“POCA!: A Nostalgic Journey Through Game Boy Camera Art and the Legacy of ‘Hip’ Tanaka”

It was a delightful experience to sit down with Jonathan Traynor, an artist and author from Glasgow, regarding his newly released book, POCA!. We were eager to explore several topics, like how the Kickstarter campaign fared, the inspiration behind the book, aspirations for the future, favorite picks for the Top of the Pops Christmas #1, and much more.

However, after spending an hour with this enthusiastic admirer of all things Game Boy Camera, we found ourselves captivated and engaged in ways we hadn’t anticipated. Why? Well, for one, we had been sipping eggnog all morning. But also because Jonathan’s enthusiasm for what is arguably one of the coolest accessories for the Game Boy is truly contagious. You can’t help but discover something new about this technological gem during an hour in his company.

But what exactly is POCA? Before we got our hands on a copy of the book, we assumed it was a fun little story about a talking Game Boy Camera (or Pocket Camera, as it’s called in Japan) embarking on a grand adventure capturing images in Glasgow. Which would have been enough to justify an in-depth exploration, let’s be honest.

The intriguing aspect here, however, is that it seems to be much more. Instead of crafting something that primarily appeals to gamers or ardent fans of the Game Boy, this is a showcase of the affection and dedication that went into the creation of the Pocket Camera, making it accessible to any reader. It pays a sincere homage to composer Hirokazu “Hip” (or “Chip”) Tanaka, merging its gaming roots with an engaging narrative and offering some truly valuable tourist tips about Glasgow. What a spectacular blend! This could also be just the beginning of a global adventure for Poca himself.

We ventured over to Glasgow’s splendid Kelvingrove Museum, where several portions of the book unfold, to have a conversation with Jonathan.

Nintendo Life: Hello, Jonathan! Let’s start by discussing where the initial idea for POCA! originated. It definitely feels quite personal to you, so what ignited the initial spark?

Jonathan Traynor: Around this time last year, I acquired an Analogue Pocket, purely out of curiosity, and it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made. I instantly recognized it as a fantastic device since I had a Game Boy in my childhood. The ability to play Game Boy games on it immediately was pure amazement.

So, I got this, and I’ve also recently been diving into photography as a hobby. A couple of years back, I bought my first proper dedicated camera. Before that, I was just snapping pictures with my phone, like most people, but I wanted to make a more intentional effort to capture moments and bring a camera along to new places I visited.

When I picked up the Analogue Pocket, one of the first things I did was retrieve my old Game Boy Camera, and I plugged it into the Analogue where it still had images from when I was around nine years old. I instantly felt compelled to create something with it. It has a personal touch, for sure, but it also takes such captivating images.

So, was the book the initial concept after realizing you wanted to create something? Or did other ideas come first?

Initially, what I wanted to create was likely a photography zine or something along those lines. However, I began to explore the history behind the development of the Game Boy Camera, and it is such a distinct device in terms of its design too. It was hardly produced, and the developers had to truly battle to pitch [and] make it happen. Yet, when it launched, it also held the record as the world’s smallest camera.

I noticed that there were numerous differences between the Game Boy Camera as it was released in the West and the Pocket Camera as it was known in Japan. One of the significant discrepancies was the branding and packaging. It felt like a bit of a buddy character, somewhat akin to a Tamagotchi. I envisioned it as this personal little standalone being with a distinct eye. And it transforms into something entirely different when you insert it into a Game Boy.

At that point, I began brainstorming this idea, thinking I could develop a mini adventure story about a Game Boy Camera-esque character who travels around capturing images of various locations, starting with Glasgow.

And then you named him Poca, which is quite obvious, but is there more behind it?

I named him Poca, after Pocket Camera, and also to avoid any legal issues. [laughs] It fits quite nicely as a name, doesn’t it? Plus, Pokémon was a huge influence for me, and the idea of having a little companion who grows alongside you, gaining new abilities, is something I wanted to incorporate into Poca as a character.

So that’s part of the concept of this book – Poca is this little camera from the ’90s. He’s somewhat dated and was designed mainly for kids in that era, presumably the Game Boy Camera was the first camera many ever owned. Bright?

Absolutely, the character’s evolution was one of our favorite aspects of the book. From a gamer’s perspective, witnessing his growth and acquisition of new skills along the journey was quite exciting. The question marks surrounding Poca’s abilities as he first powers up and springs to life left us eager to see how he’d develop.

Yes, that was one of the elements I genuinely aimed to delve into: how he might acquire all these skills typical cameras have, such as geolocation, time and date stamp functionalities, or perhaps eventually even color images or something similar. As Poca leveled up and matured alongside you, he would learn and evolve.

Let’s discuss the Kickstarter for a moment. When did you decide to jump into Kickstarter? Was that intimidating, and how did it go?

It was incredibly daunting! It became the most labor-intensive experience… I had no idea how demanding it would be.

Work a Kickstarter is. Last year, I created my very first whimsical e-book. It initially started as a small passion project. I produced this small 60-page humorous book, covering the printing expenses upfront, which was quite substantial, as printing books is not inexpensive, as it turns out! Moreover, it was rather of a black-and-white book, so the costs were slightly more manageable.

However, I understood right from the beginning that expenses would be higher since it’s a full-color book showcasing numerous images and elements. The images must meet a certain quality standard to be effective.

It’s a gamble, but if you have a solid concept, it should succeed, right? Since the book combines several enjoyable aspects—merging travel, tourism, and the Game Boy—there’s something for people who may not be particularly interested in games. Perhaps you could gift this to someone keen on exploring the sights around the city, for example?

Yes, that was definitely part of the pitches for the book. That was vital to me—I’m a huge Nintendo enthusiast and a big gaming fan, but I didn’t want to create the book exclusively for gamers. Particularly with the Game Boy being a unique niche from the ’90s, I wondered about my target audience. Should I focus on 30-year-olds like myself? Or should I aim for kids?

How could I frame this subject to make it more appealing to a wider audience? I thought that since it’s centered around Glasgow, the city where I’ve spent most of my life, it made a great basis. I enjoyed cultivating this hobby of capturing the places I love. Additionally, I wanted to explore these topics and create something with them. Thus, I combined various interests that I’ve had over time into one comprehensive book.

We should touch on the end-of-chapter summaries that we’ve briefly mentioned, but to revisit them, it’s a brilliant idea, with the ongoing characters from the preceding chapter, Poca’s thoughts, and many others, all summarized on a concluding page. Was this always part of the plan?

This element actually developed in the latter stages of creating the book, these end-of-chapter narratives. I call it the Pocadex, clearly inspired by Pokémon. There are many influences present.

I crafted chapters, generating ideas for characters that would appear in each one, pondering what I wanted Poca to say and do. I realized I risked making the chapters too lengthy. So, inspired by Pikmin and how the character Olimar shares brief end-of-day stories, discussing specific experiences—like discovering an item or offering general observations about Pikmin—I thought, ‘Oh, that would be a neat idea for the end of a chapter. Perhaps Poca could write a brief end-of-day story in a similar vein.’

I also included a signing off at the top, featuring a tag like “Poca, Level 1.” If you were a child and created a drawing or something, you would typically sign it “Jonathan, age 5,” which I thought added a nice touch.

And regarding the chapter titles, there’s something happening there too. We recognized them. Initially, we guessed Super Mario Galaxy, but we were mistaken! It’s Pikmin 4, right? How could we not have known that after playing the game? [laughs]

Well, I’m a massive Pikmin fan. Pikmin is likely my all-time favorite Nintendo franchise. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I’ve almost single-handedly been responsible for bringing Pikmin back into mainstream discussion.

[laughs]

For about two solid years, every Wednesday at 1 PM, I would tweet that Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed Pikmin 4 was in development. This was during the period after Pikmin 3, when it went silent for almost eight years. As a fellow Pikmin fan, I was just like, where is it? So I persistently tweeted until the day it was officially announced, at which point I thought, ‘Alright, I’m done!’

There are some illustrations of characters here that got us pondering; did you plan those shots in advance, capturing the images beforehand and then creating a narrative around what you had? Or did you develop the story first?

Yeah, about 90% of the images were taken before the book was in development, prior to planning out the narrative or characters. Most of the characters and storyline were crafted based on what I could do with the images. I had a lot of images around the River Clyde since I walk there frequently, it’s local to me, and it’s a lovely stroll on a nice day.

And here’s where we received a surprise in the narrative from the book; we learned something new (!) about the River Clyde after residing here for two decades. There’s a story woven throughout the book relating to it, correct?

I aimed to intersperse a chapter-length narrative that I could guide Poca through as he voyages around, and I had this thought—why is it named the River Clyde? I wasn’t exactly sure. I researched, and discovered that the River Clyde is named after a Celtic goddess named Clota. Interestingly, not much is known about this goddess. There are only two references in ancient texts or on a wall in some Roman site mentioning her, and it’s just carried on from there.