Gameboy Color- What do you think today?

[MiniPocketWorld]

I was a kid when the Gameboy Color was all the rage, however I didn't have one. I had Pokemon Crystal which is a GBC game, but I had it on the GBA.
This week I have been taking a look at the GBC game library, just as an educational thing, and some of the games look pretty impressive considering the system. Shantae for example.

I was curious for those of you who have played GBC games at any time:
- What are some of the GBC games you really enjoyed at the time?
- Or What GBC games you still enjoy, I know there are some people who still play older games which is cool.
- If you didn't play the GBC library until "today", are there any games you think are fun even though it is 20+ years since the GBC system launched?
- What about them did you enjoy?
- Are there any GBC that surprises or impresses you today looking back considering it was a GBC system?

 

[Croconaw]

Pokémon Crystal was my ****, lol. I did a Ledyba only run on that game. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done, but it felt so great afterwards. I think that game has aged well, but I wouldn’t play it today. I think I’d prefer the remakes like Heart Gold or Soul Silver. Those were amazing games.

 

[Neb]

The Gameboy Color’s library was pretty small, but there were some notable titles. Aside from Pokemon, my favorite games on the system are easily The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Seasons. Both games were fun little Zelda adventures much in the vain of Link’s Awakening. What made them different was the connectivity. You could finish one game and continue where you left off on the other. This gave you access to special items and even a special dungeon. It’s a shame they’re some of the most obscure Zelda games. I think a 3D remake has a lot of potential.

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

Pokemon was definitely my all time favorite growing up. However, I did play my cousin's Megan Man one time on his GBC, to which I enjoyed it! I don't really recall the GBC library too well as I was mostly brought up on GBA games so I missed out on the GBC since it was expensive then and my parents decided to skip that one and give my sister and I the GBA. I don't really know the GBC library too well or their games, other than of course being Pokemon, Mario, Mega Man and maybe Zelda, but I didn't really play most of them so I wouldn't know

 

[Foreverfox]

Oh man, I still have my GBC and some games for it. I started my collection with Pokémon Yellow, then added Silver, Gold, Crystal, Hamtaro, and a few others. Crystal and Hamtaro were definitely my favorites to play on it, with Silver coming in a close 3rd. I also had a GBA and had some great games there, my favorite being Donkey Kong Country 2. The difference in color between Pokémon Yellow and Crystal, or even Silver was drastic. Same thing with Hamtaro, the colors were so bright.

 

[Belle T]

As far as Game Boy Color specifically is concerned, I only recall ever playing Pokémon, gen 2, and Super Mario Bros. All-Stars on it. The former I have a wealth of fond memories of and has an irreplaceable spot in my heart. The latter still remains the definitive version of the game for me, though I wish it could be re-released with a wider aspect ratio.

The majority of my time with the Game Boy Color was spent playing backwards compatible original Game Boy titles. Gen 1 Pokémon, namely, but it would be a crime not to mention how easily entertained I was on long car rides playing Super Mario Land to completion numerous times. The game is a bit of a black sheep in the 8-bit Mario series, having slightly more clunky physics and having slightly more peculiar enemies and level gimmicks, not to mention an art style that is slightly incongruous with its console counterparts. But I never minded too much as a child.

Alas, I no longer own my original Game Boy Color, despite the fact that I do still have an original Game Boy. It must have gotten lost in one of the several times my family had to move.

 

[skarmoury]

I looked through the GBC library and realized I never knew the difference between GBA and GBC until now. I honestly thought they were the same, considering I used to play Pokemon Crystal on the GBA too. But anyway I digress. Pokemon Crystal is the only GBC game I've ever played apparently; the rest of my early game memories are GBA games.

Looking through the list, I can't say a lot of GBC games really catch my eye. I still massively prefer the GBA games and find some of them really fun to this day.

 

[Alienfish]

- What are some of the GBC games you really enjoyed at the time?
- Or What GBC games you still enjoy, I know there are some people who still play older games which is cool.
- Wario Land 3, Pokémon Crystal that are specifically for the console. I also enjoyed some weird Pong port, and I also played a lot of old GB or GBA games.
- If you didn't play the GBC library until "today", are there any games you think are fun even though it is 20+ years since the GBC system launched?
- Since I did have one at the time, I think Wario Land 3 has aged well, though I don't think I'd go back playing Crystal at this rate unless i really wanted nostalgia tbh.
- What about them did you enjoy?
- As for WL3, the silly storyline, laughable items and stuff.
- Are there any GBC that surprises or impresses you today looking back considering it was a GBC system?
- Probably the actual colour and better 2D graphics?

 

[Snek]

For the OG Gameboy is was all Pokémon for me: Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver and Crystal. Those games were literally my childhood. Would I play them now? Well, a lot of things have changed in Pokémon, especially on the game mechanics end. I would play Crystal because its got more variety and content compared to the other ones but I would play it simply for nostalgia. In terms of surprising me, no. The Pokémon games on that system were notoriously glitched and Psychics make RBY almost unplayable. As much as I enjoyed RBY it was a product of its time and helped the franchise become what it is today so I'm grateful for that.

 

[Halloqueen]

When playing the Game Boy Color as a child, it was primarily and nearly exclusively a Pokémon playing machine. I played Red, Blue, Yellow (barely, didn't enjoy Yellow and never got far), Silver, Gold, and Crystal on it. Crystal was the only one of them that was actually for the Game Boy Color as opposed to just the original Game Boy, but yeah. Crystal was my favorite since it was the first one where you were allowed to pick a female trainer. I dropped the series in Generation III due to peer pressure as the initial Pokémon boom seemed to die out in my area, then didn't get back into it until a friend told me HeartGold and SoulSilver existed, but then got hooked again and have been playing the games since.

I played a few other games like Gex and one of the Powerpuff Girls games (Battle Him specifically, didn't know the other two games existed, I think it was a gift), including a couple that my older sibling had on their original Game Boy, but otherwise was and still am more of a home console player, favoring playing stuff on the tv like the Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, etc.

The only other Game Boy Color game that stands out for me personally is the original Shantae, but I never actually played it on a Game Boy Color. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing an ad for it in like a Nintendo Power or something, but only first experienced it on the 3DS thanks to the Virtual Console selection on the 3DS eShop.

The Game Boy Color was fun in its time, but I don't revisit it. Pokémon has made so many technical improvements since those days that the older games feel a bit too archaic for me, I'm pretty sure that Powerpuff Girls game got crushed by a couch leg, don't know where Gex is and don't care.

 

[Tao]

I had a GBC when it came out. I spent a lot of time on it but I don't really recall many games from it either. Same with the OG Game Boy. I can't actually remember what GB/GBC games are specifically only for the GBC, they all kind of just 'blend' together in my head as the same system.


Personally, I don't think I actually like the Game Boy or Game Boy Colour in retrospect aside from a very small handful of titles (Game Boy Donkey Kong is the best "arcade" Donkey Kong). Loved it at the time but looking back, so many of the games I played just weren't that good. Typically slow paced games and/or simple games like RPG's and puzzle games were usually fine, as were most of Nintendo's own exclusives (a usual I guess) but otherwise, so many games were just unintentionally slow paced, simple and janky as a result of the very limited hardware.

GBA is probably where I would say handheld games started to 'hold up'. There's far more on there that I will say are brilliant games without having to follow that up with "buuut....".

 

[~Kilza~]

The Game Boy Color was my first handheld, and I definitely enjoyed it at the time, though in retrospect it is the weakest of the handhelds I've played (which is basically every Nintendo handheld minus the original Game Boy). I technically still have my Berry colored GBC, though the batteries that are in it corroded and I can't be bothered to ever clean it up, uh, yeah, never using it again. Skimming through the GBC library, it was definitely shallow overall, which in some ways isn't surprising given that the GBA came out almost 3 years after it was originally released.

As for the GBC games themselves, I only had 4 games for it: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, Donkey Kong Country, and Quest: Brian's Journey. Though I would also play Pokemon Crystal and Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX through the 3DS Virtual Console. I still really enjoy Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons and have a ton of nostalgia for them. DKC was a game I played a ton back when I got the GBC, but never beat until 2019 (which, man, after playing it on an original GBA to beat it, I have to say I really don't miss the days where the handhelds didn't have backlit screens). It's good, but it's still better to play the SNES version imo. Quest was a bland RPG, nothing to write home about. I think Pokemon Crystal is still a solid game, even as Pokemon games have evolved since it came out. Link's Awakening DX is still enjoyable as well, and even though it has been remade for the Switch, the DX version is still a good way to play it. There aren't really any other GBC games that I haven't played that I'd be interested in.

So, yeah. tl;dr is I like the Game Boy Color for the Zelda and Pokemon games, but that's about it.