Nintendo Game Boy Color

Summary

The Nintendo Game Boy Color (GBC) joined the Game Boy handheld range in 1998. It was Nintendo’s first console with a colour screen. Players had waited almost ten years for its 56 simultaneous colours from a palette of 32,768: the original Game Boy arrived in 1989 with a monochrome screen, as did the later Game Boy Special Edition, Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Light. The Game Boy Color also has a colourful case, available in red, green, blue, yellow, light green, turquoise, purple and transparent purple, plus a yellow Pokémon edition. It is backwards compatible with existing cartridges. Monochrome games are automatically displayed in four colours, with a choice of palettes.

Many modules are also backward compatible, so they can also be played on old Game Boy devices without color. The exception is the modules that carry the explicit label “only for Game Boy Color”. The resolution of the GBC is the same with 160 x 144 pixels as with the original Game Boy (and as with the Sega Game Gear) and therefore does not have to be converted. The batteries give about 30 hours of fun. Initially, the console was produced in Japan, later in the People’s Republic of China. The 50 million devices were sold worldwide, with about 1200 games available.