Best Gameboy/GBC games

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

The Zelda thread prompted me to make this. I had no idea Link's Awakening was that good. Here's what I have so far.

Donkey Kong
Tetris
Super Mario Land
Mario Land 2
Legend of Zelda Links Awakening
Wario Blast
Metroid 2
Pipe Dream
Kirby's Dream Land
Mario's Picross
Solar Striker

What other games should I look for?

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

Mega Man 5 is quite good.

[LoneSage]

Mario's Picross

aw man, hi five, I was just bringing this up the other day somewhere else. I've always wanted to play it.

My favorite GB games:
Contra III -- really solid port for a GB game
ANYTHING Kirby -- because Kirby is the freakin' man. Kirby's Blockball (Arkanoid rip, but really well done), Kirby's Pinball and his Dreamland games. If it wasn't for that Kirby game with all the minigames on SNES, I'd say the GB was Kirby's best platform.
Castlevania 1 and 2 -- yeah, really primitive, but screw it...this is what Castlevania used to be man, hard as nails and linear. I don't care if you hate on the first one, but if you don't like Belmont's Revenge, you have no soul. The music alone is worth the purchase.
James Bond 007 -- I guess I'll never understand why so many magazines hated it (EGM gave it a 1.5, something around there), but years ago I was hooked.
Daedalian Opus -- neat little puzzle game that stretches the sutures of your brain.


for a long time last year I was hooked on the Game Boy. And back in 5th grade, everyday after I came home fom school, I played Pokemon Blue. Spent over 116 hours on that alone. I never played any portable Pokemon (cept Pinball..meh) after that, but Pokemon Red/Blue really were some amazing games.

[professor ganson]

ANYTHING Kirby -- because Kirby is the freakin' man. Kirby's Blockball (Arkanoid rip, but really well done), Kirby's Pinball and his Dreamland games. If it wasn't for that Kirby game with all the minigames on SNES, I'd say the GB was Kirby's best platform.

I agree with these wise words, every one of them.

[BulletMagnet]

And back in 5th grade, everyday after I came home fom school, I played Pokemon Blue. Spent over 116 hours on that alone.

Bah, I maxed out the timer at 255 and kept going. And that was after I lost my file and restarted once, heh heh.

In any event, that's about all the Game Boy I've ever played, with a few exceptions...I just never really got into handheld gaming otherwise.

[Moogs]

I just recently acquired a Super Mario Land cart, and I forgot how great this game is. It's like this really freaky, alternate universe version of Super Mario Bros.

[Andi]

Funny this topic should come up. I've been playing lots of original GB in the past month.

Here are some excellent ones:

Castlevania 2
Operation C
Qix (this one is a fun little puzzle game)
LoopZ (another fun little puzzle game - but extremely tough)

The GBC Lufia game isn't bad either. Althogh the save battery on my copy is dead. Anyone know about replacing these?

[BrianC]

Mega Man 5 is quite good.

Agreed.

Here are some of my favorites:

Donkey Kong: Excellent remake of the original arcade with tons of new levels and puzzle elements. The first game where Mario gets some of his "SM64" moves.

Kirby's Dreamland 2/Hoshi no Kirby 2: Uses elements from Kirby's Adventure/Hoshi no Kirby Fountain of Dreams, but still feels fresh. Not as many levels as Kirby's Adventure, but the levels are well designed and seem to be a bit harder than the ones in the NES Adventure.

Atomic Punk: The first GB Bomberman game. Has the original Bomberman + a new game where you buy powerups from a shop before entering a game area.

Bomberman GB: A GB exclusive Bomberman that is playable up to four players using Super Gameboy. This Bomberman was the first one to use goal based gameplay. Each stage starts with the choice of two goals. The stages are different based on the goals chosen.

Nemesis: Very cool remix of sorts of Gradius 1/2. It has a Salamander style level and Gradius traditions like the moai stage.

Super Mario Land: Gameplay like SMB1 with four different themed worlds. The shooter stages in it rock!

Link's Awakening: An excellent portable Zelda game!

[professor ganson]

My favorites:
Kirby Pinball
Kirby Dreamland 1 & 2
Nemesis
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge
R-Type DX
Donkey Kong

[MSZ]

Nemesis 2

[Ganelon]

What? No love for the Wario Land games?

[BrianC]

What? No love for the Wario Land games?

Doh, forgot my Wario Land love. Both B/W GB ones rock. The first one is the closest to playing to a Mario game. While the walking speed is slower than usual, the actual game is quite fun and I love the Wario hats. The second one was the first with the bump into the enemies for power ups system and was very original.

Another GB game I found quite nifty is Bonk's Adventure/GB Genjin. It is like a remix of the first two TG-16 games with all new levels. It actually has better control the the NES Bonk's Adventure.

However, I was disappointed with Bonk's Revenge GB/GB Genjin 2. The power up system was altered and the power ups don't upgrade when you get more than one. The game is also incredibly easy. Almost all of the bosses can be defeated by staying on top of the bosses and constantly bonking them. The first GB Genjin/Bonk had decent music and good graphics that look as close to the TG-16 games as possible on the GB. The second game has inferior graphics and sound to the first one.

Forgot about Pokemon Gold/Sliver. Technically a backwards compatible GBC game, I was very impressed with it. It takes the gameplay of the original (which is also quite good) and improves it with a longer quest and more pokemon to catch.

Another game that deserves mention is Quarth. It's a very addicitive puzzle shooter from Konami.

[Dylan1CC]

My top 3 picks:

Super Mario Bros DX (the heck with the chincy GBA SMB re-release)

Operation C

Gradius The Interstellar Assault

[sethsez]

Dragon Warrior III on the GBC is the best portable RPG available.

[BrianC]

Dragon Warrior III on the GBC is the best portable RPG available.

Not Great Greed? Though I can't really say how good it is since I haven't played it, but any RPG that has characters named after food items and stuff like that can't be all bad. I'll give impressions when I pick it up. DWIII rocks, though.

[Vexorg]

As long as we're mentioning Kirby, we can't forget Star Stacker... It's a bit simple compared to some puzzle games, but I spent hours playing that one. I think my best score on endless mode was something like 1,200 stars, which took about 45 minutes of play. It also got a release on the SNES in Japan as Kirby no Kirakira Kids, but besides that I don't know of any other games with similar gameplay.

I didn't really play a lot of old GB games back when I had one (That and Link's Awakening were the two I spent the most time on), and after that I pretty much stopped paying any attention to portables until I got my DS.

[Neo Rasa]

Some of my favorites:

Blaster Master: Enemy Below
Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge
Deja Vu I and II: The Case Files of Ace Harding
Dragon Warrior I and II
Dragon Warrior III
Fortified Zone
Kirby anything
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel
Metroid II: Return of Samus
Project S-11
Revelations: The Demon Slayer / Last Bible
Wario anything

[BrianC]

Metal Gear GBC and two Zelda Orcale games are also quite awesome. Other GBC games I like are Rayman, Wario Land 3, Cannon Fodder, Dragon's Lair, Mr. Driller, Klax, Joust/Defender, Pokemon Card, Survival Kids, Game and Watch Gallery 2, Game and Watch Gallery 3, and Rampart.

Darn, forgot to mention Belmont's Revenge and Operation C. Two rockin' games from Konami. In fact Konami's GB support was great. I also like TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan, Motocross Manics (and the GBC sequel), and Track and Field.

Another game worthy of mention is Final Fantasy Adventure. It combines elements of Zelda with Final Fantasy style RPG elements. You can choose different stats when you level up too.

[sethsez]

For the two people who don't know yet, Final Fantasy Adventure is really the first game in the Mana series. Sword of Mana was a (terrible) remake.

[ST Dragon]

You can’t go wrong with these:

Battle Unit Zeoth
Castlevania: The Adventure
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Castlevania Legends
Contra
Contra: The Alien Wars
Gradius / Nemesis
Mega Man Series
Ninja Gaiden
R-Type DX
Super Mario Land
Swiv
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
Tetris (Most addictive version, hands down!
The main music tune alone is so cool. I remember travelling with the school-swimming team by bus & I was playing Tetris through out the whole trip and achieving a massive score! Too bad you couldn't save.)
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

[K-J N.]

Here are some more great games.

Mole Mania (gb)

This sadly overlooked Nintendo game is one of the best portable puzzle games ever and needs a sequel. Since most levels requires you to switch between above and below ground the DS would be the perfect system for it.

Toki Tori (gbc)

Great arcade puzzle that was overshadowed by the release of the gba. Has a nice C64/Amiga feel to it.

Monster Max (gb)
Isometric game similar to Head Over Heels, not surprising since it was made by HoH creators Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond. Great game, unfortunately it was published by Titus and they did a really bad job at it. Quote Ritman: "Max got the best reviews I’ve ever seen but Titus seemed very slow in getting it on the shelves - I have to question the reasoning behind getting 98% in January’s reviews and selling it the following December. As a result the sales were fairly poor for a Game Boy product. Such is life."

Turtles 3: Radical Rescue (gb)

Always liked this one. It's basically Turtles meets Metroid, a bit short and an annoying boss gauntlet at the end though.

Burning Paper (gb)

Here is a rather unknown game. You stand on top of a wall and have to defeat enemies that come crawling up by cutting parts of the posters that hangs on the wall.

For the two people who don't know yet, Final Fantasy Adventure is really the first game in the Mana series. Sword of Mana was a (terrible) remake.

Yeah, skip the GBA remake and play the GB game instead. Since there was no Final Fantasy in Europe at the time it was just called Mystic Quest over here.

The JP, US and EU title screens.

Mario's Picross

Don't forgett the sequel as well.

[jpolz]

I always really enjoyed Kwirk.

[Icecap Veiwin]

Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages.

Seasons is harder in general (my friend says Onox is a pain), but Ages has better puzzles, so take your pick.

And I agree with all the Kirby stuff. I mean, come on. If you hate Kirby, you must have no soul.

[ST Dragon]

These are also pretty good:

1942
Adventure Island
Adventure Island 2
Bonk's Adventure
Bonk's Revenge
Battletoads & Double Dragon
Batman
Batman - Return of the Joker
Battle of Olympus, The
Bionic Commando - Elite Forces
Bionic Commando
Bubble Bobble
Bubble Bobble 2
Choplifter 2
Choplifter 3
Macross 7 - Ginga no Heart wo Furuwasero
Magical Chase
Mortal Kombat
Nemesis 2 - The Return of the Hero
Parodius
Parasol Stars
Pop 'N Twinbee
Prince of Persia
Robocop
Return of the Ninja
Rodland
Sagaia / Darius
Samurai Shodown
Snow Bros Jr.
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter II
Tekkaman Blade
Titus the Fox
Tumble Pop
Turrican
World Heroes 2 Jet
Zoids

[BrianC]

Here are some more great games.

Mole Mania (gb)

This sadly overlooked Nintendo game is one of the best portable puzzle games ever and needs a sequel. Since most levels requires you to switch between above and below ground the DS would be the perfect system for it.

Toki Tori (gbc)

Great arcade puzzle that was overshadowed by the release of the gba. Has a nice C64/Amiga feel to it.

I actually have both. I like Mole Mania quite a bit, though the puzzle challenges can quite quite tough. Toki Tori is just plain awesome. Oddly enough, there is also a PDA version of it. It's actually based on a MSX game.

[FatCobra]

Too bad the DS can't play GB/GBC games....

Does anyone here have the SP with the brighter screen? How do old-school Gameboy games look one it.

Link's Awakening, IMO was the best Gameboy game ever! I lost tons of hours playing that game and exploiting the screen warp glitch. There's also a DX verison that has color and fixes the glitches.

Super Mario Land was pretty cool too, the shmup stages were a nice though. Nintendo should make a Super Mario Shmup sometime.

[LoneSage]

Battle Unit Zeoth

Best thing I like about that game is the box art and the title, that's about it. It looks like what Wolf Fang (Saturn) would have been on the Game Boy. The large range of scrolling from top to bottom was also something that was annoying. Oh yeah, I guess the bosses were pretty neato.

My favorite GBC game would have to be Wario Land 2 (never played the GB WL2). That was really awesome, my favorite Wario game to this day.

My love for Super Mario Land goes pretty deep as well. It's weird I never played SML2: Legend of the Seven Stars or whatever it was called...I did play it for about 5 minutes years and years ago, it didn't remind me of SML at all.

[Ghegs]

My love for Super Mario Land goes pretty deep as well. It's weird I never played SML2: Legend of the Seven Stars or whatever it was called...I did play it for about 5 minutes years and years ago, it didn't remind me of SML at all.

So in some weird way, it pays homage to the fact that Super Mario Bros. 2 doesn't remind anyone of SMB at all either.

I have such fond memories of Super Mario Land. I remember one summer, back when I was a wee lad, I played through the game so many times I knew it inside and out. I could finish it without dying once. My very first no-miss.

[Neo Rasa]

Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. I remember the ending almost sets Wario up as a sympathetic character, then Mario makes fun of his nose and THE FIGHT IS ON. I love the whackiness of any game that involves Wario. The opening levels of Wario Land II alone where you have to make your way through your own castle after it's been pillaged and flooded is incredible.

It's a shame Wario Land 4 really didn't sell at all, as the series had the ingenuity you'd except from Super Mario Land, later Wonder Boy/Adventure Island games, etc.

I'm always amazed at how Konami was able to take such shitty sound hardware and make stuff like the Contra III port of the Belmont's Revenge soundtrack.

Anyone here play Tumble Pop besides Saint Dragon? The gameplay is sort of Bubble Bobble-esque but you're a kid with a vaccuum. You go from level to level on a big world map like Super Mario World. So much fun. Data East did an arcade version originally but I never played that.

The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle games were also extremely addictive.

Edit: The arcade Tumblepop is quite fun.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?let ... e_id=10214

[LoneSage]

Oh yeah, how could I forget a Ninja Gaiden Shadow mention.
Never played it, but I've seen the similarities and wondered why Natsume never sued. Seems like a pretty fun game to be honest, just with a rip off of Shadow of the Ninja.