DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS WE MAY RECEIVE A COMMISSION IF YOU CLICK A LINK AND PURCHASE SOMETHING. PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR DISCLOSURE POLICY FOR MORE DETAILS.
I really tried to like the nYco WormCam.
I picked up my nYko WormCam at a local toy store that is going out of business. It was in a clearance bin for 10 bucks, and I thought I might be able to use it to add pictures to my Gadget Photo Gallery.
The WormCam comes with the camera unit, a serial cable for connecting the camera to your PC (no webcam option, sadly), an instruction booklet, software CD, and a “bright light filter.”
nYko was smart in making an unlicensed accessory that downloads the program it uses from the camera itself to the Game Boy via the link port. Clever yes, but this means you will wait at least 60 seconds from the time you turn your GBA on until the time you can snap a picture.
Which leads me to taking pictures. There’s no preview option. That’s right, to take a picture you hold down the right shoulder button with no viewfinder. Point in general direction, and shoot. The instructions claim you can preview photos by holding down the right shoulder button to take pictures “over & over” and then release when you have the photo you like. Yeah, sure, except each preview takes about 2 seconds to load on the screen. Argh.
I was determined to like this camera, I really was. I was going to find some way to take cool color photos with my Game Boy. I tried and tried taking pictures by adjusting settings, taking pictures with and without the “bright light” filter that snaps on over the lense, etc. The best photo I could get out of this thing was this:
Even with the bright light filter, pictures in daylight are totally washed out.
The only feature that seems like it would save this camera is the “Spy Mode” option. Supposedly, you can leave your GBA turned on and it will capture images when there is movement. Don’t get sucked in by this feature, it’s like those commercials you watched as a kid where the toys moved by themselves. Those toys couldn’t move by themselves, and you couldn’t snap pictures of them in Spy Mode with this camera if they did.
Lastly, the nYco WormCam will only work on a GBA. The way the link port is positioned it has to be plugged into a GBA. There’s a “dummy cart” that hangs off the back that prevents it from being flipped around to work on a GBA SP.
If you see the nYco WormCam in a clearance bin, avoid it at all costs. Sorry, nYco, I really tried to like this Game Boy Gadget, but it’s slow, poorly designed, and takes lousy pictures.
Ixnay on the WormCam
Gadget Madness has a thumbs-down — “way down,” as Ebert might intone — review of the nYco WormCam, which clips onto the GameBoy Advance. Despite…