The Game Boy Color was released in 1998 and finally offered a color screen and a significantly better processor. In 2003, Nintendo discontinued production to focus entirely on its successor: the Game Boy Advance. The Game Boy Color therefore had a considerably shorter lifespan than the original Game Boy. Nevertheless, the device and its games can be considered iconic. We take you through the best games you can buy for this amazing handheld.
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50 Beatmania GB
Konami brought rhythm gaming to handhelds before it was trendy
Konami brought rhythm gaming to handhelds years before it became trendy with mainstream audiences. Press buttons in perfect sync with descending notes scrolling down the screen. Timing precision determines your score and crowd reaction. The tracklist spans electronic, techno, and J-pop genres. Each song presents unique note patterns and difficulty curves.
Three difficulty levels ensure accessibility while maintaining a high skill ceiling for rhythm game veterans. The GBC's limited buttons actually benefit gameplay significantly. Fewer inputs mean patterns remain readable without overwhelming complexity. Multiplayer via link cable creates competitive rhythm battles. Highest scores determine victory.
Graphics maintain club aesthetics with pulsing backgrounds and reactive lighting effects. The feedback system provides clear performance indicators. Perfect, Great, Good, and Bad ratings help you improve timing. Unlockable songs reward continued play. Harder tracks gate behind score thresholds.
Beatmania GB proved that rhythm games could work on handheld hardware years before Guitar Hero normalized the genre for mainstream audiences. This is arcade rhythm action cleverly pocket-sized, demanding the same timing precision in portable form. Sometimes niche genres translate better to handhelds than blockbuster franchises. This understands that fundamental truth.
| Developer | Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe |
| Coupled platform(s) | Nintendo Game Boy Color |
49 Grand Theft Auto
DMA Design crammed their controversial open-world crime simulator into a cartridge somehow
DMA Design somehow managed to cram their controversial open-world crime simulator into a cartridge that shouldn't be able to handle it. Liberty City sprawls across multiple districts, each controlled by different criminal organizations. The top-down perspective works brilliantly on Game Boy Color. Vehicle handling and pedestrian traffic maintain the chaotic energy of the original.
Missions involve the usual GTA activities including car theft, assassinations, and package delivery, all scaled appropriately for handheld hardware. The wanted system creates escalating tension. Police response intensifies with each star you earn. Stealing vehicles feels appropriately reckless. Each car type handles distinctly. On-foot sections demand careful navigation through hostile territory.
Graphics maintain visual clarity despite busy city streets. Color-coding helps distinguish allies from threats effectively. The mission structure provides clear objectives while allowing player-driven chaos between assignments. Radio stations offer chiptune renditions of the original's eclectic soundtrack. Password saves enable progress tracking across lengthy crime sprees.
GTA on Game Boy Color proves that ambitious console experiences could survive radical downsizing when core mechanics remained intact. This is pocket-sized mayhem that captured the original's anarchic spirit. The game proves that sometimes the craziest ports turn out surprisingly well when developers understand what makes the source material work.
| Developer | Tarantula Studios |
| Coupled platform(s) |
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48 Cannon Fodder
War with humour?
Sensible Software's darkly humorous war game survives the handheld transition completely intact. You command tiny soldiers through isometric battlefields, directing squads via cursor control rather than direct character manipulation. The strategic layer demands splitting forces effectively. Send scouts ahead to gather intel, position ambush teams carefully, and coordinate multi-pronged assaults.
Each mission presents objectives ranging from simple base destruction to hostage rescue and territory control. Permadeath creates genuine tension throughout. Soldiers who survive missions gain rank and improved stats, making veteran losses absolutely devastating. The dark comedy contrasts cute soldier sprites with grim casualty reports. Mission success means survivors, not happy endings.
Graphics maintain visual clarity despite busy battlefields. Enemy positions get clearly telegraphed. The controls adapt mouse-driven RTS mechanics to d-pad navigation surprisingly well. Mission variety prevents monotony. Environmental hazards like landmines and turrets demand careful pathfinding. The password system tracks campaign progress and surviving soldier rosters.
Cannon Fodder's anti-war satire wrapped in accessible strategy proved that strategy games could work portably when developers prioritized clear communication over graphical complexity. War is hell, even rendered in 8-bit sprites. The game never lets you forget that behind every cute sprite is a soldier who won't come home.
| Developer | Sensible Software |
| Coupled platform(s) |
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47 Metal Walker
A JRPG by Capcom is always good news
Capcom's quirky RPG cleverly blends monster collecting with pinball physics in unexpected ways. Core battles occur on pinball-table arenas where you launch your Metal Walker battle capsule to attack enemies. Flipper timing determines hit strength and accuracy, bumpers add chaotic unpredictability, and special tiles trigger elemental effects. Outside combat, traditional top-down exploration lets you discover new capsule parts, recruit Metal Walkers as companions, and solve environmental puzzles.
The customization depth impresses significantly. Combine bodies, weapons, and cores to create thousands of possible configurations. Some builds prioritize speed and evasion, others stack defense and power, creating genuine strategic variety. Graphics maintain clean readability during pinball chaos. Trajectory lines help aim shots accurately.
The story involves corporate intrigue and robot tournaments with Saturday morning anime vibes throughout. Capsule collecting drives the obsessive gameplay loop. Rare drops, evolution trees, and competitive breeding mechanics keep you engaged. Link cable battles transform customization into a legitimate metagame between players.
Metal Walker's bizarre pinball-RPG fusion absolutely shouldn't work on paper, yet the mechanics mesh brilliantly in practice. This is Pokémon meets pinball physics, and somehow that's exactly what the Game Boy Color needed. The game proves that weird genre mashups sometimes produce the best and most memorable results.
| Developer | Capcom |
| Coupled platform(s) | Nintendo Game Boy Color |
46 John Romero's Daikatana
This is no DooM
John Romero's infamous PC disaster somehow works brilliantly as a Game Boy Color action game. Forget everything you know about the troubled console versions that disappointed everyone. This plays like a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel with similar quality. Top-down stealth-action through various time periods ranging from ancient Greece to cyberpunk futures. Hiro Miyamoto collects Daikatana sword pieces while battling through history itself.
The time travel mechanic isn't just narrative window dressing here. Each era features completely distinct enemy types, weapons, and environmental hazards. Ancient Greece provides swords and shields for combat, feudal Japan introduces katanas and shuriken, while futuristic levels offer plasma weapons. Controls feel responsive throughout. Combat balances aggression with tactical positioning effectively. Health pickups remain scarce enough to reward careful play over recklessness.
Boss battles cap each time period, demanding learned patterns and era-specific weapon mastery. Graphics maintain visual clarity across varied settings. Sprite work shows impressive detail for Game Boy Color hardware. The password save system enables progress tracking across lengthy campaigns.
Daikatana GBC proves that bad games sometimes produce excellent handheld spin-offs through talented developers understanding platform strengths. This is the alternate timeline where Daikatana didn't disappoint anyone. It's the version that actually delivered on promises.
| Developer | Kemco |
| Coupled platform(s) |
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