The Game Boy Color is one of the most successful handheld consoles and an excellent mid-life upgrade to the original Game Boy. With everything from updates of Game Boy classics to vibrant titles that pushed the GBC hardware to its limits, here are the best Game Boy Color games ever.
13 Best Game Boy Color Games of All Time
13. Pokémon Puzzle Challenge
There’s just something about puzzle games on handheld consoles that makes them so much more appealing than their home console counterparts. This remains true for Pokemon Puzzle Challenge, the 2000 Game Boy Color counterpart to the Nintendo 64’s Pokemon Puzzle League. While featuring similar gameplay, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge takes more visual inspiration from Pokemon Gold & Silver, rather than the hit anime series like many of its contemporaries.
Offering six different gameplay modes and two-player multiplayer through the Link Cable, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge is utterly addicting and so easy to pick up and play. With its selection of Pokemon, including numerous unlockables, Pokemon Gold & Silver fans can customize their presentation accordingly. A gem for Pokemon and Tetris Attack fans alike, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge is a solid puzzle game experience on the GBC.
12. Mega Man Xtreme 2
When Mega Man made the jump to the Super Nintendo, he came back tougher and darker than he had in his titles on the Nintendo Entertainment System. This change in tone carried over to the spinoff series Mega Man Xtreme for the Game Boy Color. The final Xtreme title was Mega Man Xtreme 2, released on the GBC in 2001 and set between the events of Mega Man X3 and Mega Man X4.
Mega Man Xtreme 2 featured X and Zero teaming up to fight a growing army of undead Mavericks, robots implanted with the DNA chip from deceased robots known as Reploids. A vast improvement over its predecessor, Mega Man Xtreme 2 is a great translation of the Mega Man X games to the GBC. With the ability to switch between X and Zero, along with unlockable game modes, there is plenty to love for all Mega Man fans in Mega Man Xtreme 2.
11. Tetris DX
A handheld port of the original Tetris was one of the first pack-in titles for the Game Boy in its North American and European release, giving it an enormous user base. With this in mind, Nintendo developed Tetris DX for the Game Boy Color in 1998, revamping the classic with a dazzling display and additional game modes. And, in a subtle but massive upgrade since the preceding versions of Tetris, Tetris DX allows users to save their high scores across three player profiles.
There’s a reason Tetris has stood the test of time for forty years and that’s because the game is simple, accessible, and addictively fun. Tetris DX wisely doesn’t set out to reinvent the gameplay but instead adds to it, both with features and its technical presentation. Boasting a high-score challenge mode and time rush, Tetris DX is the ultimate handheld experience for the puzzle game classic.
10. Harvest Moon GBC 3
Long before there was Stardew Valley, the ultimate farming simulation game was Natsume’s long-running Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons series, which started in 1996 on the Super Nintendo. The franchise quickly expanded to Nintendo’s handheld consoles, with the Game Boy / Game Boy Color receiving its own trilogy of titles starting in 1997. The final and definitive GBC Harvest Moon game is Harvest Moon GBC 3, released in 2000 and, in a rarity for the series, a direct sequel to Harvest Moon GBC 2.
After the events of Harvest Moon GBC 2, the player character is called to help restore a farm on a remote island, growing crops and raising livestock on the renovated land. Harvest Moon GBC 3 brings back the dating and marriage element that was missing from its immediate predecessor, providing a fuller Harvest Moon experience. While the island premise is one of the weaker aspects of the game compared to its counterparts, Harvest Moon GBC 3 is the pinnacle of the series on the Game Boy Color.
9. Donkey Kong Country
When the original Donkey Kong Country was released for the Super Nintendo in 1994, it was a technical marvel, with its impressive pre-rendered graphics. Given the franchise’s success on the SNES, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo ported it to other platforms. Donkey Kong Country would eventually be ported to the Game Boy Color in 2000, retaining the story, presentation, and gameplay from the SNES original.
Given how advanced the technical presentation of Donkey Kong Country was on the SNES, that the game was ported so relatively faithfully to the GBC is a feat all in itself. That the GBC port adds new minigames, a new level, and multiplayer functionality makes it all the more of an achievement for the handheld console and what it was capable of. Rare would be near the end of its long-standing business relationship with Nintendo in the twilight of the GBC era, and its port of Donkey Kong Country lived up to the high bar set by the original.
8. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
The console game that propelled Nintendo worldwide was Super Mario Bros., originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and remastered for subsequent platforms. The Game Boy Color version of Super Mario Bros., 1999’s Super Mario Bros. Deluxe did a lot more than just give the classic game a new coat of digital paint. This version retains all the timeless gameplay mechanics and level design from 1985 with a wealth of new features and upgraded presentation.
In addition to bringing the classic game, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe also includes the original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2, previously only available in North America through the Super Nintendo compilation Super Mario All-Stars. This version also features a competitive two-player multiplayer through the GBC Link Cable, time attack mode, challenge mode, and a bevy of collectibles for players to find. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe proves that if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but also add some cool, new toys along the way.
7. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
One of the best-selling games on the original Game Boy is 1993’s The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, bringing the isometric gameplay engine from A Link to the Past to the handheld. The game received an enhanced remaster for the Game Boy Color in 1998 with Link’s Awakening DX, not only giving the game a full-color presentation but also refining the gameplay and adding new content. The game features Link shipwrecked on a mysterious island after the events of A Link to the Past, recovering mythical instruments in his bid to learn the truth about the tropical location.
The most notable addition to DX is the inclusion of the Color Dungeon, a secret dungeon where players can unlock one of two tunics that affect Link’s base stats in the game. The remaster also features functionality with the Game Boy Printer peripheral, allowing players to print images taken in-game with the camera item. While not a huge leap in terms of overall improvement from the base game, Link’s Awakening DX is the definitive way to play the classic on a Game Boy.
6. Dragon Warrior III
Square Enix’s Dragon Warrior franchise has a history with Nintendo platforms stretching all the way back to the Nintendo Entertainment System and extending to its handheld consoles. The best Dragon Warrior game on the Game Boy Color is its 2001 port of Dragon Warrior III, a standalone prequel to the main series. The hero protagonist forms a party of medieval fantasy allies to take on the villainous Baramos and complete their father’s epic quest to rid the land of evil.
In addition to updating the technical presentation from the NES, Dragon Warrior III on the GBC adds a new player class, new minigames, and two bonus dungeons as well as general quality-of-life revisions. Even more notably, Dragon Warrior III restores much of the original content that was censored from the North American version of the game on the NES, bringing the game in line with the creative team’s vision. Not only is the game the superior way to play Dragon Warrior III but the game is one of the purest distillations of the Dragon Warrior franchise on a Nintendo platform.
5. Mario Tennis
While Mario Kart gets most of the attention as far as Mario sports games go, Mario Tennis has had its own solid history across numerous Nintendo generations. Several months after releasing the successful Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 in 2000, developer Camelot Software Planning released a separate Mario Tennis game for the Game Boy Color. While the GBC version retains the core gameplay and aesthetics as its N64 counterpart, it actually offers a surprisingly ambitious and deep experience.
In a first for the sports series, Mario Tennis on the GBC features a story mode, with players controlling a rookie tennis player who works their way up the competitive ranks at a local academy. Mario Tennis also boasts original mini-games and a larger playable roster than the N64 version, really taking the Mario Tennis experience to the next level. With four-player functionality and inviting pick-and-play accessibility, Mario Tennis on the GBC solidified the series as one of the best Mario sports titles.
4. Wario Land 3
After debuting as the primary antagonist in Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, Wario would receive his own spinoff series of games for Nintendo’s handheld consoles. The final Wario Land game on the Game Boy Color was 2000’s Wario Land 3, which has Wario recovering magical music boxes in exchange for vast treasures. In addition to retaining the core gameplay from Wario Land II, Wario Land 3 features a day-night cycle and its own puzzle-solving minigames for players to engage in and progress.
Wario Land 3 is the best of Wario’s platforming titles before the franchise shifted to a party game focus for subsequent installments. The sheer number of levels and incentives to replay past levels in new ways, along with the refined gameplay mechanics, make Wario Land 3 the best 2D platformer on the GBC. With better puzzles and improved level design, Wario Land 3 is the sub-series’ ultimate masterpiece.
3. Perfect Dark
Yes, the iconic Rare first-person shooter Perfect Dark received its own spinoff title on the Game Boy Color, and, yes, it was fantastic. Eschewing the first-person perspective used for the original Nintendo 64 game, Perfect Dark on the GBC utilized a top-down perspective for most of its gameplay, occasionally switching to first-person for shooting sequences. A loose remake and prequel to the original game, Perfect Dark on the GBC has secret agent Joanna Dark stumble across a conspiracy involving the sinister dataDyne Corporation and a hostile extraterrestrial race.
Developed and published by Rare, Perfect Dark on the GBC is arguably the most ambitious title on the handheld console just as the original Perfect Dark was for the N64. The game pushes the GBC to its technical limits, with detailed environments and seamless gameplay, along with a robust sound design. While some things are certainly lost in translation, Perfect Dark for the GBC is the best game in the franchise since the original, far above 2005’s Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360.
2. Pokémon Gold & Silver
Coming off the blockbuster success of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow for the original Game Boy, expectations were through the roof for its inevitable sequel. What followed was 1999’s Pokemon Gold & Silver, two complementary games that not only brought the series to the Game Boy Color but significantly expanded Nintendo’s growing franchise. With 100 new Pokemon and heightened world-building, the franchise quickly proved it was no one-trick pony as it forged its own future.
Nintendo couldn’t afford to put out a disappointing sequel to Pokemon, it would’ve derailed the enormous momentum the franchise had at the time. Not only did Pokemon Gold & Silver exceed all expectations but, by introducing a whole new region and generation of Pokemon, the games set the standard for the mainline Pokemon series moving forward. Nintendo and Pokemon completely avoided the sophomore slump and put out a sequel worthy of carrying the franchise both into the 21st century and to a new wave of Nintendo platforms.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Towards the end of the Game Boy Color’s lifecycle, Nintendo released two complementary Legend of Zelda games simultaneously in 2001, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. While both are very good, Oracle of Ages is the superior game of the two, which places Link on a time-traveling adventure in the fantasy realm of Labrynna. If played in conjunction with Oracle of Seasons, via linked passwords, the games provide a true conclusion to both adventures for Link that sees him rescue Princess Zelda from the magical Twinrova.
For the sake of variety, we’re only including Oracle of Ages on this list but, really, Oracle of Seasons should be included too, with Oracle of Ages only marginally better than its also-impressive counterpart. Both games push the GBC to its technical limits with their graphical presentation, and the attention to detail in Oracle of Ages is particularly noteworthy. Oracle of Ages is an engrossing adventure that uses its time-travel mechanic to weave a deceptively deep Legend of Zelda experience on the GBC.
Published: Sep 29, 2024 09:00 am