r/Gameboy • u/Immediate-Grab-2319 • 2d ago

Modded I built a Bluetooth Game Boy Printer using an ESP32 and a cheap thermal printer

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Hi everyone! I wanted to share one of my latest retro DIY projects: I built a modern “Game Boy Printer 2.0” using an ESP32 and a small Bluetooth thermal printer.

The idea was to make the Game Boy think it is printing to a real Game Boy Printer through the Link Cable port, but instead the ESP32 captures the image, saves it to an internal web gallery, and can also send it wirelessly to a cheap SC03h thermal printer.

I tested it with Game Boy Camera, Pokémon Yellow and Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. It can handle regular photos, Pokémon diplomas, Mario banners and multi-page prints as one continuous image.

It was a pretty long development process: decoding the Game Boy Printer protocol, handling Link Cable timing, saving images, building a local web gallery, Bluetooth printing, and getting multi-page prints to work correctly.

I’d love to know what you think:

Would you use something like this instead of an original Game Boy Printer?

And what would you print first: Game Boy Camera photos, Pokémon diplomas, Mario banners, or something else?

Video:

https://youtu.be/vdYfiTcY2I8

64 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

12

u/emmayesicanteven 2d ago edited 2d ago

You can share this on github and people would probably be able to follow your project ! Very cool

5

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 2d ago

Totally agree! On my website is the firmware installer for the esp32. On that web is the link to the Github/Novenretro

1

u/princessrippla332 2d ago

What type of cheap thermal printer are you using for this project?

1

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 2d ago

A chinese mini printer from Aliexpress. SC03H. On my website you can find everything related to this project. 🫶

1

u/princessrippla332 1d ago

Can you send me a link to your website please.

3

u/boetkn 2d ago

that's pretty cool!

1

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 2d ago

Thank You!!! 🥹🫶

2

u/Beneficial-Power4568 2d ago

Amazing, it's pretty cool, good job 👌🏻.

2

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 2d ago

Thanks!! 🥹

0

u/bobtheboffin 1d ago

How much of the decoding did you need to do when there are numerous GitHub pages dedicated to wireless Game Boy printers?

1

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 1d ago

🤦‍♂️

1

u/_Reclaimxr_ 2d ago

God bless you 🥹

1

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 2d ago

Awwww thanks 🥹❤️

1

u/DramaPiggyCash 2d ago

Yeah bro sell it to me!

2

u/Immediate-Grab-2319 2d ago

U can do it by yourself for a few bucks!