10 Best Game Boy Games, Ranked

Nintendo released the Game Boy in 1989, and while many handhelds followed, there’s never been anything quite like it. Nintendo opted not to use available color technology, instead favoring a green monochrome screen that was already quite dated. This move was brilliant, as it ensured that the Game Boy had excellent battery life — a must for any handheld device. It also boasted a massive library of exceptional games, many of which remain fun to play to this day. We’ve gone through hundreds of licensed titles and selected the top ten, limiting ourselves to the best from each franchise. While Tetris is one of the system’s greatest titles, we’re not including it, as it was bundled and is in a league of its own.

10) Final Fantasy Adventure

Final Fantasy Adventure is the first title in the Mana series, a spin-off of Final Fantasy, and was developed by Square for the Game Boy, released in 1991. The game’s style and mechanics are similar in many ways to the original The Legend of Zelda on the NES, though it features additional RPG elements introduced in the intervening years. While the action RPG was well-received upon release, retrospective reviews have praised it as one of the best in the genre. Final Fantasy Adventure has been remade twice, though the title changed to Sword of Mana for the Game Boy Advance and Adventures of Mana on mobile phones and the PlayStation Vita.

9) Donkey Kong Land III

The Donkey Kong Country games were massive hits on the Super Nintendo, so Rare developed handheld ports, including the 1997 release of Donkey Kong Land III on the Game Boy. Because of hardware limitations on the less advanced handheld, Donkey Kong Land III features the same themes and environments as its home console counterpart, but all its levels are unique. In this capacity, it’s less of a direct port and more of a remake, making it almost as if it’s a new game. It was released in the so-called “banana yellow” cartridge color and is the best Donkey Kong Land title released on the Game Boy.

8) Final Fantasy Legend II

Final Fantasy Legend II was developed and released by Square in 1991 as the second title in the SaGa series. The sprawling RPG follows the player character on the hunt for their father, who left behind 71 MAGI stones. Gameplay involves exploration, turn-based battles, and the franchise’s typical RPG mechanics. Final Fantasy Legend II inspired a sequel, though the second in the series is often considered the best. Square Enix remade it for the Nintendo DS in 2009, updating the graphics and gameplay to modern standards. Final Fantasy Legend II has been ported to handhelds and PC in the years since.

7) Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins

The Super Mario Land games were big sellers on the Game Boy, which isn’t surprising, as it’s a flagship franchise. Still, most gamers would point to Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins as the series’ best on the system. It was also one of the highest-selling games on the handheld console, with more than 11 million copies sold. It’s distinguished for being the first game to introduce Wario, a character who would also do incredibly well in his own titles on the Game Boy. Much of the game’s design was inspired by Super Mario World on the SNES and Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES, and it’s an incredibly entertaining handheld compilation of those titles’ mechanics.

6) Gargoyle’s Quest

Gargoyle’s Quest is an interesting action-adventure platformer, as it combines gameplay styles from both genres into one. Part of the game consists of an overhead view, showing various towns or the world map. The other part consists of individual platforming levels in which the player must navigate obstacles and enemies to achieve their goal. It includes some aspects of RPGs as well, and is an overall excellent game. The success of Gargoyle’s Quest on the Game Boy resulted in a prequel title, Gargoyle’s Quest II, on the NES, and a SNES sequel, Demon’s Crest, a few years later.

5) Wario Land II

Wario hit the ground running when he debuted in Super Mario Land 2, and it didn’t take long for the character to land his own games. Wario Land II was released on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color in 1998, featuring the title character attempting to retrieve his stolen treasure from Captain Syrum. It’s a side-scrolling platformer with similar mechanics to the other Land titles on the system. The game is notable as one of the launch titles for the Game Boy Color, and it’s since been re-released virtually on the Nintendo 3DS.

4) Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong literally saved Nintendo from financial ruin in 1981, so the game holds great importance for the company. While the Donkey Kong Land games did well on the Game Boy, a loosely based adaptation of the 1981 arcade game fared better. Donkey Kong was released in 1994, and it’s more of a spiritual successor than a sequel or remake of the OG DK. It boasts the four levels from the first game, plus 97 more, for a total of 101, giving players a ton of entertaining options in the palms of their hands. Donkey Kong was something of a surprise hit when compared to more advanced games on the system, and it remains a beloved addition to the franchise to this day.

3) Kirby’s Dream Land 2

The Kirby franchise is another well that Nintendo has successfully tapped repeatedly over the years, and several excellent titles found their way onto the Game Boy. The best is Kirby’s Dream Land 2, released in 1995. The action-platformer continues the story from its predecessor, though it adds three animal buddies who aid Kirby in battle. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is a wonderful platformer, filled with excellent mechanics, characters, and obstacles that make it a blast to play. It was hugely successful upon release, and has since been re-released on the 3DS and Nintendo Wii.

2) Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow

While it blossomed into a massive multimedia franchise worth billions, some newer gamers might not realize that Pokémon got its start on the Game Boy in 1996. Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version were released first, while the enhanced Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition came out in 1999. This is the game that launched a franchise, and it’s easy to see why, as it’s just as much fun to play now as it was decades ago. It nearly took the top spot on this list, but was edged out at the last moment by another franchise. Still, Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow remain an amazing game that outsold all others on the Game Boy, amounting to over 45.9 million units sold.

1) The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

The Legend of Zelda franchise has released some of the best video games ever made, and three were made for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. While everyone has their favorites, most would agree that The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is the best on the handheld console. The game is the first handheld title in the franchise, and it’s not even set in Hyrule, offering an entirely new environment to explore. It’s been updated and re-released since its 1993 publication and stands as one of the best Zelda games ever made, easily taking the top spot as the best title on the Game Boy.

What’s your all-time favorite Game Boy game? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

36 Years Later, No Handheld Console Beats the Game Boy