The camera body slips into the game port on the back of the Game Boy and the eyeball lens sits on top. You can rotate the eyeball 180 degrees to take pictures of yourself.

The basics of the camera are quite easy, with 'shoot' or 'view' options available on the main menu. Selecting the 'shoot' option, you can view your surroundings, adjust brightness and contrast and snap pics. There's no flash, so you need plenty of light to get decent results. Because the screen is so reflective, you also can't see what you're viewing in the sun, but indoors, with a decent amount of light, it works great.

There are several lens options to choose from: one splits the screen at various angles, another squishes faces funhouse mirror-style. You can also take four different pictures on the same frame. Photos can be modified by painting them with a brush or pencil tool and adding white, gray or black pixels to the image. Painting is like using an Etch-A-Sketch, but not enough control is available to get very good results.

To any photo, you can stamp human and animal features like fangs, wings, ears, cute fluffy Nintendo creatures and the manly Mario and Donkey Kong. There are also letters, numbers, Japanese characters, a cellphone symbol, and of course, the "@" sign. To frame your images, there are eighteen choices available (postage stamp, television, faux marble, etc.) to replace the default Nintendo/Game Boy frame. Unfortunately, you can't stamp letters directly onto the frames. I found this dumb since the area for stamping is so small to begin with. I wanted to be able to stamp on the frame and not obstruct the image.

The Game Boy Printer copies the images onto a roll of sticker paper, with each printout around 1" x 1." The printed pictures end up looking like postage stamp-size faxes. My friends with adult-size fingers had a hard time peeling the sticker off the backing since the paper is so flimsy. The printer is a little bulky, about the thickness of two Game Boys stacked on top of each other. Unlike the Game Boy itself, the printer doesn't fit in your pocket, and Nintendo has yet to offer a carrying case for it. Both the printer and camera work with the old and new versions of the Game Boy, so there's no need for special attachments.

It's very easy to figure out most of the camera functions without cracking open the manual, but eventually, you'll want to explore the more "advanced" features. There are more lens effects, the ability to create animations, and a DJ game where you can create beats and rhythms. There's also a game called "Space Fever" that I found pretty lame. I'd rather have more room to store images, since you can only store thirty before you run out of memory.

Like the Fisher-Price PixelVision camera, which was released as a toy, but eventually adopted by artists for its funky low-res appeal, the Game Boy Camera and Printer might interest adults with similar sensibilities. The stickers are cool for mail art and to stick up around your geekosphere (I slapped one on my computer, a bunch by my keyboard and one on a coworker's monitor).

If you're looking for high quality sticker photos, the Game Boy Camera can't compete with the "Picture Club" booths you'll find in your local mall. But if you've got $110 to blow, the Game Boy Camera and Printer are handy, portable and lots of fun. Hopefully, Nintendo will make a second generation of the printer with better image quality, a smaller size and a carrying case.

- Meri Brin [7/22/98]