The more rare, obscure, or just a guilty pleasure, the better. Maybe you grew up with it, maybe it’s just the nostalgia talking, any reason is fine.
I’m looking for a new game to play, but I’m running out of games to collect!
My favorite is games for original DMG, but you’re welcome to include Color it’ll advance games too!
Donkey Kong (1994) - not really rare or obscure, but definitely not talked about enough.
It starts out like regular donkey kong but then it goes somewhat differently.
The colorization is only complete with SuperGameboy so it might be tricky to play that way but there is a colorization hack being worked on.I played the shit out of Donkey Kong Country 2 on my GBC as a kid. A lot of it with that crappy night light attachment that ate batteries and gave me motion sickness playing at night in the car.
I think he’s talking about the game that is the precursor to the Mario VS Donkey Kong series. Sorta a puzzle platformer.
Donkey Kong. I think people just think it’s a port of the arcade game because it has the same first few levels but it becomes something more afterward and is incredibly fun.
This game was a giant part of my childhood. I fondly remember playing in the car on late night road trips as streetlights went by.
I still have my DMG, and Donkey Kong is still in the slot. It’s hands down the most nostalgic piece of my past that I still have.
I was hoping to see this comment. I actually played through it last week. What a great game. Too bad the GBA sequel was trash.
Bonus points if you play it on the Super GameBoy
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Great game
You’re gonna make me bust out the emulator again aren’t you
There are colorized versions available, made by community, but really well done.
HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the DX romhacks you’re referencing, IMO they enhance SML/SML2 to the point where it’s just better to play the hacks instead unless you’re stuck on a monochrome GB.
Super Mario Land DX - https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4477/
Super Mario Land 2 DX - https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3784/
(Original ROMs to patch required, not at same site.)
Metal Gear Solid for GBC is never mentioned in all time lists for the series, but it’s my favorite, straight up.
I can’t believe they managed to cram a true MGS experience onto a GAMEBOY Color cartridge.
Pocket Bomberman is also legitimately great.
That’s the first game I bought for my GBC. I didn’t have enough money for a playstation and was jealous of all my friends playing MGS. It’s super well done. I just got an analog pocket and I think I’ll dig MGS out again after I finish my Castlevania games.
Emphasizing your statement about a true MGS experience. This is literally a full Metal Gear game styled like Metal Gear 2 (MSX) and they do not pull punches with the story, it is up there with the other games in the series. Music and pacing are impressive for the console.
Weirdly enough, my favorite Zelda game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Weirder still, it’s the story that I really love, driven almost entirely by the fact that it’s the least Zelda Zelda game. No, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
I mean it’s probably entirely nostalgia, but I still hear the in-game ballad in my head from time to time.
They remade it for switch. Totally worth buying again.
I had no idea, guess I’ll have to do a little early Christmas shopping lol. Thanks!
I started Zelda so many times as a kid but never finished it. Was so happy to finally beat it thanks to the remake. It is solid and adds a few tweaks to help game play. Totally worth picking up!
$60 for a 30 year old Game Boy game? I think I’ll have to disagree that it’s worth buying again.
It’s a full remake, not like a port or a rom
It’s a full remake of a Game Boy game from 1993, and it honestly kills my faith in humanity a little bit that 6 and a half million people were falling all over themselves to pay Daddy Nintendo that much for it.
Not weird at all! It’s actually my favorite Zelda game too. 🙂 I think I’d actually say Majora’s Mask is even more not-Zelda. 😄
…also Marin > Zelda 👀
Hah, I actually agree with you now that you mention it: Majora’s Mask is indeed even more not-Zelda lol. That game was a hell of a time.
Thank you for your bravery lmao. But I’m 100% with you, Marin a thousand times over Zelda. The fandom will likely beg to differ though hahaha
Oracle of seasons was a masterpiece, oracle of ages and minish cap also were great, some novel ideas and beautiful execution, lots of hours of gameplay if you play casually and explore along the way
Funny enough it was Link’s Awakening that led all the games after that being more story oriented. It also started the trope of the long trading quest
The trading part is what got me to buy that game. I was playing it at the store and got through a bunch of it and got hooked.
It’s not only my favorite Zelda game. It’s probably my favorite game for any system.
As a kid I got a lot of mileage out of The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle. It was honestly nothing special but it was a fun if very basic game. Password-based and not all that difficult for an adult.
Line the crazy castle games, 4 on the gbc is what i grew up with so naturally it’s my favourite. 3 isn’t far off though she I played that to the end last year for the first time.
Dragon quest monsters (dragon warrior monsters in America)
This game was the bomb, I loved the monster breeding mechanics, you could breed monsters of different types to get entirely new ones.
On December 1st, new dragon quest monsters is coming out for switch
It looks really fun! I have a copy of the Japanese version. I was surprised to find out it was a Game Boy Color launch title!
I haven’t played the first one, but Dragon Quest Monsters II was fantastic.
It has randomly generated worlds to explore, awesome monsters to discover by breeding, and a decent “home farm” mechanic.
Plus the core plot is delightfully bonkers.
(But still somehow more realistic than Pokemon’s “dog fighting by children is totally normal here” world.)
Just FYI, there’s a 3DS remake that has an English fan translation patch.
This game is the bomb. There are translation patches for the JPN 3DS remakes, but I haven’t played them extensively…
Final Fantasy Adventure. Zelda style top view. Absolutely loved it. Music scope and story… Played through at least a dozen times. A decently high quality remake came out for phones a few years back. I still love it.
I’m with you, it is a great game. There was another remake for the GBA too, named Sword of Mana
Survival Kids
It’s a bit of a silly survival game that starts with you being stranded on an island. I got a kick out of it because there were a few different game endings that were dependent on the actions you took earlier in the game.
I picked this one up when I was in high school. Never did get rescued… I looked the other day and prices for this one are pretty high, so apparently we’re not the only ones who remember it!
Edit: And apparently there’s a lot of sequels? Who knew? I guess it was called Lost in Blue later on. They all sound like they have the same basic story…
I just looked at the prices on eBay and I have no idea what’s going on over there. Are those accurate going-rate prices? I’m pretty sure I bought mine off the “games no one has ever heard of and will not buy” sale rack once upon a time, haha!
I had no idea there were sequels! Thanks for that bit of info
Price Charting has it broken down by type. That site isn’t 100% accurate by a long shot (notably it doesn’t really factor in condition), but it’s helpful for a rough idea. I saw it had the complete game at over $400.
I’m guessing the game is popular with collectors for being a “rare gem” of the Game Boy library (since it’s both rare and actually a pretty good game). Clicking around, I see it in some rare Game Boy Color game lists—along with Shantae, which I strongly considered picking up back in the day from Electronics Boutique for like $20 and decided “nah.”
For ebay prices are sometimes meaningless unless you filter by “sold items”. But yeah looks like they’re going for around $100-$170
Thanks for the suggestion! I bought this game back when it came out. Yeah, I was surprised to find out about the Japan-only sequel, it had such a different vibe. 👀
Rockman/Megaman EXE
As a kid, I found Gargoyles Quest infuriatingly addictive. I wasn’t good enough to do well at it, it annoyed me, but I kept going back for more.
Gargoyle’s Quest has plenty of those weird old game difficulty spikes. Damned fine Game Boy game though. Good call!
This Beyblade game that was like an obstacle course on checkered platforms. I practiced a lot to beat the par times on each course.
Ayy I loved that game
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets.
Are they good games? No
But they are well themed and have chiptune version of Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack. I like replaying the, from time to time.
Took me a while to find the name. Have you played Quarth?
I have! I picked up a copy a couple of years ago. It took me a little while to realize, it’s not about clearing the screen, but about getting a high score. It’s very clever, and a little addicting!
Yes! Got it as a present so it wasn’t on my radar but it was a pretty good puzzle game. I seem to recall playing this way more than I played Tetris.
This is a little off topic for “RetroGaming”, but my favorite new soon-to-be-hidden gem for Gameboy Color is “Grimace’s Birthday”.
https://www.grimacesbirthday.com/
The overall game is only about ten minutes long, but it’s just so dang well made for a silly throw-away advertisement, and I just adore that it’s a Gameboy Color game released in 2023.
Edit: To be clear, I have no association with anyone involved in the game. It just gives me the giggles to get a new retrogame for a licsned property, for actual classic hardware in 2023.
