Why the Game Boy Camera remains Nintendo’s most whimsical gadget
early history as a purveyor of gizmos and gadgets looms large over its modern video game creations. Where competitors present themselves as serious technology and entertainment businesses, Nintendo prefers to blur the line between games and toys. The NES got its entrée into the U.S. market by masquerading as a toy, and Duck Hunt was based on a ’70s light-projection toy. More recently, Nintendo has produced amiibo (toys that unlock bonus features in video games) and Nintendo Labo (toys that control and can be controlled by video games).But in the company’s 40-plus years of selling and designing video games, perhaps no single product has straddled the division between these two markets quite so brilliantly as the Game Boy Camera, which made its debut in America over 20 years ago.