Gameboy Color Hidden Gems

[racketboy]

So I'm thinking it may soon be time to split off the Game Boy Color section to it's own Hidden Gems entry.

Here's the combined Game Boy Hidden Gems guide as-is
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/best-und ... olor-games

The list is currently dominated by classic Game Boy titles (not surprisingly as more diverse library)

Here's the current GBC full entries
Shantae
Wendy: Every Witch Way
Bionic Commando: Elite Forces
Dexter’s Laboratory: Robot Rampage
Blaster Master: Enemy Below
Magical Chase
Toki Tori
Crystalis
Survival Kids
Cannon Fodder

What should we add?

Shantae still worthy of being a "Hidden" gem. I know it has more exposure now that there's newer installments...

[MrPopo]

Dragon Quest Monsters 2 should go on there.

[BogusMeatFactory]

The two Harry Potter games that are turn based rpgs

[racketboy]

The two Harry Potter games that are turn based rpgs

Oh interesting! I didn't even know that! One of those licensed games you just figured weren't interesting

[Tanooki]

Well I can help most definitely. I know I've said more than enough that for years now I've been more centered around enjoying being a handheld gamer, and when N64 floundered GBC became my primary play thing aside from the Turbo Duo until the Dreamcast popped up, then the GC + GBA in 01.

Your starting list is sound, but it is lacking as you said. The games you do have listed have good merit. Shantae is obvious as it was designed well and has its fan base as it's still kicking. Wendy there is a fantastic game by also wayforward and it has NES - Metal Storm gravity mechanics which is fantastic. The rest they're fairly obvious, even Dexter to those who know it's rebranded Japanese goodness of Elevator Action.

For starters I have to ask why Metal Gear Solid isn't on there??

After that here's some really good suggestions:
Dragon's Lair - Technical merit alone, this is the arcade laserdisc in 2bit color, rotoscoped visuals basically, and outside of like a half dozen missing steps in The Smithy, the move set is intact. This was the portable way to go about it really until mobile devices took over and the DS version too.

Warlocked - This basically is Warcraft 1, with special wizards. Each side good/bad have at least a dozen stage campaign, plus there is multiplayer, and a few goofy mini games in the menu too. It actually handles very well despite being a 2 button game, plenty of sprites, good movement, great music and nicely recorded digital vocal and sound samples for all the people/gear.

Perfect Dark - Basically kind of like Metal Gear, but PD instead, handles well and plays nice, oddly a rumble game which seemed strange as it's not vital to it. A solidly built kind of lost chapter in the franchise.

Dragon Warrior 1+2 and the DW 3 carts - All of them are demakes, color and audio quality lowered versions of the Super Famicom releases. 1+2 work on old or new GBC, but DW3 upped the ante is GBC only, and like Shantae on a GBA has a little more oomph in the color counts and other added teeny perks.

Street Fighter Alpha - The character may be less detailed than SF2 on GB, but it makes up for it in smooth combat, all the characters are present, decent audio, nicely colored backgrounds on stages, a premier fighting game for the US market.

(But if you look to Japan) Transformers Beast Wars was a high point. Using the Takara engine for all those Neo Geo fighting ports, this one has like around a dozen fighters, but each one, as they're transformers, have another move set, so you basically kind of double the roster and the game plays fantastic.

Mr Driller - GBC only game too, this one is a conversion of the arcade/Dreamcast(etc) release of that action puzzle game and it's well made, very colorful, solid audio, no speed loss in play, and has all the various modes. Stupidly lacks a battery so scores are not saved.

Project S-11 - Try this one, you'll wonder WTF happened with the limitations of the Gameboy sprites and all that. The guys who made this used some demo scene level coding tricks for the visuals and audio of the game. The amount of bullets and personal weapons fire on top of generalized sprites (you and them) put into the little square of the GBC screen without dropping into slow mo is nuts, nothing comes close to touching it, and again GBC only release.

Do you like pinball? One could easily point out Pokemon Pinball, but instead the more obscure rumble pack backed 3D Ultra Pinball Thrillride is worth a look. IT's a very solid conversion of the PC game, doesn't lose much in the translation either, and it handles very well.


And if you like the old NES release of Ghosts n Goblins that got a port, along with adding save passwords and an arrange mode which really changes things up and it works on either GB type. They also did 1942, thankfully not the grating NES release, they did a GBC only game on this one and mimicked the arcade far better.



Also an honorable mention, Konami (jerks) outside of the US in the UK released 4 volumes of the Konami GB Collection series. What you have are 4 games on each, and they're colorized versions of their old GB titles. Castlevania 1+2, Gradius 1+2, Contra(Probotector), Parodius, Twinbee, Ganbare Goemon, Frogger, Quarth, Guttang Gottong, Track n Field, Antarctic Adventure, Motocross Maniacs, Konami Racing, and Yie Ar Kung Fu are all of them. Goemon got translated into english as it never was before too.

[prfsnl_gmr]

The two Harry Potter games that are turn based rpgs

Oh interesting! I didn't even know that! One of those licensed games you just figured weren't interesting

Wow! Those are hidden. I had no idea they were RPGs, much less good ones.

The Sabrina games are both pretty solid WayForward playformers, and Towers is a first-person dungeon crawler that is insanely ambitious in light of the hardware. Finally, I second Warlocked, which is basically a lost first-party game.

[alienjesus]

Here's a bunch of fun ones:

Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong - this one is like the lost 'DX' equivalent of all the other colourised ports like Link's Awakening. Its a full colour version of Donkey Kong Land 3 which only came out in Japan

The Fish Files - This is a (possibly Europe only?) old school point n' click adventure which looks a lot like Day of the Tentacle where you try to find your pet goldfish who has been abducted by aliens.

Hamtaro: Ham-Ham's Unite - This is a puzzle adventure game where you look for all of the missing hamsters from the Ham-Ham clubhouse. You learn hamster words and gestures which you use to talk to people and solve puzzles. It's also one of the prettiest games on Game Boy Colour if you ask me.

Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers - This is another point and click style game where you play as the whole Scooby Doo gang and try to solve a mystery by splitting up and looking for clues. There's only one fairly short case to solve, and it can be a bit old-school tough sometimes, but it's honestly pretty well put together and is better than people would think.

Deja Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding - This is a compilation/remake of the 2 Deja Vu games which originally came out back on Macintosh in the 80s. It's pretty faithful, so expect some tough moments and a few unfair game overs, but it's still a well put together port if you can deal with the old-school adventure game design.

Warlocked: Mentioned before, but this is a very cool 8-bit portable strategy game which plays like a portable Warcraft.

Heroes of Might & Magic - Another GBC strategy title, which sounds like it shouldnt work but does.

[racketboy]

mmm... I'm excited to look into these and work on this revision. If anyone in particular wants to write full entries for any games, just let me know!

[Reprise]

Perfect Dark - Basically kind of like Metal Gear, but PD instead, handles well and plays nice, oddly a rumble game which seemed strange as it's not vital to it. A solidly built kind of lost chapter in the franchise.

Despite the mixed reviews, I really enjoyed this one when it came out. It still remains one of the most technically impressive GBC games too imo.