Publisher/Developer: Epicore
Genre: Camera
Price: $2.99 Each
Verdict: Worth a look for retro gamers and photographers
Pros: Nostalgia, authentic look
Cons: Little ability to customize, only works well with certain subjects

Although the C64 and GB (Game Boy) Cameras aren’t exactly iPhone games, but here at The Portable Gamer we love anything video game related and jumped at the chance to try out these nostalgic cameras from Epicore. Since I started my love of gaming on a C64 and I happen to be a photographer by profession I was excited to snap some interesting pics with these apps.

Each camera app opens to a screen where you can either choose a photo from your iPhone library or take a photo right then. The app works a bit ofr code magic and presto!- you’ve got an authentic looking retro video game replica of the original photo. The C64 Camera really pixelates the photo and lumps large areas of similar colored pixels together to create amorphous shapes, similar to the way images appeared in 8-bit form on the Commodore 64 computer screen. The only customization ability you’re given is turning dithering on or off. Putting it as simply as I can, dithering is a computer attempting to create a color from a mixture of other colors when the exact color is not available. So in most cases this creates a smoother, less pixelated look.

The GB Camera has more ability to customize the final image but that final image isn’t as sentimentally satisfying as the image created by the C64 Camera. Initially I was expecting the final GB Camera picture to look like a green screen shot from Zelda, Mario or Kirby. What this final image does end up looking like is an image from the original Game Boy Camera released in 1998. Remember that thing?! This realization makes sense of the the ability to turn the image from greenscale to grayscale. The grayscale image looks like the photo one could print using the Game Boy Printer. Again, remember that thing?! The GB Camera also allows for dithering, brightness and contrast customization.

The both of these cameras have a specific drawback, they only work well with certain subjects, that is the object or scene being photographed. As a rule if you decide to pick up these cameras, stick to simple shapes, colors, and possibly close-ups. There isn’t a zoom function in either camera and the iPhone camera isn’t too great at focusing on close objects. These apps are a wonderful combination of my loves for photography and video games. If you have similar interests, these are apps you’ll want to look into more. I’m not sure of the immediate benefits to the end result images (other than their unique look) but I’m trying to think of an art project.