The Game Boy Color was an 8-Bit system that debuted in 1998 almost a decade after the unique Game Boy. Given the technical limitations of that period, few would have believed it was attainable to create 3D photographs with a Game Boy Color. And but almost three a long time after its launch, a fan modder has efficiently performed so.
Danny Spencer created real-time 3D photographs on the Game Boy Color and shared a blog post (by way of PC Guide) the place he defined at size the way it was performed. The brief model is that Spencer needed to provide you with a workaround for the Game Boy Color’s incapability to calculate 3D graphics. His resolution was to incorporate the finished calculations and convert the ensuing vectors into spherical coordinates.
For the needs of this demo, Spencer solely created a 3D mannequin of a teapot and a Game Boy Color. It isn’t a full-fledged recreation, but it surely works and it permits gamers to govern a 3D picture from all angles in actual time. Along with the video above, a browser-based playable demo is accessible on Spencer’s weblog that makes use of a Game Boy Color emulator.
Spencer acknowledged utilizing some AI for sure points of this mission, however insists that it wasn’t used to create the algorithms, lookups, or 3D belongings. He additionally detailed a failed try and get AI to optimize the brand new code utilizing Claude Sonnet 4. Nonetheless, Spencer discovered that he had higher outcomes utilizing his personal code than he did whereas experimenting with Claude.
Final fall, No Starch Press revealed Game Boy Coding Adventure, a information to creating old-school Game Boy video games utilizing the identical instruments that builders had on the time. In 2024, ModRetro launched the ModRetro Chromatic, a contemporary handheld console that may play Game Boy Color video games whereas recreating aesthetic of the older system.