In my opinion this is the only game that would hold up today. It is ultimately the best Gameboy game.
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Best game on the OG Gameboy that are not Link's Awakening or Super Mario Land 2
- Thread starter jack_package_200
- Start date
In my opinion this is the only game that would hold up today. It is ultimately the best Gameboy game.
OG GameBoy games look like this (usually grey, but there were many individual color variants).
GameBoy Color games look like this (usually clear, but again, variants).
But when Nintendo introduced the GameBoy Color, they also introduced GB/GBC Hybrid carts, because while the GBC was backwards compatible and could play all OG GB games, they were afraid to give up on the millions of people who owned the OG GameBoy or the more recent GameBoy Pocket. The Hybrid carts look like this (usually black).
As you can see, they're clearly GameBoy carts, not GBC carts (they even say "GameBoy" on the cart, not "GameBoy Color" like the GBC carts do). This is because GBC carts can't fit in an OG GameBoy, while OG GameBoy carts can fit in a GBC (due to the backwards compatibility).
However, a GB/GBC Hybrid cart is not just a GB cart that plays in a GBC due to backwards compatibility. A Hybrid cart is a hybrid because it has two different ROMs included on the same cart. It has an OG GB ROM, and a newer GBC ROM. The OG GB doesn't know what that GBC ROM is, so it basically "can't see" the GBC ROM and only plays the GB ROM, while the GBC can see both ROMs, but it knows to give priority to the GBC ROM, so it launches the game as a GBC game, not as a backward compatible OG GB game.
So is Pokemon Gold a legit OG GB game? Yes. It is a pure OG GB ROM, in an OG GB shell.
Is Pokemon Gold a legit GBC game? Also yes. It is a pure GBC ROM, made for the GBC.
It's both.
"GameBoy Color exclusive games" (aka just "GameBoy Color games") are what you get when Nintendo (or whoever) didn't feel like spending 2x as much money on the carts to include two completely different (but incredibly similar) games with your purchase.
Sword of Hope II - the only other game besides Link's Awakening that I completely lost myself in when I was a kid.
Trip World - incredible detail in the world and amazing character designs... especially for a Game Boy game
Trip World - incredible detail in the world and amazing character designs... especially for a Game Boy game
Kirby's Pinball Land is fantastic
There are a lot of GB games that hold up today!
There are a lot of GB games that hold up today!
Nope, across all regions there are about 604 GBC-only games and 320 non-exclusives. No duplicates included in that. Also no unlicensed games or the Taiwan games with unique carts.
Edit: should mention this isn't mine
Go to "GBC Complete List". crtl-f CGB for GBC only, DMG for others. I looked up the ones with no codes a few years ago which added a few to the numbers.
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I did a monochrome gb top 30 a while ago:
30. Harvest Moon GB
29. The Sword Of Hope
28. The Sword Of Hope 2
27. Final Fantasy Legend III
26. Kirby's Pinball Land
25. Kid Dracula
24. Trip World
23. Final Fantasy Legend II
22. Kirby's Dream Land
21. Final Fantasy Adventure
20. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
19. Avenging Spirit
18. Mercenary Force
17. Ikari no Yousai 2
16. Balloon Kid
15. Duck Tales 2
14. Pokémon Yellow
13. Bionic Commando
12. Gargoyle's Quest
11. Super Mario Land 2
10. Kirby's Dream Land 2
9. Mole Mania
8. Wario Land 2
7. For Frog the Bell Tolls (Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru - never released west, Link's Awakening used this engine [Prince Richard in LA is a reference to this game] - translation available here - https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1623/)
6. Tetris
5. Mega Man V
4. Donkey Kong '94
3. Dragon Warrior Monsters
2. Super Mario Land 3 : Wario Land
1. The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening
So not including zelda, my fave gb game is the original wario land (super mario land 3). It's made by the same people who made land 2, so has the same weird vibe, which I LOVE. Music is great too, love the powers from the hats, and the cool secret treasures. Just such a joy of a game to play.
30. Harvest Moon GB
29. The Sword Of Hope
28. The Sword Of Hope 2
27. Final Fantasy Legend III
26. Kirby's Pinball Land
25. Kid Dracula
24. Trip World
23. Final Fantasy Legend II
22. Kirby's Dream Land
21. Final Fantasy Adventure
20. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
19. Avenging Spirit
18. Mercenary Force
17. Ikari no Yousai 2
16. Balloon Kid
15. Duck Tales 2
14. Pokémon Yellow
13. Bionic Commando
12. Gargoyle's Quest
11. Super Mario Land 2
10. Kirby's Dream Land 2
9. Mole Mania
8. Wario Land 2
7. For Frog the Bell Tolls (Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru - never released west, Link's Awakening used this engine [Prince Richard in LA is a reference to this game] - translation available here - https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1623/)
6. Tetris
5. Mega Man V
4. Donkey Kong '94
3. Dragon Warrior Monsters
2. Super Mario Land 3 : Wario Land
1. The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening
So not including zelda, my fave gb game is the original wario land (super mario land 3). It's made by the same people who made land 2, so has the same weird vibe, which I LOVE. Music is great too, love the powers from the hats, and the cool secret treasures. Just such a joy of a game to play.
I'll throw in another show of support for Final Fantasy Legend 2. It is a really solid and experimental RPG, and there are not many games like it out there even now.
Wario Land 2 is the one, more focused and less immediately plodding than its sequel and more inventive than its predecessor.
Wario Land 3 is GBC exclusive
Silver works on OG Gameboy hardware. I know because I lost my GBC a month or so before release and played through the whole game on my brick. It wasn't for another year before i got a GBC again and then was amazed my gyrados was actually red this whole time!
Donkey Kong '94, a master class in game design.
My other votes go to Pokémon and Wario Land II.
My other votes go to Pokémon and Wario Land II.
Ditto. MM was one of the first games I'd ever played on GB other than Tetris, so it's got a special place in my gaming recollections.
I'm also partial to TMNT: Fall of the Footclan. As a game, it left a far better impression than TMNT on NES.
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Final fantasy legend ii and great greed agree a couple of my favorites. Legend ii is really a saga game, and we had a series thread a while back because the series just got a couple of new releases, but this is the one that got me into the series, and it's still a masterpiece. This is where they got the series right for the first time.
Great greed had kind of a cheesy story, bit the battle system is really unique and fun.
Great greed had kind of a cheesy story, bit the battle system is really unique and fun.
Both already mentioned but yeah Donkey Kong 94 I still play frequently on my super gameboy on the snes.
And YES SOLOMONS CLUB. I always enjoyed Solomon's key and the game really really works well as a handheld platform puzzler. Those are the two original gameboy games I have kept going back to for years..
And YES SOLOMONS CLUB. I always enjoyed Solomon's key and the game really really works well as a handheld platform puzzler. Those are the two original gameboy games I have kept going back to for years..
Tetris is the best OG GB game for me (I use to spend hours handing the GB back and forth with my neighbor to see who could get to the highest level.
Outside of that, GB had so many good games and nes->gb renditions, specially ones by capcom.
I still keep a bucket of GB(C) games around to play from time to time (I also have one for GG & Wonderswan).
Outside of that, GB had so many good games and nes->gb renditions, specially ones by capcom.
I still keep a bucket of GB(C) games around to play from time to time (I also have one for GG & Wonderswan).
Fantastic games but only the first one was GB compatible. Still both look amazing on a GBC (amazing palette work).
