conjunction with it.
Here are a few GameBoy games that I own with Game Boy Printer support:
- Asteroids
- Klax
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
- Donkey Kong Country
Nintendo ceased manufacturing of the Game Boy Printer in 2003.
In Japan, a bright Pikachu yellow Pokemon version of the Game Boy Printer with a PokeBall emblem was released called the Pocket Printer:
Amazon also sold a CD-ROM with a parallel port cable for printing GB pictures using a PC and regular printer.
This cable has now been discontinued, however, hobbyists can make their own cable for uploading images to their computer.
The system will also print a message reading “Hello!” if it is turned on while the feed button is held.
According to the user manual, this is used to test if the printer works properly.
You are so lucky to find a Game Boy printer. It looks brand new in your picture. I’ve been looking to find one for a long time, but without any luck.
I do have the Game Boy camera which is a pretty neat accessory but the picture quality isn’t very good.
Hi Stacy. The reason it looks brand new is because I cleaned it before taking the picture. It was pretty dirty, which is probably why I got such a good deal on it.
I just did a quick check on eBay and see a few people selling Game Boy printers for less then $10.00 USD, so to me that seems like a pretty decent price.
My next accessory I’d like to track down is a Game Boy camera. Did you get yours new or used?
As for picture quality, I’ve also heard that they take OK pictures but not perfect. We shall see once I get one.