Game Boy Printer

The Game Boy Printer, known in Japan as the Pocket Printer (ポケットプリンタ, Poketto Purintā?), is a thermal printer accessory released by Nintendo in 1998, while it ceased manufacture in early 2003. The Game Boy Printer is compatible with all the Game Boy systems (except Game Boy Micro) and is designed to be used in conjunction with the Game Boy Camera. It also prints images from compatible late-generation Game Boy and Game Boy Color games (listed below). It runs on six AA batteries and uses a special 3.8 cm wide thermal paper with adhesive backing called Game Boy Printer Paper. One package of printer paper came with three rolls, including one roll of white paper, one roll of pale yellow paper, and one roll of pale blue paper. In Japan, a bright yellow Pokémon version of the Game Boy Printer was released which featured a Poké Ball-style feed button.

Mad Catz sells CD-ROM with a parallel port cable for connecting a Game Boy to a PC and using a regular computer printer to print Game Boy Camera photos and pictures from compatible Game Boy games. Hobbyists outside the UK can also make their own cable for uploading images to their computer. A Game Boy Printer emulator is needed for the Game Boy to interface with the PC once linked via cable. The Game Boy Printer Paper has also been discontinued, and rolls of the genuine article which still produce a reliable image are getting harder to find. Regular thermal paper, such as the kind used for POS terminals can be cut to the proper width and used successfully with the Game Boy Printer.

The system will print a test message reading "Hello!" if it is turned on while the feed button is held. According to the manual, this is used to test if the printer is functioning properly. To get around using six AA batteries for the printer, a single 9V battery can be used if wired properly, since the printer runs on 9 volts DC.