What Game Boy game do you love that you never hear anyone talk about?
What Game Boy game do you love that you never hear anyone talk about?
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.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.
Rockman/Megaman EXE
Took me a while to find the name. Have you played Quarth?
Kirby Pinball. Just a chill and fun game.
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.
Pitman, also known as Catrap in US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catrap
It's not really something special or so, but I had it in my youth and used the level editor to build countless levels with my friend. It's a side scrolling puzzle game, with the abiliy to go back in history with a nice backwards animation.
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.
Here's one that came to mind: Heiankyo Alien for the Gameboy DMG. I remember playing this a ton in the car as a kid. It's a game where you have to dig holes for aliens to fall in and bury them to kill them.
The metal gear solid game was pretty awesome actually
I ahem acquired a copy of Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak from my elementary school lost and found, played it whenever I had a minute for the next few weeks. I don't know if I'd have the patience to play it today, but it's still an adorable little puzzle game. The sound and animation of the actions was spot on.
James Bond: 007 was a surprisingly good game that I enjoyed way more than expected. I don’t know why I got the game, I was and have never been a fan of the series.
Gonna have to be Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and MegaMan Battle Network 6 for me on the GBA.
Donkey Kong. Not Donkey Kong Country. The original arcade Donkey Kong, until you realize after beating the original levels that there is SO MUCH MORE to it!
Just one thing. Fuck that level with the long bridge of disappearing floor tiles. That was the worst!!
God Medicine. Genuinely one of the best classic style JRPGs and the best RPG on Gameboy in my opinion. Absolute travesty that the west never ended up getting it originally.
I had an Itchy and Scratchy game (from the Simpsons). It was a mini golf game that was a lot of fun.
Boomer's Adventure in ASMIK World
I never figured out why they gave the world such a weird name, or didn't just call it Boomer's Adventure
A whole back when I got a Miyoo Mini, I went looking for original GB games that I missed. I found Cave Noire and it quickly became my favorite ways to kill time. It's simple (but not easy), being a Roguelike offers some variety, and it's just fun.
James Bond 007 was one of my favorite Gameboy games.
I spent countless hours as a 4 year old trying to solve the puzzles and got through it by sheer determination.
I can still probably remember every path in the desert mission.
The Machine (2021). It’s not so much obscure as it is just niche. It’s wonderful. Multiple playthrough, knowledge retains between runs, so you can unravel more and more of the mystery of The Machine. Highly recommend for anyone interested in political games. I bought the actual cartridge, but you can also buy the rom for like $1, and there’s a demo on itch.io I’m pretty sure.
Ninja 5-0 for the GBA. I got out my collection recently and had no idea I owned it. It's Elevator Action, but you're a ninja.
Wario Land 2 + 3 Were the first games I ever played on a Nintendo handheld. I still play them through once a year because of nostalgic reasons. Plus they are one of the most enjoyable Jump and Runs for me.
MegaMan Battle Network series was by favorite GBA titles and currently has a modern port for Switch PC and PlayStation
Rebelstar: Tactical Command, In a nutshell it's X-COM for the gameboy advance.
Dragon Warrior Monsters.
I think I'm the only person who's beaten the Monster Master fight enough times to know there's a bug in it where he eventually gets strong enough that you get one shotted by him even if you're cheating and using a Gameshark to keep your health in the 1024 hp range...
Pac in Time was a great game, came bundle with my red original Game Boy. Turok 1 and 2 for Gameboy were loads of fun too
I didn’t have a Gameboy, but I did have an Atari Lynx and I would say for Atari it was Batman in color.
You know what was great and gets no love? Q*Bert for GameBoy was a really solid game that had a LOT of stage variety and even silly cutscenes. Literally the only thing it was missing was color. Highly recommend.
Falling sand games, specter supreme, escape velocity, gyromite.
Lighthearted RPG with a really neat combat system, funny writing, and food puns everywhere! So awesome and I never see anyone talk about it.
Shout out to Hungry Goriya for her excellent review on this gem.
Quest for Camelot was a banger. I think it's in NSO actually. The sword swing sound effect is burned into my DNA.
I always thought the Triple XXX game was awesome as a kid.
My favorite GBA game is The Urbz: Sims in the City. The console version of the game wasn't received very positively, but the GBA/DS version is a completely separate game, and a very good one. It's a very goofy game with a lot of stupid (read: amazing) jokes, RPG elements, mini games, some of the best music in any GBA game and a lot more. I still revisit this game once in a while.
I even played the predecessor "Sims bustin out" for the GBA a few years ago. Urbz is way more refined than bustin out, but if you liked Urbz and you want more, Bustin Out is a great way to scratch that itch.
Ambitiousamphibian did a great video on this game a few months ago. He seems to feel exactly the same about this game as I do. Because of that, I will link it, but be aware that it contains a lot of spoilers and going blind into the game is the best way to play IMO.
Pinball Tycoon was one of my favorites. great music, solid no-nomsense pinball gameplay. it even had a multi-player mode! never seen another soul talk about it.
Konami's Motocross Maniacs
Avenging Spirits. When I was younger, a friend and I loaned each other a bunch of our games. Sadly, he ended up moving away before we managed to swap back, and he got the better end of the deal when it came to the games. However, I did get left with a copy of Avenging Spirits... the game is a bit strange but its very fun and the sprite work is just adorable.
The game has you playing as a spirit who can possess enemies. You start off with a few you can possess, and then you gain more choices as you progress. Or so I believe... I wasn't all that good at the game back in the day, so I don't remember getting too far in it.
Gargoyles Quest was awesome. Love the music from Ocean games too - Hook and RoboCop come to mind.
Penguin Wars