Time to brush up the Gameboy/GBC Hidden Gems list

[fastbilly1]

For those who dont know we have this list on the front page:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/best-und ... olor-games

And based on the discussion here:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=48638

It is time to re-approach the list.

For those of you too lazy to go through the link:
Kid Dracula
Shantae
Tripworld
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Wendy: Every Witch Way
Avenging Spirit
Bionic Commando: Elite Forces
Dexter’s Laboratory: Robot Rampage
Blaster Master Boy / Jr. / Bomber King 2
Blaster Master: Enemy Below
Hammerin’ Harry: Ghost Building Company
Fighting Simulator 2-in-1: Flying Warriors
World Heroes 2 Jet
Nettou King of Fighters ’96
Battle Arena Toshinden
Magical Chase
Quarth
Vattle Giuce
Solar Striker
Sagaia
Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS
Trax
Toki Tori
Amazing Penguin
Cat Trap / Pitman
Chalvo 55 – Super Puzzle Action
Bugs Bunny in Crazy Castle Series
Bubble Ghost
Yoshi / Yoshi & Mario / Yoshi’s Egg
Yoshi’s Cookie
Mole Mania
Dead Heat Scramble
Gargoyle’s Quest
Crystalis
Survival Kids
Cannon Fodder
Little Sound DJ (LSDJ)
Nanoloop (1.x)
Revenge of the ‘Gator

Now this list is older, originally posted in 09, and has been updated. But give it a look over.

[ninjainspandex]

How about these two hidden gem imports? Banishing Racer and Miracle Adventure of Esparks. A couple of excellent platformers on the old gameboy, and rather hard to find as well.

[Ack]

Is Shantae still a hidden gem, or has it grown substantially in popularity since this list was published?

[Exhuminator]

For my first suggestion:

Cave Noire

It's available in English thanks to a fan translation.

Very fun mini-roguelike that is both equal parts rewarding and punishing. Has a bit more strategy in place though as each quest-run is meant to be less than 15 minutes long. You know real quick if you're going to make it or not. So if you lose, you aren't devastated like you might be in a normal roguelike.

[CRTGAMER]

Besides the Mascots of Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi etc, any older very good gameboy game could be a "Hidden Gem" since many are not played today.

Glad to see Quarth on the list, it has only been released on just a couple of systems.

My vote for a GB grey cart that I bought decades ago would be Faceball 2000. Its even listed in the "Pushed the Limits" article. Yeah its a bit choppy in movement, but a good sequel to the original Atari "mainframe" setup that had a bunch of Atari ST computers hooked for Lan play. Great music with a bit of strategy utilizing a map view to find the exit.

Though uncommon, inexpensive online.

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo/gameboy/game-boy-games-that-pushed-the-limits-of-graphics-sound

Faceball (known at first as MIDI Maze) originated on the Atari ST as a quirky and simple multiplayer deathmatch game featuring cartoon smiley faces. On the Game Boy, it retains the honor of being the only title to have supported 16 simultaneous players, although special hardware was required to make this possible. Also, good luck finding even one other person who owns this insanely obscure game.

[alienjesus]

Balloon Kid - An excellent and forgotten follow up to Balloon Fight which actually has an ending and boss fights and other stuff you might not expect. It's a lot of fun

Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru - A first party hidden gem that is relatively unknown due to no Western release. Now there is a (very good quality) translation patch, everyone should go out and play one of the most unique and cool games on the system.

Money Idol Exchanger - A japan only game boy port of a fairly obscure arcade puzzle game - it's quite similar to magical drop, and just as intense,although I actually prefer this one.

Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers - It's really short, but this is a pretty great point n' click adventure game that takes more than a few cues from the likes of Maniac Mansion. Better than it's licensed pedigree would suggest.

[Ghudda]

Wait, is Avenging Spirit actually a valuable game? I've had this cart for a while now and had no idea that it was valuable.

Also, thanks for the list. Reminds me of how many GB games I still need to pick up. Wendy definitely being one of them.

[noiseredux]

Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers - It's really short, but this is a pretty great point n' click adventure game that takes more than a few cues from the likes of Maniac Mansion. Better than it's licensed pedigree would suggest.

agreed.

[Gunstar Green]

Some of my favs that don't get discussed a lot:

Battle Unit Zeoth: Short but fun shoot 'em up with a mech.

Ghostbusters 2: Game Boy version of the HAL Laboratory NES game. Still a lot of fun and one of the more "Ghostbustery" Ghostbusters games from that era.

Choplifter II/III: The third one is basically an advanced remake of the second that only released in Europe to my knowledge. That one has a better control scheme but I like the challenge of the second a bit more. A slower and more deliberate take on the series that considers the Game Boy's limitations.

Elevator Action: More of a sequel than a port with more complex levels, multiple weapons and better control. I'll take this over the NES game any day of the week.

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary: A surprisingly really cool game! Split between shmup style levels (most of the game) and planetary overhead levels. Action oriented instead of an adventure game like the NES version.

Road Rash: It's Road Rash. It plays surprisingly well for a Game Boy conversion. It's not an improvement over any of the console versions in any way but for a Game Boy racer it's solid. Doesn't work with the GBA for some reason. There was a GBC version that changes some things and it doesn't feel quite as polished.

Teenage Mutant Turtles III: Radical Rescue: Everyone seems to talk about Fall of the Foot Clan which is a fun, simple action game to be sure. This game deserves more respect though. It's a great action platformer with Metroid elements. It's a really interesting title.

[8bit]

I don't have a lot of the titles mentioned above with the exception of Teenage Mutant Turtles III: Radical Rescue. I've only put maybe an hour or two into it but I agree its another really fun turtles games that I never hear mentioned.