Legend of the River King 2 (GBC)
A fantastic fishing-focused adventure with lots of heart, Legend of the River King 2 is a portable delight. There’s plenty to see and do, with bug catching, flower picking, and diving joining the line-casting central hook from the previous game. Two different routes through the story add significant replay value for avid anglers, too. Fishing fans and RPG fans will both have a blast, though those who come for the atmosphere will get the most out of the experience; the soundtrack, setting, and sense of scale all work in concert to deliver one of the most charming depictions of seaside summer ever put on an 8-bit cartridge.
Harvest Moon 2 (GBC)
Harvest Moon 2 for the Game Boy Color expands (slightly) on the previous game, although it's not exactly a significant enhancement. With the original SNES game and Harvest Moon 64 both including a relationship system, it's disappointing to go back and see that feature absent here (it wouldn't arrive until the sequel). There are new animals to raise, of course, not to mention an actual village to explore rather than just a menu. Nostalgic farmers look back on this game very fondly indeed — and there's plenty of enjoyment to harvest from its tried-and-true systems — although, inevitably, newer iterations on the template might have spoiled HM2 for modern fans. In its day, though, this was portable farming sim perfection.
Pokémon Crystal (GBC)
Pokémon Crystal is the perfect swan song to what many fans consider the best generation of Pokémon games and the series' final Game Boy Color entry. It featured a plethora of welcome new features over the base games — including the ability to play as a female character for the first time — plus more things to do, tweaked graphics and UI, and a slight notch up in the challenge department.
Crystal took what Pokémon Gold and Silver did so marvellously and made Johto worth exploring once more – and Kanto for the umpteenth time for that matter. It truly proves that nostalgia is far from the sole factor that makes this game so great to pick up again.
Blaster Master: Enemy Below (GBC)
The mixture of old and new elements give Blaster Master: Enemy Below enough new twists to make it a worthy sequel to the amazing original. Sure, many of the same audio/visual elements have been carried over fairly unchanged, but the new bosses and open setting offer up a whole new experience for fans to enjoy. If you never gave the Blaster Master series a chance (and Switch owners don't have much excuse considering that both this and the NES original are available with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription), this great Game Boy Color title is as good a reason as any to get stuck in.
Survival Kids (GBC)
Best described as a cross between the TV series Lost and The Legend of Zelda, Survival Kids (or Stranded Kids as it was known in Europe) is groundbreaking in how much agency it affords the player; despite looking like your typical cute and cuddly RPG, it allows you to tackle the game at your own pace and in a largely non-linear fashion. Gameplay revolves around tracking various elements such as hunger, thirst and tiredness, and there's even a crafting system present that enables you to create weapons and tools. Survival Kids is a stand-out GBC title and got a Japan-only sequel in 2000, and the series would go on to inspire the Lost in Blue franchise on DS and Wii.
Crystalis (GBC)
Developed by SNK – before it became the fighting game factory of the 1990s – Crystalis made quite an impression on the NES when it was released in 1990, and this Game Boy Color remake – coded by Nintendo Software Technology, no less – is viewed by many fans as a step backwards. Sweeping plot changes are involved, and there's a whole new soundtrack. The visuals are also a little cramped due to the Game Boy Color's smaller display. Even so, it's still one of the best RPGs on Nintendo's handheld, and if you're approaching it having never played the NES original (which is on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection on Switch, by the way) then you'll find plenty to enjoy.
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (GBC)
Released in 2000 in Japan and the following year in North America, this GBC spin-off never came to PAL shores — at least not until it was added to the Nintendo Switch Online retro catalogue in June 2023. The cartridge included a tilting sensor which enabled you to control Kirby by rolling him around levels, and guiding him to the goal.
Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble isn't ground-breaking, but it's a fun Kirby curio and worth playing if you can track it down. Make sure you're playing it in a regular GBC or GBA, though — the accelerometer doesn't like being held upside down in a GBA SP, and you won't get very far plugging it into a Game Boy Player, either. Thankfully, the version on Switch uses that console's gyro sensors.
Game & Watch Gallery 3 (GBC)
Game & Watch Gallery 3 mostly sticks to the formula of its predecessors, and it does a fine job of offering up some simple handheld gaming classics in a more convenient form, with a large number of games and a good, varied selection to boot. There are a lot of things to unlock for those willing to put the time in, and if you manage to get everything, you can always revisit any of the titles to improve your scores. Definitely worth a look if you're a G&W fan.
Wario Land 3 (GBC)
Like Wario Land II before it, Wario Land 3 is, in some ways, more of a puzzle game than an action game and it's essential to know going in that this is very different from a standard Mario platformer. The Wario concept was refined further in this third entry, with a ton of stages and different paths making it easily the biggest Wario Land in terms of scope. If you enjoyed the previous adventure, then this generously expanded outing is likely to please you even more. If this is your first Wario Land, you absolutely must try it.
And if the previous one wasn't your cup of tea? Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Mario Tennis (GBC)
What's a Mario sports games without iconic characters such as Alex, Kate and Harry? Camelot's handheld Mario sports entries were bizarre; not only is Mario absent from this game until you unlock him in the story mode... but there's a story mode. Mario Tennis may not have swords, magic or random encounters, but each Tennis match is tied together in a charming overworld that feels like it's ripped straight out of a traditional RPG. Just imagine rounds of Tennis replacing battles and it becomes much clearer why many consider these more than simple sports games.
Resident Evil Gaiden (GBC)
Ouch. This one could prove to be controversial, but stick with us.
Resident Evil Gaiden was an attempt to scale down the survival horror to Nintendo's diminutive handheld and took the franchise on an ocean voyage well before Resident Evil Revelations. A straight port of the first game eventually got cancelled and replaced with this, a top-down game which abstracts the zombie combat with first-person elements involving a sliding bar half-inched from any number of golf games.
Featuring returning characters Leon S. Kennedy and Barry Burton, Resident Evil Gaiden is a decent stab at bringing the series' trademark tension to a portable, but after the pre-rendered beauty of the main games, its low-fi take put a lot of fans off – hence the game's low rating when our sister site Nintendo Life did its Best Resident Evil games list. Despite this, we feel it's worth a look and is undoubtedly one of the most unique Game Boy Color exclusives.
It's a tough game, with limited ammo and a persistent, free-roaming world to explore. It's also blessed with a good storyline and some excellent music, given the limitations of the hardware – and, in our opinion, isn't as bad as some people make out. Give it a go, and you might be surprised!
Mario Golf (GBC)
Much like Mario Tennis, Mario Golf is another game revolving entirely around human characters such as Kid, Sherry, Joe and Grace. In fact, there's a total of eight playable humans and only three Mario characters. This is again a story-heavy adventure where you can freely move your character around an overworld and rounds of golf take the place of traditional RPG battles. You can even level-up your golfer to enhance their stats and even transfer them to the also-excellent N64 version using the Transfer Pak.
It may not mirror the scope or ambition of Dragon Quest or Pokémon, but these handheld entries certainly stand out among the rest of the series.
How many Game Boy Colors were sold?
Nintendo tends to combine the total hardware sales of the Game Boy with its successor, the Game Boy Color. It is reported that 118.69 million units of both systems have been sold worldwide.
How many Game Boy Color systems were there?
Unlike the original Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, the Game Boy Color never received a hardware refresh during its lifespan. However, it was produced in a wide range of case designs and colours.
What games can you play on the Game Boy Color?
The Game Boy Color is backwards-compatible with software for the original Game Boy handheld. However, it will not play Game Boy Advance games.
What was the best-selling Game Boy Color game?
Surprise! It was Pokémon Gold / Silver / Crystal. Gold and Silver sold 23 million units worldwide combined, while Crystal has sold nearly 6.4 million units worldwide.
What was the last game for the Game Boy Color?
The final Game Boy Color game was Doraemon no Study Boy: Kanji Yomikaki Master, which launched in Japan on July 18th, 2003. The last game released in North America was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (November 15th, 2002).
Is Game Boy Color discontinued?
Yes. Nintendo no longer manufactures any Game Boy Color hardware, although it has made Game Boy Color games available digitally on its 3DS and Switch consoles.
The Game Boy Micro – which is part of the Game Boy Advance family – was the final console to use the Game Boy name.
Comments 8
A lot of great games, yet bizarrely missing the all-timer Mario Golf…
Love this list! Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 is amazing, only properly played it recently and loved it! Really want to try and track down a copy of Survival Kids too, it sounds really cool, and I enjoyed the Lost in Blue games on DS
SMB DX might be an alright video game, if you are not intimately familiar with the NES original.
Despite some small engine changes in the All-Stars SNES version that fans like to whine about "ruining" the game (such as the brick bounce), this port has MANY physics changes that will confound you if you are familiar with either.
I recall Cheep Cheeps were much more hazardous due to changed bounce physics, nevermind the smaller field of view (I'd think the option for smaller graphics like the first Super Mario Land would've helped playability).
Supposedly the Japanese version of DX at least added more unlockables or something but you cannot be certain of acquiring a legal copy of the game anymore (even before it closed, the JP eShop version was confined to a 2014 promo).
Very cool set of games here. I never really took a good look at R-Type DX before, and it looks like a nice conversion. Metal Gear Solid GB is an impressive update on the original top-down presentation of the series. It's the only Metal Gear Solid game I like because the limitations prevent some of the things I really don't like in the main series, though the GB version is a bit needlessly verbose at times itself. I have recently been thinking about playing it again. I have always had a fondness for demake-style games for the old portable systems like that, as it's cool to see what developers could manage with limited hardware.
I'm going to raise my hand and say: RESIDENT EVIL GAIDEN might be my favourite GBC game. More so than MGS.
I put off playing it due to bad reviews, but when I finally did, I realised: this was absolutely my sort of game.
Tough survival horror. Limited ammo. Top down perspective with persistent free roam environment (like MG). Tense combat system. Good flow in terms of objectives, player characters, and bosses. Gorgeous pixel art and animation. Decent story (Barry!). Nice music.
Magazines back in the day complained you could only save at checkpoints, losing progress if you turned off mid-game. Which is untrue. There are checkpoint saves, but the game also constantly auto-saves allow you to turnnoff and resume as you please.
I've completed it three times I love it so much. Please try it if you can.
EDIT:
Random trivia: only get the EU edition of MGS. The US version uses a smaller ROM to cut costs, and thus has cut content only found in the JP and EU versions!
Most of these weren't surprising to me at all, barring one: Dragon Warrior [Quest] III. I was today years old when I learned there was a GBC port!
Decent list overall.
You're missing so many games that Im not even gong to bother listing them lol. Whoever compiled this list isn't too familiar with the system, though you hit the real heavy hitters.
There's no question that these are good games, and I played and enjoyed several of them. But it really is the weakest of Nintendo's handheld consoles, in my opinion. Considering it came out almost 10 years after the original Game Boy, it was a really minor update.
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