Gameboy Hardware Interfacing

Gameboy Hardware Interfacing

After writing Doubletalk, I knew the Gameboy had great potential for musicians. Specifically, if a hardware interface could further extend the Gameboy’s audio input/output capabilities, the platform offered possibilities as a programmable metronome or alternative instrument.

Hardware interface to Nintendo Gameboy
Hardware interface to Nintendo Gameboy
Hardware interface to Nintendo Gameboy
Hardware interface to Nintendo Gameboy

To further explore this idea, I built a connector to access the Gameboy circuitry using a solderless breadboard. With this connector and breadboard, I successfully interfaced flash memory and an 8-bit Digital to Analog Convertor (DAC) to the Gameboy.

This experience inspired me to use the Gameboy as the platform for an assembly language programming course I taught at Wichita State University in 2008.

Similar Posts

  • Touch #2

    Touch #2 is a playful virtual environment and an interactive, musical instrument. Viewers become participants through play. The work transforms any flat wall into a touch-sensitive surface. A projector and infrared camera mount on the ceiling and infrared emitters mount on top of the wall, allowing the work to detect as many as 10 touches…

  • DoubleTalk

    Doubletalk, a two player audio-manipulation game was my first serious endeaver with the Gameboy. The game used the Pocketvoice, a Gameboy cartridge with a built-in amplified speaker and microphone. In Doubletalk, players record themselves, reverse their recordings, then try to guess what each other is saying.

  • Digital Puppetry

    I worked with a team of colleagues, community members, and urban youth. Our intention was to help the youth learn in a playful environment, find personal self-expression, and have their voices heard by communities in Boston. To do this, we adapted commercially available technology to provide a unique medium: digital puppetry.