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Game Boy Color is 20 years old
- Thread starter Forkball
- Start date
Even though I was already in my 20s, this was my first authentic Nintendo system (we had bootleg NES systems in South Africa and I think the Super Nintendo skipped us) and also my first handheld. I briefly owned a translucent purple one in 1999 that I bought off eBay and then a lime one in 2000, which I got with Links Awakening DX. What an awesome system. I didn't have many games for it but it started my love affair with Nintendo handhelds that lives strong to this day.
I read this once but basically, the GBC had different 'color modes' depending of whether you wanted to create a game that was backwards compatible with the 2bit color gameboys, or a port of a old title or a totally new game that was exclusive to the console.
If you wanted to keep backwards compatibility, you had to go the supergameboy route where you would designate a color for each shade of grey for each sprite and each background. So you were severely limited.
An exclusive game (like shantae) would be able to take advantage of more colors.
Keep in mind that this info is all from memory. Someone smarter will be able to correct me because I might be mistaken.
I loved that little thing. I owned a used model of the original (brick) Game Boy, and then I got this one. I remember skipping school just to stay at home and play all day long. Most games in my library were GB games, but with the color palette it was OK to play them.
Unfortunately, that little thing stolen in school. I got an GBA on the launch day less than a year later.
Unfortunately, that little thing stolen in school. I got an GBA on the launch day less than a year later.
It is the most disappointing Game Boy in my opinion. It still had a dark, illegible screen. At NES ballpark, it felt woefully underpowered (remember, it came out after N64, when Super NES was already considered last gen). The big titles were mostly rereleases.
One thing not mentioned in the OP is that black carts meant they could be played in OG GB and GBC alike (with notch), while transparent ones would only play on GBC (no notch).
The dual cart has always intrigued me. How did it work? Did it have a CGB and DMG executable? How did OG GB know to ignore the GBC data it couldn't read?
One thing not mentioned in the OP is that black carts meant they could be played in OG GB and GBC alike (with notch), while transparent ones would only play on GBC (no notch).
The dual cart has always intrigued me. How did it work? Did it have a CGB and DMG executable? How did OG GB know to ignore the GBC data it couldn't read?
I worked at Toys R Us when these came out. Parents went fucking BALLISTIC for these, especially for the Pokemon yellow ones. We had a 1 per customer rule and I remember this dad bought one, came back 5 minutes later and tried to get another one. He was screaming and flapping his arms at me yelling for a manager because I denied him one. Manager came over asked what's the problem "Well I have two kids so I need two!" "Guess this is a good lesson on sharing!" Oh man he was fuming. Good times. I slept well that night.
You feel old? One of my advertising first jobs was the launch campaign for Game Boy Color.
Got the translucent purple one with Pokemon Red as a gift as the Pokemon craze was going on in my country. Then came Yellow and Gold.
Oracle of Ages and Wario Land 3 were my introductions to both characters and franchises, the lady at the store really knew her stuff as she recommended games to pick for my birthday.
Incredible experience with it, and ensured I would end up picking up the GBA and the DS years later.
Oracle of Ages and Wario Land 3 were my introductions to both characters and franchises, the lady at the store really knew her stuff as she recommended games to pick for my birthday.
Incredible experience with it, and ensured I would end up picking up the GBA and the DS years later.
Thanks for the hard work! Was the Color a success there? My impression about Europe is they aren't overly into Nintendo there.
First game console I ever got, with Pokemon Yellow. Got it before I could read, so I just fought Pidgeys in the grass outside Pallet Town for hours, lol. Still have mine too, I put a bunch of stickers on mine as kids do. Oh and it's the clear purple color.
While the screen isn't as clear as a NGPC, I still find it perfectly legible. Compared to the other Gameboys and the Wonderswan Color there's no ghosting and it is quite clear. It's just a tad small if I had to nitpick.
Had the aqua blue model, and somehow got a big indent in the middle of my screen not long after getting it. Probably from being a child and carrying too much shit in my bag and generally being irresponsible.
Great times though, did most of my Pokemon playing on this machine.
Great times though, did most of my Pokemon playing on this machine.
I got a rechargeable battery pack for my GBC, which gave its rear a more tumorlike appearance, but hey, at least no purchasing AA's the the amount of Pokemon Red and Gold I played on it.
It was a very pleasing portable to hold.
It did surprisingly well given that N64 had just bombed massively in the last 2 years and all the mindshare was on PlayStation. People still got excited about gaming on the go, and the lower price point helped too. Once Pokemon came out a year later in 1999 things really picked up.
Man, that's cool, Chittagong. Did you get to keep any of the PR materials?
I have at least 20 of these things floating around, been buying various Game Boys for cheap at flea markets and such for years because I love the GB line, love every single one of them.
I remember when I got the turquoise GBC with Pokemon Blue. I begged my parents' to get me one when I saw some kid at school have the lime green one with the Pokemon Green. My brother got a GBC for his birthday and from then on, we would always get the opposite Pokemon from one another. I didn't own too many games for it, primarily Pokemon games, Donkey Kong Land 1 & 2, Pocket Bomberman, and one of the Wario Land games I believe. All my other games were on the OG GB which I played to death. Originally, my older sibling had the OG Gameboy with Tetris and Super Mario Land.
I remember when Gold came out, my grandpa took me and my siblings Christmas shopping at Target and I got Pokemon Gold because I didn't believe Santa would give it to me for Christmas because I was naughty earlier in the month. Pokemon on the GBC were the only games where I maxed out the in-game clock. Such a good system, Nintendo would make a killing off of a GameBoy Classic if they ever think about doing it.
I remember when Gold came out, my grandpa took me and my siblings Christmas shopping at Target and I got Pokemon Gold because I didn't believe Santa would give it to me for Christmas because I was naughty earlier in the month. Pokemon on the GBC were the only games where I maxed out the in-game clock. Such a good system, Nintendo would make a killing off of a GameBoy Classic if they ever think about doing it.
This was the first piece of hardware that I really appreciated the physical design of when I was a kid. I was too young to really think about things like that before, but when I got my hands on the GBC I definitely took note.
Also Link's Awakening DX is my first case of being an "original version" purist lol. monochrome or bust
Also Link's Awakening DX is my first case of being an "original version" purist lol. monochrome or bust
I remember wanting a yellow one so bad. Once I had the money saved up for one, it was able to burn a hole in my pocket faster than I could bother waiting. I ended up getting a teal one. I would plug it into the car adapter and save my AAs for my CD player on long trips. I never had very many games for it but I did have pokemon red, mario tennis, zelda seasons, and that Super Mario Bros. Color game.
I still have it, but the back is long gone. I'm missing quite a few of my games though.
I still have it, but the back is long gone. I'm missing quite a few of my games though.
What negative differences are there between playing the original and the DX version on a black and white Gameboy? I played DX to completion on my Pocket at the time but I never played the original to compare to.
All I remember was that there was an exclusive Color dungeon I couldn't get into (without using a GBC to start it off).
Thanks! I saved a small porffolio of stuff I worked on - Nintendo magazines, Pokemon launch promo burger bar trays for both Red & Blue and the first film, Nintendo 64 "Feel Everything" price drop leaflet and stuff like that.
That's cool. I love all the late 90's Nintendo marketing stuff, such a product of its time.
Pretty sure I still have that two tone gold/silver one with Pikachu and Pichu on it somewhere. I remember being 13, saving my money (I didn't get an allowance) and putting one on Lay-a-way at Walmart and slowly paying it off. I think I'd horde my lunch money for the week and work with my grandpa all day for like $20 on Saturdays to pay for it. I honestly don't remember but I loved that thing. Purple has always been my favorite color so I got the solid purple one.
Pokemon G/S
All the Zelda games
Lufia
Mega Man Xtreme 1/2
I'm sure I'm missing others but man GBC was an awesome console. Not even counting all the non color GB games.
Pokemon G/S
All the Zelda games
Lufia
Mega Man Xtreme 1/2
I'm sure I'm missing others but man GBC was an awesome console. Not even counting all the non color GB games.
My mum got me the transparent purple one for me for Christmas one year without me asking for it, and initially I was confused because I already had a Game Boy and no GBC enhanced titles, what I didn't know though was it adding palettes to old GB games, palettes you could change by holding button combos on start up, and holy shit did I LOVE that feature.
I think Pocket Bomberman was my first actual GBC game, I had Wario Land 2 but it was the original version so that one just got the palette treatment.
I think Pocket Bomberman was my first actual GBC game, I had Wario Land 2 but it was the original version so that one just got the palette treatment.
The first system I've ever bought with my own money. I saved up for it and Pokemon Blue by babysitting a neighbor's kids every saturday for about 8 weeks. It was worth it.
What an amazing library it had!
What an amazing library it had!
I had a purple one that I got for my birthday in 98, but the only game I can remember playing was Pokemon Red. I never had an actual GBC game so I never got to experience true color until I got that ice colored GameBoy Advance with Tony Hawk. I loved that thing.
My guess would just be a simple pointer in the start up code. The GBC would likely be looking for a special flag to say that this is a regular GB game, a GBC color-enhaced backwards compatible cart or a full GBC exclusive.
I'm sure it's totally fine, and I'd probably enjoy it if I tried it, but my bias for the original is 100% irrational haha
I wouldn't have a GBC until 2000 when my sister bought me the teal one and Vigilante 8 which I enjoyed in a yup this is the only game I have for this thing so I'm gonna make the most of it kind of way. Holiday of 1999 I was begging my parents for one, scouring all the sites at the time: Amazon, KB Toys, eToys, and they were so hard to find in my area I was even willing to "settle" for the Pikachu yellow one. Pokémon Pinball, Metal Gear Solid, and Mario Golf were my favorite games.
Close, but backwards :) There was a flag in the Gameboy console that had one value for normal Gameboy, a different value for GBC. So the game would check that flag and decide what to do. Most dual-carts just had parts of the code that were like "if GBC do this, else do this", but there was at least one cart that had two entire copies of the game on the cartridge, one for GBC, one for normal Gameboy, and it chose which one to run at the start based on the console it was plugged into. Fun fact: dedicated GBC carts wouldn't even turn on in a standard Gameboy, due to removing a notch in the corner of the cartridge, but some dedicated games still checked that "GBC or not" flag and displayed a special screen if somehow turned on in a normal Gameboy, something that can be seen in emulators.
One thing to note, those dual carts weren't able to access GBC's "double speed mode", it had to be a dedicated GBC game to use that.
The problem is the dual-console games, that supported both black and white and color Gameboys. The easiest way to support both was to just create a single color palette used for the whole game, using the exact same artwork as the black and white game but assigning a set of 4 colors per tile. When doing that games didn't look very colorful at all. Games designed specifically for GBC, though, were definitely more colorful than an NES.
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Mostly the glitches. If you were interested in bugging out Links Awakening, you hadta have the original for the most part, ha ha ha.
I played DX first and loved it, and then later went back and found the original cart so I could mess with it.
Also have very fond memories of breaking the hell out of Metroid 2 with a similar bug.
That is fascinating, thanks for the explanation. Nintendo has been really quite resourceful on how to make their games and hardware *forwards* compatible for scenarios they mighy not fully anticipate. Between putting a readable flag on the original DMG and the way colour palettes work on Super Game Boy for games like Metroid 2, they've done some clever stuff.
From ages 7 to 11 my GBC was glued to me, Put soooo many hours into that system, mostly with Pokemon. My parents legit thought I was addicted, maybe I was, but it was a beautiful time in gaming.
I also blame my pre-Lasik eyesight on playing it at night, either under the covers or in near-dark.
Strangely, I never got a GBA. Held onto GBC as long as I could and then jumped to PSP.
I also blame my pre-Lasik eyesight on playing it at night, either under the covers or in near-dark.
Strangely, I never got a GBA. Held onto GBC as long as I could and then jumped to PSP.
the only game boy i didn't own - apart from that stupid teeny tiny one
i ddn't see the appeal in upgrading from my original green for some reason - i think the battery life wa s alot less or something . and the good game si already had an refused to buy again in colour verison
i ddn't see the appeal in upgrading from my original green for some reason - i think the battery life wa s alot less or something . and the good game si already had an refused to buy again in colour verison
It's similar to WonderSwan, only the "not backward compatible" color games could display high color graphics (the WS Color has more RAM compared to the original model).
(first row B&W games, second row dual compatible games, third row color exclusive games)
Alone in the Dark is impressive (colorful backgrounds, software scaling for the main character sprite) but also very limited in what it could offer which is why the encounters with the enemies happen in a totally different mode with much more modest graphics:More like a design choice. This is a gbc game:
transparent (atomic?) purple with pokemon gold... the system and game that started it all for me. hard to believe it's been so long since then, wish i still had my stuff from that time :(
Skipped the GBC, went back to play many of the games when I got a GBA SP. The real highlight for me is of course the DQ3 remake... but overall a disappointing stop gap system with an exclusive library much weaker than the original GB, GBA, DS systems.