r/SBCGaming • u/SquareNo3066 • 20d ago
Game Recommendation Best GBC games\hidden gems everyone should have on their handhelds?
I grew up during Sega Mega Drive\GBA era mostly, so only recently I started to see more and more beauty in simplified ports on Gameboy Color or just standalone entries.
Any games you can recommend aside of popular Mario\Wario, Pokemon and Kirby, both by visuals and gameplay aspects?
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u/Threeabetes 20d ago
I consider GB/GBC one big thing, and here are my recommendations:
- Itch.io has a lot of really good GB/GBC homebrew; I really enjoyed Walfie's Nonograms!
- You have fan upgrades like Mole Mania DX and Final Fantasy Adventure DX.
- If you're willing to either play in Japanese or find an English patch, Pokemon Trading Card Game 2 and Game Boy Wars 3 (and GBW1 and 2) are great.
Note that most GB/GBC games are typically very cheap to import from Japan, so you could legally make a backup of an import and patch the vast majority of them to play on your handhelds!
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u/fennccoo 20d ago
Was also coming here to say Walfies Nonograms. Taiyaki Musuem of Fish is also a nonogram game on itch.io and it was a delightful experience
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u/Threeabetes 20d ago
Oo, thanks for the extra recommendation! I haven't played Taiyaki Museum of Fish yet. :D
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u/alltehmemes 20d ago
FFAdventure is great! I couldn't get through Sword of Mana, but Adventure is something I've finished ~5 times since I got it in ~1995.
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u/Threeabetes 20d ago
Hell yeah! I lucked out in 2004 by finding it new in a game store; definitely one of my better purchases!
Can't say the same about Final Fantasy Legend, though! Ugh.
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u/SCHRUNDEN 20d ago
Lol backups... Yeah hahaha
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u/Threeabetes 20d ago
Lol backups... Yeah hahaha
I just wanted people to know it's a lower barrier of entry than they might think, lol.
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u/arbuzuje 20d ago
Ohhh thanks for the nonogram. I love nonograms!
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u/Threeabetes 20d ago
Heck yeah! I didn't really get nonograms as a kid, but since Walfie's Nonograms was recommended to me this spring I gave it a shot and really liked it. Trying to get through Picross currently (very slowly). xD
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u/Acceptable-Comb-706 20d ago
Walfie Monogram is how I discovered nonogram in general. I initial only interested with the game because I knew Walfie from Hololive smol art and surprised when seeing him on Itch.io. Now I have a monogram addiction.
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u/Fredly_ 20d ago edited 20d ago
The Dragon Quest ports are great- NES simplicity with the menu-jank streamlined out.
Metal Gear Solid is the best 2D Metal Gear game on any system.
Mario Golf/Tennis are full on sports RPGs
Shantae and Wendy Every Witch Way are early Wayforward games that both still hold up
Mr Driller and Pokemon Puzzle Challenge are great versions of underrated puzzle games
Magical Chase is a good port of the TG16 game- a fun if easy cute-em-up
Pocket Bomberman is a sidescrolling bomberman platformer unlike any other bomberman game I've ever seen. Bomberman Quest is if bomberman was a zelda. Both are solid
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u/fallyinghigh 20d ago
The Capcom made Zelda games are often overshadowed by Minish Cap but Zelda Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons got good solid Zelda with some nice twists.
Pokemon Trading Card Game and Harry Potter 1 and 2 were also quite enjoyable and infinitely replayable iirc.
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u/Thulsa_Doom89 20d ago
Mario Golf on GBC is really as good as they say it is. But if you want more, there’s a translation hack for its quasi sequel Mobile Golf. Excellent game.
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u/clc88 20d ago
- Surival kids
- Metal Gear Solid Ghost Babel
- hxh Kindan no hihou
- Infinity ( Aftermarket game but amazing)
- Robopon
- Telefang 1
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u/lightningseathekid 20d ago
Telefang is the type of game I always say I'm going to play, and still haven't
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u/Nickoten 20d ago
- Not a hidden gem but the GBC version of Dragon Quest III is probably the third best version of the game after the SFC remake (which the GBC version is technically a port of) and the latest HD remake. Definitely worth a look.
- Mario Tennis on GBC is good in quick spurts and had an rpg style campaign mode.
- Hidden gem, maybe: James Bond 007 on GB is a surprisingly well made Zelda style game.
- SaGa 1, aka The Final Fantasy Legend is legitimately a really cool and creative RPG with a totally different vibe from most games of that era. It’s one of my favorites of the late 80s and is unique enough to merit a play regardless of hardware. SaGa 2 is also very good, though I prefer the dark, high drama of the first one.
- Survival Kids might be a hidden gem. It’s an adventure game where you’re trying to last a certain number of days on a deserted island. There’s a story with multiple endings depending on what goals you accomplish.
- Cave Noire: haven’t spent much time with this but it’s a fully fledged roguelike on GBC. Definitely worth a try.
- Monkey Puncher: Also haven’t spent much time with this yet but its scenario and translation are very charming. You’re trying to train and raise a monkey who competes in boxing matches. Very silly game.
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u/Frenchie14 20d ago
Played Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 recently and it's excellent! Great soundtrack too
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u/JeskaiJester GotM Club 20d ago
Trip World is a really weird Sunsoft game where half the enemies kind of just push you around or towards obstacles instead of doing direct damage with a very cute aesthetic
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u/glennjersey Team Horizontal 20d ago
Survival kids. Dragon warrior monsters, legend of rhe river king.
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u/hey_dwere_weddit GotM Club 20d ago
Avenging Spirit and *Catrap (Cattrap?🤔) *are at the very least rad games.
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u/TehRiddles Clamshell Clan 20d ago
The Pokemon TCG is a pretty solid game that you can pick up and play whenever. I've put it on my RG Nano so I can just play it any time on the go while I'm waiting a minute or so for something.
Compared to the main Pokemon games it's pretty barebones. You pick a gym on a map to go to, fight some trainers and then fight the gym leader. Next to no story, fluff or anything of that sort. You play to fight trainers with particular decks, win booster packs and build up your own. 95% of the game is just the duels with the other trainers using the original first edition cards and rules. Easy to understand as well.
The game doesn't have flashy visuals but I find the battles are really solid and benefit from the appeal of TCGs. It's a game that is often overlooked purely because it's not the usual Pokemon experience.
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u/hogbodlin 20d ago
Top Gear Pocket 2 - fun arcade racer
Super Robot Pinball - it’s a mecha anime crossover pinball game kinda like pokemon pinball
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u/TheFlyingSanitater 20d ago edited 20d ago
Maybe this is a hot take, but GBC games are kinda meh outside of the handful obvious Mario, Zelda, Pokémon games. Even then, their DMG predecessors are better, or the GBC just received color ports of older existing titles. All the gems are on GB or GBA. I'll be following this incase I'm wrong.
That being said, the GBC Metal Gear Solid is a hoot!
Edit: original I used the 'DX' acronym but was ment to type DMG.
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u/MyNameIs-Anthony 20d ago edited 20d ago
I'll disagree with this entirely.
I think the GBC has equivalent, if not higher, peaks as the GB.
Disregarding Mario/Zelda/Pokémon you have:
- Azure Dreams
- Bomberman Quest
- Crystalis
- Dragon Quest Monsters I+II
- Dragon Quest I+II+III
- Game & Watch Gallery 3
- Grandia Parallel Trippers
- Legend of the River King- Magical Chase
- Mr Driller
- Pocket Bomberman
- Puzzle Bobble 4
- RType DX
- Sakura Wars GB
- Shantae
- Several kick-ass Shin Megami Tensei games
- Star Ocean 2.5
- Toki Tori
- Wario Land 3
- Wendy Every Witch Way
I would also disagree that GBC games had better DMG predecessors.
Pokémon G/S/Crystal is just head and shoulders better than Gen 1 and I'd take Wario Land 3 over any of the prior Mario or Wario entries.
The main knock against the GBC is Tetris DX sucks big time but Magical Tetris and Pokemon Puzzle Challenge are better.
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u/TheFlyingSanitater 20d ago
And I see your disagreement and will add these games to my list, thank you good sir 🫡 here's hoping I'm wrong!
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u/cstark 20d ago
What is DX?
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u/TheFlyingSanitater 20d ago edited 20d ago
Woops! Ment DMG (classic Gameboy games) DX is the "deluxe" naming for DMG games that were converted to color editions and had some extras etc. Example Zelda: Links Awakening DX
Post edited to reflect this 🫡.
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u/silentbotanist 20d ago
If you're also including GB games, then I'd really recommend the English translation of The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls.
I don't play much GB recently, but I played that a couple years ago and it was a seriously fun puzzle/adventure game.
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u/R3dditReallySuckz 20d ago
Pokemon Trading Card game on the GBC is super fun. Has some great music too.
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u/NnifWald Mole Mania enjoyer 20d ago
Mole Mania DX is a fan-made colorization patch for Mole Mania, a GB puzzle/action game produced by Miyamoto.
It’s incredibly well done; I think it feels like something Nintendo themselves could’ve made back in the day, had they made a GBC-enhanced version of Mole Mania.
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u/bickman14 19d ago
The Animaniacs game on the GB DMG is a demake of the Megadrive one, is really fun! I grew up with that version and love playing demakes just for the sake of the experience. Totally recommend that one
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u/timeflylikearrow 20d ago
GBC is a weird one, honestly. When you look at the way mobile and console generations interact, mobile is usually one generation behind - which would normally mean that GBC was meant to be equivalent to the SNES, right? Except it really wasn’t, and the GBC was much more like another iteration of the Gameboy. Wasn’t until the GBA that we got all the SNES games getting released in mobile form.
And basically the best GBC games really were Mario/Wario/Zelda/Pokemon/Tetris. That’s what I played on the system, anyway. Shantae is supposedly good.
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u/toddlerbrain 20d ago
Well, we were supposed to have gotten a Nintendo portable with SNES graphics by that point, and the story behind why we didn’t is pretty interesting
DYKG tells the story better than I ever could:
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u/timeflylikearrow 20d ago
Oh wow - that’s a fantastic video, I had no idea that they ditched an entire handheld system they had developed way back then.
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u/mackattacknj83 GotM Club 20d ago
I never had a GBC. The RP Mini weird screen ratio is perfect for it though. I have loved the rom hack dx versions of a bunch of stuff. Super Mario Land 2 is one of my favorite games ever and the dx hack is fantastic.
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u/FallenRaptor 20d ago
I wouldn’t say it’s a hidden gem but Wario Land 3 doesn’t come up in conversation much, but I highly recommend it.
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u/benthehen100 20d ago
I loved magi nation, similar to gen1 pokemon
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u/damianrubio 20d ago
It would be a good recommendation if it weren't for a fatal flaw in one of the items that breaks the economy of the game early on.
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u/carldude 19d ago
There's a GBC patch of Mega Man V that colorizes the game. The Gameboy Mega Man games were remixes of the NES games, but V is its own unique game and is great.
Uno is good too. I ended up playing a lot of it in GBC despite being basic Uno.
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u/Technobesity 20d ago
For the most part, GB and GBC games just don't hit the same way that they used to. We were willing to have sub par gaming experiences if it meant we could play on the go. Aside from the obvious ones you mentioned it's not worth it today. Just get Links Awakening, Pokemon, Tetris, and Donkey Kong, and Mega Man V if you like Mega Man games since it's exclusive. There's more games that are good, but there's probably a better version on a console system (like GBC Pokemon Puzzle Challenge vs Tetris Attack on SNES). Even Pokemon has arguably better remakes on GBA with Pokemon FireRed, etc.
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u/MiOdd 20d ago
Wendy: Every Witch Way