I mostly missed the boat on the Game Boy line. I've never really liked playing games on portable game systems, and the non-lit screens didn't help. When given the choice in 1994, I chose Game Gear. Woof... Then, in 1998, I finally convinced my mommy to buy me a Game Boy Pocket because I just had to have the limited edition Ice Blue color. Unfortunately, that was like four months before Game Boy Color was announced at E3 that year. For nearly three years, I had no access to Game Boy Color games until I bought a Game Boy Advance. Even then, I only had Oracle of Ages/Seasons.
Regardless, when I started looking into
modding last year, I picked up a few games I missed out on. Recently, I really dug my heels in and started rounding out my library. I missed a ton of games. I've gained a new appreciation for this simpler, pre-patch era of gaming. Issues such as
this one discussed in the General Gaming forum only serve to reinforce that appreciation.
Anyway, here's what I have so far, separated by system. I managed to snag a Game Boy Advance Link Cable and a Game Boy Game Link with DMG adapter (Fun fact: DMG models have a larger link port).
I'm primarily using this thread for cataloging and recommendation purposes. I doubt I'll beat all of these games, but I'll definitely play them.
Also, despite what Nintendo says; I'm separating Game Boy Color because it had a lot of exclusive games, and I think I've done a decent job of building that library so it's easier for me to keep track of as a separate list.OG Game Boy- Donkey Kong
- Final Fantasy Adventure
- Game Boy Camera
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- Metroid II: The Return of Samus
- Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition
- Super Mario Land
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
- Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
- Tetris (I have two copies because my sister's ex just gave me his DMG Game Boy hella years ago, and everyone had this)
Game Boy Color- Bionic Commando: Elite Forces
- Bomberman Quest
- Crystalis
- Donkey Kong Country
- Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (black cartridge, playable on OG Game Boy)
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
- Mario Tennis
- Metal Gear Solid (Metal Gear: Ghost Babel)
- Perfect Dark
- Pokémon Crystal
- R-Type DX (black cartridge, playable on OG Game Boy)
- Sabrina: The Animated Series - Zapped!
- Shadowgate Classic
- V-Rally: Edition 99
- Wario Land II (black cartridge, playable on OG Game Boy)
- Wario Land 3
- Wendy: Every Witch Way
Game Boy Advance
- Astro Boy: Omega Factor
- Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
- Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand
- Bomberman Tournament
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
- DK: King of Swing
- Donkey Kong Country (yes, for GBA too)
- Drill Dozer
- Driv3r (Driver 3)
- Final Fantasy IV: Advance
- Final Fantasy V: Advance
- Final Fantasy VI: Advance
- Golden Sun
- Golden Sun: The Lost Age
- Gunstar Super Heroes
- Klonoa: Empire of Dreams
- Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Four Swords
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
- Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong
- Metal Slug Advance
- Metroid Fusion
- Metroid: Zero Mission
- Mother 3 (this is a reproduction cartridge with the English fan translation because Nintendo gonna Nintendo)
- Sigma Star Saga (This is still shrinkwrapped)
- The Simpsons: Road Rage
- Stuntman
- Sword of Mana
- Tales of Phantasia
- Top Gear Rally
- V-Rally 3
- Wario Land 4
- WarioWare: Twisted!
I'm sure a few of these games might seem like odd choices. Feel free to ask. I only wanted The Simpson's Road Rage because it's a 3D GBA game. It was bundled with Donkey Kong Country for GBA and almost as much as just one of them individually. Might as well, right? Driv3r and V-Rally were both developed by VD-Dev (AKA Velez & Dubail Dev. Team), two dudes from France who made some of the most impressive 3D GBA games ever made. Stop Skeletons From Fighting on The YouTube has a
great video on these guys (RIP Fernando Velez).
Here's a list of items I'm interested in:
Final Fantasy Adventure (GB): It's the prequel to Secret of Mana, and according to some, the better version between it and Sword of Mana. I know this is included in Collection of Mana, but the point of this entire endeavor is to play Game Boy games on original albeit modded hardware. Update 04/21/2021: Got it.Bomberman Quest (GBC): The Adventure mode is like Link's Awakening with Bomberman. So is Bomberman Tournament's Adventure mode except Quest is supposedly better. Unfortuntely, Quest is hella expensive.Update 10/02/2021: Got it.- Daikatana (GBC): It's kind of a Link's Awakening clone and apparently pretty good. The problem is it was never released in North America so it hasn't been easy to snag. It's currently going for like $80 loose with shipping, and I don't think I can justify that for what is supposedly a two to three hour campaign. This will probably drop, but prices for retro games have seen an uptick semi-recently.
- Dragon Warrior III (GBC): It's apparently a pretty great port of the NES original. I've whiffed on buying this a few times so I probably won't unless someone here is like super passionate about Dragon Quest and wants to make a pitch.
Pokémon Crystal (GBC): I recently bought Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition to try to get back into the series. I heard there are some quality of life updates in the later games, but they also seem daunting with the Shiny Pokémon (whatever that means) and the absurd amount of Pokémon now. I figure if I like Yellow, I'll move on to Crystal. Unfortunately, prices for Pokémon games have become insane in the membrane over the past six months or so.Update 05/04/2021: Got it.- Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (GBC): It was never released outside of Japan so like Mother 3, I would have to buy a reproduction cartridge which I only do in unique circumstances.
Wendy: Every Witch Way (GBC): It's a late GBC WayForward title that isn't Shantae, meant as a tie-in to a cartoon that was ultimately not picked up. The publisher, TDK Mediactive, Inc. (now known as Take-Two Licensing, Inc.), wanted to cancel the game but WayForward Technologies convinced them not to and included three GBA exclusive levels. This is pretty rare so I don't think snagging an actual cartridge is going to happen.Update 10/02/2021: Got it.DK: King of Swing (GBA): Looks unique; literally that's it. I'm modding one of the GBAs to have clicky shoulder buttons so this would be a good game to show that off.Update 10/02/2021: Got it.Metal Slug Advance (GBA): I could have picked this up on several occasions. However, I've never played a Metal Slug game, and this was going for over $75.Update 10/02/2021: Got it.Warioware Twisted (GBA): I never got into the Warioware series. Twisted is a special cartridge with an accelerometer and rumble.Update 10/02/2021: Got it.- Shrek 1 and 2 (GBA Video): 🤷♀️
I intentionally left
Shantae (GBC) and
Ninja Five-O (GBA) off that list. Those cartridges go for hundreds of dollars so nope, not going to happen. I missed the Limited Run Games re-print of Shantae last year. My preference for all these retro games is to have the physical cartridge. Failing that, my plan is to buy an Everdrive eventually for games that are mostly inaccessible for me due to price or availability as well as for rare instances of multiplayer. Unfortunately, the Everdrive sometimes does not to play nice with the IPS LCD kits in modded Game Boys. It's something to do with the power draw. I think you can get around it by installing a voltage regulator. I need to do more research on it.
Also, people are still making new games and not merely fan-made ROM hacks. A nearly finished Game Boy Color RPG from 2001,
Infinity, is being completed and released
on a physical cartridge (!). The Kickstarter will launch in June. I haven't pledged to a Kickstarter in a while. I will be contributing to whichever tier nets me the game.
I'm taking any and all recommendations. Please post your favorites/hidden gems and why you like them.