RetroGaming

Donkey Kong (1994) - not really rare or obscure, but definitely not talked about enough.
It starts out like regular donkey kong but then it goes somewhat differently.
The colorization is only complete with SuperGameboy so it might be tricky to play that way but there is a colorization hack being worked on.

Donkey Kong. I think people just think it's a port of the arcade game because it has the same first few levels but it becomes something more afterward and is incredibly fun.

Metal Gear Solid for GBC is never mentioned in all time lists for the series, but it’s my favorite, straight up.

I can’t believe they managed to cram a true MGS experience onto a GAMEBOY Color cartridge.

Pocket Bomberman is also legitimately great.

Weirdly enough, my favorite Zelda game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Weirder still, it's the story that I really love, driven almost entirely by the fact that it's the least Zelda Zelda game. No, I don't know what's wrong with me.

I mean it's probably entirely nostalgia, but I still hear the in-game ballad in my head from time to time.

As a kid I got a lot of mileage out of The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle. It was honestly nothing special but it was a fun if very basic game. Password-based and not all that difficult for an adult.

Dragon quest monsters (dragon warrior monsters in America)

This game was the bomb, I loved the monster breeding mechanics, you could breed monsters of different types to get entirely new ones.

Rockman/Megaman EXE

As a kid, I found Gargoyles Quest infuriatingly addictive. I wasn't good enough to do well at it, it annoyed me, but I kept going back for more.

Survival Kids

It's a bit of a silly survival game that starts with you being stranded on an island. I got a kick out of it because there were a few different game endings that were dependent on the actions you took earlier in the game.

This Beyblade game that was like an obstacle course on checkered platforms. I practiced a lot to beat the par times on each course.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets.

Are they good games? No

But they are well themed and have chiptune version of Jeremy Soule’s soundtrack. I like replaying the, from time to time.

Kirby Pinball. Just a chill and fun game.

This is a little off topic for "RetroGaming", but my favorite new soon-to-be-hidden gem for Gameboy Color is "Grimace's Birthday".

https://www.grimacesbirthday.com/

The overall game is only about ten minutes long, but it's just so dang well made for a silly throw-away advertisement, and I just adore that it's a Gameboy Color game released in 2023.

Edit: To be clear, I have no association with anyone involved in the game. It just gives me the giggles to get a new retrogame for a licsned property, for actual classic hardware in 2023.

Qix

Took me a while to find the name. Have you played Quarth?

Pokemon TCG for GB was arguably the best Pokemon RPG. I've not played the English fanlation of 2 yet though, so maybe that's better.

I ahem acquired a copy of Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak from my elementary school lost and found, played it whenever I had a minute for the next few weeks. I don't know if I'd have the patience to play it today, but it's still an adorable little puzzle game. The sound and animation of the actions was spot on.

Here's one that came to mind: Heiankyo Alien for the Gameboy DMG. I remember playing this a ton in the car as a kid. It's a game where you have to dig holes for aliens to fall in and bury them to kill them.

https://youtu.be/vY3qVBkIu74?si=YqByQWmw6R-Mo36G

Azure Dreams

Sneaky Snakes!

Home Alone. Then again I haven't played it since back then lol

Bubble Ghost. I had it on a 99 in 1 cart. Might just be that it wasn't popular where I'm from.

Gonna have to be Kirby and the Amazing Mirror and MegaMan Battle Network 6 for me on the GBA.

Heiankyo Alien. It was the cheapest game in the store, so that's the one my parents let me buy. For a long time it was one of only a couple games I owned--that one and whatever it shipped with... Tetris?

Gotta go with "skate or die: bad n rad"

The metal gear solid game was pretty awesome actually

Donkey Kong. Not Donkey Kong Country. The original arcade Donkey Kong, until you realize after beating the original levels that there is SO MUCH MORE to it!

Just one thing. Fuck that level with the long bridge of disappearing floor tiles. That was the worst!!

did anyone else play bonks adventure

Pitman, also known as Catrap in US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catrap

It's not really something special or so, but I had it in my youth and used the level editor to build countless levels with my friend. It's a side scrolling puzzle game, with the abiliy to go back in history with a nice backwards animation.

Probably doesn't hold up anymore, but no one really talks about "Kingdom ~~Conquest~~ Crusade". It's like a really tight minimalist version of the combined live action melee and big battle strategy of the Dynasty Warriors series - compressed to fit on a classic Gameboy.

James Bond 007 was one of my favorite Gameboy games.

I spent countless hours as a 4 year old trying to solve the puzzles and got through it by sheer determination.

I can still probably remember every path in the desert mission.

https://youtu.be/z7VzLtnm2G4?si=jooUp5cOUnbAP9AS

James Bond: 007 was a surprisingly good game that I enjoyed way more than expected. I don’t know why I got the game, I was and have never been a fan of the series.

The Moomin game is great but nobody talks about it. The two Survival Kids games are incredible as well but damn they can be depressing. They really out a full on survival game on a Game Boy. Complete with multiple endings, open world and hunger and thirst mechanics.

Boomer's Adventure in ASMIK World

Gameplay

Review & Explanation

I never figured out why they gave the world such a weird name, or didn't just call it Boomer's Adventure

God Medicine. Genuinely one of the best classic style JRPGs and the best RPG on Gameboy in my opinion. Absolute travesty that the west never ended up getting it originally.

I'll throw Boxxle on the list. It's one of the earliest GB games, so the graphics are pretty much what you'd expect. But it's a great puzzle game that has a very simple premise, but requires you to perspective-shift and learn new strategies many times over as the difficulty progresses.

Vegas Stakes - simple casino games, perfect time-killer for the format.

Wendy Every Witch Way - concept of reversing gravity has been used in other platformers since, but this might be the OG, and is very solid.