The granddaddy of modern handheld gaming, the Game Boy, got an unexpected shot in the arm in the mid-’90s when a little game named Pokémon released and gave the ageing hardware a new lease of life. The updated Game Boy Pocket hardware might have slimmed down the bulky original DMG-001, but it was the long-awaited arrival of the Game Boy Color in 1998 that finally gave handheld Nintendo gamers a proper upgrade from the monochrome original.
Fully backwards compatible with the existing Game Boy library (and able to enhance many old games with bespoke color palettes), GBC-exclusive games came on clear cartridges that let you glimpse the board inside. Additionally, many ‘black cart’ games would also play perfectly well on the non-colour console, too. The GBC soon built up its own great software library — and we’d like your help to assemble the top 50 Game Boy Color games ever.
As with all our previous Top 50 lists, the ordering here will be dictated by the games’ User Ratings in the Nintendo Life Games database and therefore subject to change even after publication. Once an entry reaches a minimum number of ratings, it becomes eligible for our Top 50 Game Boy Color games list.
Below you’ll find a searchable alphabetical list of the GBC library, excluding Japanese-only releases (feel free to let us know in the comments anything missing that you’d like to rate — preferably games you think could make the top 50 — and we’ll do our best to accommodate additions). Note that ‘black cart’ games were excluded from our OG Game Boy list, yet games like Link’s Awakening and Wario Land II were released both as an original GB carts and upgraded GBC ones; they are, therefore, eligible for both so don’t be surprised to see them pop up!
To rate any title, simply scroll through the alphabetical list to find the game you want (or type the title into the search bar at the top to save your scrolling finger), click the star to bring up a rating of 1-10, and click the score you feel it deserves — job done! And if you’ve previously rated your GBC games, relax; those scores are already logged.
We’ll publish the results soon, but in the meantime happy rating!
Remember: use the search bar at the top of the list to find what you’re looking for quickly — no need to scroll through a dozen pages!
Thank you for rating your favourites (or otherwise). Feel free to discuss your favourite Game Boy Color games below, and we’ll reveal the results soon.
We’ve already compiled the Best 3DS games, the Best Game Boy games, the Best GameCube games, the Best Nintendo DS games, the Best N64 games, the Best Wii U games, the Best SNES games (bored yet?), the Best GBA games, the Best Wii games, and the Best NES games, so check out those lists if you can’t get enough of Nintendo’s copious back catalogue. If you’re after something less retro and more modern, we’ve also got the Best Switch games (so far) available for your perusal.
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