What were the best GBC exclusives? As in, not a dual GB/GBC game, or something that's more or less a port (like SMB DX). Wario Land 3? The Oracles games?
While I loved (and still love) the console, it feels like the most popular games at the time were titles which were simply "enhanced" for the GBC, like Link's Awakening DX or Pokémon G/S, and that a lot of the heavy hitter handheld titles for the GB line were either released during the lifespan of the original GameBoy or didn't come until the GBA.
Dragon quest 3
I'm curious about this too. Been playing handheld games recently and want some more GBC stuff. Obviously Pokemon Gold/Silver are up there. Survival Kids is pretty neat. I don't like Shantae at all, but there are fans of it. Oh and MGS Ghost Babel. Those are about all I have.
Ghost Babel
Shantae and Wendy
That Goemon side scroller
The Harry Potter games
Mario Golf and Tennis
The Tarzan game
DQ Monters games
Star Ocean
Rayman 2
>DQ Monsters
No, the first one and its sequels are all black cart games
>The Harry Potter Games
This. They are cozy as hell.
One of them has strangely nice animations, but I can't remember which.
It's weird that everyone nowadays simply dismisses backward compatibity, at the time it was a good feature to have. At least I valued it.
>Link's Awakening DX or Pokémon G/S
Pokemon GS isn't even a remake though.
Anyway, there were enough titles to keep the system going until the next console. Big hits might be Pokemon (obviously) and Zelda. There were also medium hits (Rayman 2, Megaman Xtreme) but when it comes to that you can't be sure everyone played those.
That's only people now, it was huge vack then.
I was referring to the fact that G/S were compatible with the original GB. I'm talking about games which were only playable on the GBC
Nobody here is really dismissing backwards compatibility. It's still very useful for us as a lot of us are collectors who like using the original Gameboy or the super Gameboy.
It's just interesting to see which Gameboy color games took full advantage of the GBC as its own console. Looking back, it's kind of surprising how few exclusives it actually had that are worth discussing. All of the really good games are backwards compatible.
>Looking back, it's kind of surprising how few exclusives it actually had that are worth discussing. All of the really good games are backwards compatible.
The worst part for me is that I didn't even realize that such backward compatibility existed until a few years ago. I didn't have a GBC and the whole dual-compatibility thing was not well advertised at all, so I skipped out on a bunch of games that I assumed were GBC exclusive only to find out like 5 years ago they worked in a regular GB, too. The most memorable one was Pokemon Gold and Silver. I saw pic related in the ads and the GBC boxes instantly just made me assume I wouldn't be able to play it, so I never even asked for it and ended up completely falling out of Pokemon after that point.
Rare had some pretty decent GBC games:
Perfect Dark-Prequel to the N64 game, the game is very ambitious, doesn't control well and it's too difficult because of it but I can appreciate it for what it tried to do. I enjoy playing it.
Concker's Pocket Tale-Even if it's a black cartridge, this actually incudes two different games. The GB one is still fun but the GBC one is far better. Really interesting to get two separate games in one, it wasn't even advertised as a feature. According to magazines and the manual it's the same game, except the stages are completely different.
i think it was well advertised, magazines mentioned it and so did the actual boxes of the games. Perhaps you were just too young to notice.
There are two Quest games on the GBC, an arcade style score game which is fun but a bit of a letdown for just being an arcade game. But there's also the demake of the 64 game with some improvements.
Yeah, I wasn't shitting on the backward compatibility, and all the black cart/dual compatible GB games that I played looked great on GBC, but it is interesting to look just at the games which were GBC-only.
>Bomberman Max
That's a good one, and probably what I played most outside of the Oracle games.
>Bomberman Max
That's a good one to show off the GBC exclusivity. It easily could have been a black cart, but it took advantage of the IR port for the GBC, which also means those hidden stages still to this day only work on the GBC and not the GBA.
There's a fun history lesson with Hudson and the IR port. In Japan, Hudson had included something like that native to the GB cartridges itself, and even made a device to go along with it that could be hooked up to the PC called the GBKiss. There were something like 10 games that supported it. You could trade in-game features with other carts by holding the two Gameboy together and having the cartridges "kiss", or you could use the device to unlock even more features on your PC, like a level editor for Pocket Bomberman or a skin editor for other games.
The device did not sell well because you only really needed one person to have it. You could mooch all their downloaded content by just having the two gameboys kiss, instead of buying the device yourself. Then, Nintendo added the IR port to the Gameboy color, and in less than a year of release the novelty was made obsolete. The extra middle finger to Hudson was that very few companies even did anything with the IR port; Hudson was already way more ambitious without the port.
>it took advantage of the IR port for the GBC, which also means those hidden stages still to this day only work on the GBC and not the GBA
Doesn't the GBA have an IR port, too?
No. But there was an addon that restored its functionality, which I don't think came outside of Japan, so basically no in every country that matters. And while it looks like the wireless link cable, it is a different addon.
>everyone nowadays simply dismisses backward compatibity
It's 100% reptilian executives telling people they don't want backwards compatibility because they don't want people to be able to keep playing their games on new systems instead of buying remakes. Backwards compatibility is consistently one of the most talked about and desired features literally any time a new console comes out. People are even already starting the "PS6 will play all Playstation games" routine again just like they did with the PS5 and to a lesser extent the PS4.
>Backwards compatibility is consistently one of the most talked about and desired features
It's definitely nice that I can just keep the newest system out and store the old one to play both generations of games, but on the other hand I don't care because I have the working old system as well.
I'm going to play my GBA games on my SP, not on my DS.
I'm glad that the PS5 seems to at least play all PS4 discs though, with most games even having "free" PS5 upgrades (4K, 60fps, etc.) Doesn't seem like this generation is going to have a lot of games released for it. I bought my PS5 when the Slim came out late last year and the only exclusive I have bought for it has been FF7 Rebirth even though the PS5 has been out for nearly 4 years already. I can at least play some PS4 games that I haven't played yet like Days Gone with upgraded visuals and frame rate thanks to not being bottle-necked by the PS4 hardware, so it I suppose it wasn't a complete waste of money.
Backwards compatibility is only really important to the hardcore enthusiasts of the hobby.
The normies that just play Fortnight and FIFA, with maybe the odd Mario or Spiderman here or there, don’t give a shit about it, and the ‘Gamers’ that play more niche titles like Ass Creed, Stray or Baldurs Gate 3, will only ever use it for 5 minutes to brag about it online, or as a novelty, if it’s available, but never actually seriously play any retro titles to completion.
Proper retro players are a niche of a niche, further divided into smaller niches by consoles of interest.
With perennial titles like Fortnight and GTA V existing, at least keeping previous gen backwards compatibility alive will be a priority going forward, because it hats a lot of cash to be leaving on the table, but beyond that, console makers don’t give a shit. There’s just not enough money in it. They get zero cut of the games, and there’s not a big enough audience to pander to.
The best we can hope for is shit like NSO, or modern companies creating upgrades for old hardware and FPGA devices. The mainstream are just too big to care.
Nowadays, maybe, but back in the day it was a selling point, because you could theoretically sell off your old console to help pay for your new one, while not losing access to your old games or the ability to buy new release games for the old console. It could also be a selling point for parents who didn't buy their kid the previous system, because having backward compatability meant you also had access to a frickton of cheap, used games for the prior console, back when old used games were dirt cheap and didn't immediately become collectorbait the second they went out of print.
>It's 100% reptilian executives telling people they don't want backwards compatibility because they don't want people to be able to keep playing their games on new systems instead of buying remakes
This.
Every person with any sense thinks that's a good feature to have.
The only exception is when it makes hardware more expensive, then it's a tradeoff.
>Pokemon GS isn't even a remake though.
He probably means "thing that is the exact same except for minor changes".
Ones that stand out fore were the Harvest Moons, Metal Walker and Tomb Raider which is very Prince of Persia like.
For me, it was the Super Game Boy.
It couldn't play GBC-exclusive games
Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite
Game & Watch Gallery 3
Bomberman Max
Mr. Driller
Kirby Tilt n’ Tumble
Hamtaro is a cute adventure game and learning all the ham chat is a lot of fun. Game & Watch Gallery 3 is a great minigame collection, I especially like the modern Egg and Greenhouse games on it. Bomberman Max is a solid Bomberman game that has you go through different stages like Super 5. Mr. Driller is a really solid port of the arcade game and quite impressive with all the individual falling blocks, just a tiny bit of slowdown. Kirby Tilt n’ Tumble is an interesting game. Even if I’m not the best at it, as my hands get shaky.
My fricking dude. Ham Ham’s Unite is such a charming game. One of my personal favorites of the GBC library.
I liked Mega Man Xtreme 2 a lot back then.
Pokémon pinball
can be played on original GB, but it's a fantastic game yes
https://vsrecommendedgames.miraheze.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Color
Wario Land 3
Mario Golf
Shantae
Toki Tori
The two Oracle Zelda games
Pokemon Pinball
Dragon Quest 3 (though it's an enhanced port of a FC game)
Wetrix port is fun but horrible if you already own the N64 or DC versions.
Warlocked was very fun and I still own my copy
I have never played Mario Tennis so I have no clue if its good on there but I've been told it's good
Super Mario Bros Deluxe is the best SMB game ever made highly recommended.
Harvest Moon GBC 2 is the best GBC one, 3rd is a slight bit better but sucks if you're a femanon.
Gex on here is weird and fricked up and horribly mediocre but it's a good time waster.
There's a Japan exclusive Nintendo Wars game on here (just checked there's actually 2) Game Boy Wars 3, highly recommend.
Dragon Warrior I & II is a port of the original games but better and improved you might like that.
Blaster Master: Enemy Below is a nice game imo.
Enjoy your GBC anon
The Asterix & Obelix port is great apparently I just learned.
Pokemon Crystal
Legend of Zelda Oracle games
Survival Kids
Can someone please remind me what the little Gundam looking robot game is? I think it was only released in Japan. I’d love to play that game one day. Thank you.
Power Quest? Super Robot Pinball?
Power Quest is the fighting game right? No, I already have that. It’s like a little Gundam Gachapon dude. Ahh I can’t think of them right now, but it looks just like a gundam but like a midget version.
Oh wait it might be super robot pinball. That’s the robot gundam thingy I’m thinking about. But is that a pinball game? No thanks, not interested lol. But hey, are there any other tank games beside battletanks? I remember this kid playing a tank game on a hand held device, but there was a bunch of tanks to choose from, instead of the three you get in battletanks.
Episode 1 Racer
World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks
The latter is a really fun tank game with a lot of characters to try.
Is it moronic of me to buy these fake boxes on Etsy for my legit games? It feels like a waste of money and yet I’m really tempted
Yes. You can still do it if you want, of course, since it's okay to be moronic sometimes. But it's definitely moronic.
moronic but if your copy of Pokemon Crystal was bought by your mom or dad 20+ years ago, I guess it is both moronic and fine, it retains some sentimental value.
No, it's a better box than any authentic one you'd find online. Just don't be a dick and sell it as CIB if you ever get rid of it. Advertise it as a repro box and don't sell it for anything higher than $10 above loose cart price.
If you have somewhere to display it, I guess, but then it seems kinda against the point to display a knockoff. I have a ton of legit boxes, eventually I just put them all in storage bins because trying to display them took up way too much space in my gameroom.
Quest: Brian's Journey is a pretty fun little RPG for the Gameboy color to check out, too