SB Recommends Game Boy Color Games

A slightly upgraded version of the Game Boy that came out a good nine years after the mono's release. As the name implies, it can do color graphics, and has an easier-to-see screen. Much of the Color's library consists of ports and remakes of NES/SNES games. Most Color games will play on older Game Boy models in monochrome, but there were some later Color-only titles.

• Balloon Fight GB | Game Boy; Game Boy Color; Super Game Boy enhanced
  • The Blueberry Hill: Japan only colour version of Balloon Kid, with the ability to save game progress. It's an extension of the Balloon Trip mode from Balloon Fight, and is even more wonderful than that sounds.

• Dragon Warrior I & II
  • showka: In retrospect, it was probably one of the best games for the system.

• Dragon Warrior III / Dragon Quest III Soshite Densetsu e… (JP)
  • Chris B: I think this one might even be preferable to the SNES remake if you have some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder, cause they added tons of collectibles.

• Elevator Action EX
  • Loki Laufeyson: Obviously not as good as the masterpiece that is Elevator Action Returns, it is, however, a lot better than the GBA's Elevator Action Old & New. The best part is that the final stage of each area has no documents/keys/bombs to find, and you get to just charge to the exit as fast as you can, murdering lots of terrorists/gangsters along the way. The worst part is the useless grenade weapon. If you get lumbered with it (power-ups are random), you're pretty much guaranteed to lose a life.

• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (also on: 3DS VC, GB)
  • gatotsu2501: Better than A Link to the Past. Quite possibly better than any other game in the series.
  • HarveyQ: LA is my favorite Zelda game and one of the finest adventures ever released for any platform. It has loads of nostalgia value for me (being my first GBC game), but beyond that it has a dreamy, beautiful atmosphere, excellent pacing and a fine progression of difficulty. plus a nice, silly sense of humor about things (“You got Marin! Is this your big chance…?”)

• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages (also on: 3DS VC)
  • gatotsu2501: Not quite as good as Link's Awakening, but Nintendo's first attempt at outsourcing one of their hallmark franchises (to Capcom) (the CD-i games didn't happen) yields surprisingly good results. The games show the mark of experimentation with Pokemon's Red Version/Blue Version formula, only here they really are different games and there's a neat password/link-up system that lets you play one as a continuation of the other (which means bonus sidequests, items and dungeons). I have fond childhood memories here.
  • misadventurous: yeah they're okay. if you like Zelda they're both pretty competent Zelda games. the most interesting thing about the both of them is the password system, if you opt to take advantage of it. and if you're going to play one, you might as well play the other, right? P.S. i prefer Seasons, play it first.

• Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble
  • hamishtodd: A lovely game which starts with a hardware gimmick (tilt sensitivity) and ends up delivering some great level design and variety (not necessarily at the beginning). It does have a bit of “bullshit”.

• Lufia: The Legend Returns / Estpolis Denki: The Legend Returns (JP) (also on: 3DS VC)
  • This Machine Kills Fascis: The dungeons are rogue-likes, but there's actually a traditional JRPG overworld with towns. So you actually get to keep all your loot. […] Oh, and the battle system is pretty original too. It's turn-based with a nine-person party, oriented in a grid. The layout of the grid determines some of your abilities and elemental orientation. All-in-all it's a pretty unique, fun, JRPG.

• Mario Tennis (also on: 3DS VC)
  • gatotsu2501: An odd hybrid of tennis game and RPG that works surprisingly well. There are some lessons on real-life tennis worked in there that inspired a short-lived interest in the sport for me back in the day. After leveling your character up into a tennis demigod, you can use the N64 Transfer Pak to bring him into the console version of the game. Your friends can do the same. It's pretty fun.

• Metal Gear Solid / Metal Gear: Ghost Babel​ (JP/Asia)
  • dessgeega: […] is a side-story to the playstation metal gear solid. it plays similarly to metal gear 2, but the splitting of the game into linear stages avoids all of the needless backtracking and funnels most of the cut-scenery toward the beginning or end of the stage. the bosses are wonderful, and fairly deranged — such as the woman who murders her girlfriends and uses the body-parts as pieces in her life-size marionettes! features a scene which prefigures the death of emma emmerich.
  • dessgeega: better than metal gear solid.
  • Quick Shot II Turbo: It's a trimmed and 2D-fied Metal Gear Solid game. It has some obnoxious segments, but all in all it's good fun. I like it.
  • sam: as well as a pretty thoughtful take on stealth gameplay, GBC MGS actually has all of the original MGS's VR missions in handy 2D form!
  • probably fine: I wouldn't describe the game as charming, but I'm charmed by what it ostensibly is: simple, but ambitious for its format. However, nothing about the actual gameplay nor atmosphere (nor plot) has got me hooked.

• Motocross Maniacs 2 / Crazy Bikers (PAL)

• Shantae (also on: 3DS VC)

• Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (also on: 3DS VC)
  • vamos: They kept things the same size but added the ability to look up, down and ahead. Although none of these are particularly needed, I didn't have any problems with leaps of faith. The challenge mode — finding hidden coins, getting a certain score etc — is really well done and excellent for playing in short bursts, i.e. perfect for a handheld. Plus there's the SMB2 / Lost Levels in there too. I had a great time with it.
  • showka: They NES sprites seem cooler on the GBC screen, and it always felt like they made the colors more poppy. The extras were cool too.

• Survival Kids / Stranded Kids | Game Boy; Game Boy Color
  • dessgeega: survival kids, the predecessor to [the DS game] lost in blue, sets the player as a child marooned on a desert island. you have to drink, eat, build weapons and hunt food, start fires and cook. you can combine objects you find on the beach to create a wide variety of useful tools - a long stick and a vine become a fishing rod, for example. and while surviving you explore the island as best you can, seeking new tools and, ultimately, a way off. the sequel was released only in japan.
  • monaco: The only adventure on the Gameboy as frustrating and compelling as an old Sierra/Lucasarts game! Survive on an island, do cool stuff with objects, and happily die of starvation! Dig the cool music.
  • Quick Shot II Turbo: A very nice concept executed rather nicely. It will feel a bit repetitive at times, but that's survival for you! The game also has numerous endings.

• Toki Tori (also on: 3DS VC)
  • Capitan Smexy: Toki Tori is fantastic—it's an action puzzler game in the vein of Lode Runner that also happens to look and sound really good.

• Wario Land 3 (also on: 3DS VC)
  • Sniper Honeyviper: A game magnificently designed around the idea of an invincible protagonist. Since Wario can't be killed (with one notable exception), enemies' offense is based around knocking him off platforms or turning him into a disadvantageous form. It's a novel solution to the annoyance of having to continuously exit and restart levels. Actions in one stage frequently affect the environment in others, and there's day/night cycles that some stages are completely altered by. One of the puzzles stumped me for literally two years.

• Warlocked

• SB recommends Game Boy games