Game Boy Color
Manufacturer	Nintendo
Type	Handheld game console
Generation	Fourth generation era
First available	October 21, 1998 November 1998 1999 1999
Units sold	Worldwide: 118.69 million, as of March 31, 2005 (includes Game Boy) Japan: 32.47 million Americas: 44.06 million Other: 42.16 million[1][2]
Top-selling game	Pokémon Gold and Silver
Backward compatibility	Game Boy
Predecessor	Game Boy Pocket
Successor	Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Color (ゲームボーイカラー, Gēmu Bōi Karā^?, shortened to GBC) is Nintendo's successor to the Game Boy and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan and in November of 1998 in the United States and 1999 in Europe. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than the Game Boy Pocket, but smaller than the original Game Boy. Image File history File links Game_Boy_Color. ... A console manufacturer is a company that manufactures and distributes video game consoles. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 usually referred to as simply Nintendo, or Big N ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ... A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic machine for playing video games. ... Video games were introduced as a commercial entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for an important entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the United States, Japan, and Europe. ... In the history of video games, the 16-bit era was the fourth generation of video game consoles. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This is a list of video game console and handheld game console sales. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (91st in leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... World map showing the Americas CIA political map of the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. ... This is a list of video games that have sold over one million copies. ... Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Kin and Pocket Monsters Gin , lit. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ... The Game Boy ) line is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 usually referred to as simply Nintendo, or Big N ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ... is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The Game Boy ) line is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ...

History

The Game Boy Color was a response to pressure from game developers for a new and much more sophisticated system of playing, as they felt that the Game Boy, even in its latest incarnation, the Game Boy Pocket, was insufficient. The resultant product was backward compatible, a first for a handheld console system, and leveraged the large library of games and great installed base of the predecessor system. This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Game Boy ) line is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. ...

Specifications

The processor, which is an 8080 workalike made by Sharp with a few extra (bit manipulation) instructions, has a clock speed of approx. 8 MHz, twice as fast as that of the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also has four times as much memory as the original. The Intel 8080 was an early microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. ... Sharp Corporation ) (TYO: 6753 ) is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, founded in 1912. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ...

The Game Boy Color also featured an infrared communications port for wireless linking. However, the feature was only supported in a few games, and the infrared port was dropped for the Game Boy Advance and later releases. The console was capable of showing up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768, and could add basic four-color shading to games that had been developed for the original Game Boy. It could also give the sprites and backgrounds separate colors, for a total of more than four colors. This, however, resulted in graphic artifacts in certain games; a sprite that was supposed to meld into the background was now colored separately, exposing the trick. For other uses, see Infrared (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

• One such trick occurred in Pokémon Red and Blue. Players were supposed to navigate through Koga's gym by feeling around invisible walls and encountering rival trainers in the gym. On the Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy, these walls could be seen as clearly as dots.
• In Super Mario Land, there are many hidden sprites (in the form of hidden enemies/opportunities) exposed by using a multicolored palette. These and other "spoilers" can be avoided by using the monochromatic color palette as described below.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (original version) there is an area full of statues, some of which are enemies and some of which are normal. The enemy statues blend in normally but the pallette trick in the GBC makes them stand out.

It has been suggested that Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen be merged into this article or section. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Super Game Boy Box art. ... Super Mario Land ) is a platforming video game developed by Nintendo for the Game Boy video game console. ... A photograph of a sign in grayscale The same photograph in black and white Monochrome comes from the two Greek words mono (μωνο, meaning one), and chroma (χρωμα, meaning surface or the color of the skin). A monochromatic object has a single color. ...

Cartridges

Game Boy Color games came in a clear plastic cartridge with a raised bump. Nintendo also made black cartridges that were compatible with the Game Boy Color, the older Super Game Boy and the original Game Boy. The black color distinguished these special cartridges from the grey Game Boy carts and the transparent Game Boy Color carts. The black cartridges had notches in the corner like old Game Boy cartridges, allowing an original Game Boy to be turned on when they were inserted, while the Game Boy Color cartridges did not. Special Game Boy Color palettes were built into the black carts, making it impossible to change their palette. Game Boy Color games also feature the different color cartridges for the hit game Pokemon. A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic machine for playing video games. ... Microvision The Microvision was a hand-held game console released by Milton Bradley Company in 1979. ... Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive games, often miniaturized versions of video games. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 usually referred to as simply Nintendo, or Big N ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ... Ball (Silver), 1980. ... For the entire Game Boy series of handheld consoles, see Game Boy line. ... The Game Boy ) line is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. ... The Game Boy ) line is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Game Boy Advance SP ), released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendos Game Boy Advance. ... Game Boy Micro , trademarked Game Boy micro) is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “NDS” redirects here. ... The Nintendo DS Lite ) (sometimes abbreviated DSLite, or simply Lite, sold as the iQue DS Lite in China) is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. ... This article is about the Japanese toy manufacturer. ... WonderSwan is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai in 1999. ... The WonderSwan Color is a handheld game console designed by Bandai. ... The SwanCrystal ) is the third (and likely final) version of Bandais WonderSwan handheld game console brand, succeeding the WonderSwan and WonderSwan Color. ... Game Park is a Korean company responsible for creating the GP32 and XGP. GP32 Hardware and Design // History Foundation Founded in 1996 in Korea, Game Park entered the industry through government money. ... GamePark Holdings is a Korean company responsible for creating the GP2X that was founded by former employees of the game maker GamePark. ... The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a hand held console built by the Korean company Game Park. ... The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and media player created and sold by GamePark Holdings of South Korea. ... The XGP (Extreme Game Player) is a portable video game system created by the Korean company GamePark as the follow-up to its GP32 handheld. ... The XGP is a portable video game system created by the Korean company GamePark as the follow-up to its GP32 handheld. ... The XGP is a portable video game system created by the Korean company GamePark as the follow-up to its GP32 handheld. ... SNK Playmore (formerly SNK) is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. ... Neo Geo Pocket (Monochrome) The Neo Geo Pocket was SNKs original hand held system. ... The Neo-Geo Pocket Color (or NGPC) was released on March 16, 1999 in Japan. ... This article is about the video game company. ... The Sega Game Gear is a handheld game console which was Segas response to Nintendos Game Boy. ... The Sega Nomad was a handheld game console sold in North America and South America, mainly in Brazil, essentially a mini-Genesis console, based on the Japanese Mega Jet and featuring a built-in color screen. ... The Sega Mega Jet The Sega Mega Jet was a handheld version of the Mega Drive video game console. ... Sega Dreamcast VMU The VMU, initialism of Visual Memory Unit (called VMS, Visual Memory System in Japan or Virtual Memory Unit), is a memory card peripheral for the Sega Dreamcast. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $66. ... The PocketStation is a miniature game console created by Sony as a peripheral for the PlayStation. ... The PlayStation Portable , officially abbreviated as PSP) is a handheld game console released and currently manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into PlayStation Portable. ... The Atari Lynx is Ataris only handheld game console, and the worlds first handheld portable gaming system with a color display. ... Gamate and 3 games The Gamate, known as 超級小子 (chaoji xiaozi, literally Super Boy) in Chinese-speaking countries, is a handheld game console manufactured by Bit Corporation in the early 1990s, and released in Australia, parts of Europe and Asia, and possibly other regions. ... The Watara Supervision and a cartridge. ... The Mega Duck and Cougar Boy with identical games for both systems. ... The Game. ... The Gizmondo handheld video game unit. ... This article is about the hand-held telephone. ... TurboExpress handheld, TV tuner, games The TurboExpress or (PC Engine GT in Japan) was a portable version of the TurboGrafx, released in 1990 for $249. ... The Pepper Pad is a mobile computer with Internet capability and doubles as a handheld game console. ... The GameKing is an 8-bit handheld game console produced by the Chinese company TimeTop since 2003. ... The iRiver G10 is a portable media player with 3D gaming capabilities currently in development by iriver. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Shanda. ... The OQO Model 2 is a pocket computer with Windows Vista and an x86 processor. ... This is a comparison of the features of various handheld game consoles. ... Super Game Boy Box art. ... Grey or gray (see spelling differences) is a color between white and black. ...

Color palette

When playing an original Game Boy game on a later system, the user can choose which color palette is used. This is achieved by pressing certain button combinations, namely either A or B (both achieving different results) and an arrow key, while the Game Boy logo is displayed on the screen. It is also possible to use a monochromatic color scheme that preserves the original look of the game by pressing B+Left.

In addition, most Game Boy games published by Nintendo have a special palette that is enabled when no buttons are pressed. Any game that does not have a special palette will default to the Dark Green (Right + A) palette instead. Two notable games that do have preset palettes are Metroid II and the Wario Land series. Metroid II: Return of Samus is the second title released in the Metroid series, the only one that appeared on the Nintendo Game Boy. ...

Games

The last Game Boy Color game released in Japan that was also compatible with the Game Boy and Super Game Boy was From TV Animation - One Piece: Maboroshi no Grand Line Boukenhen! (June 2002). This gave the original Game Boy (1989-2002) one of the longest continuous lifespans of any console, only bested by the Atari 2600 (1977-1992), and the Neo-Geo AES/MVS (1990-2004). In the US, the last game was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the video game console credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. ... Neo-Geo is the name of a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK. The system offered comparatively colorful 2D graphics and high-quality sound. ... The video game Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released in 2002. ...

In popular culture

• In the Lifetime TV movie, The Truth about Jane, Jane buys her brother a Game Boy Color as a present.
• The Game Boy Color is featured prominently in the book Stormbreaker.

This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Stormbreaker is the first novel in the Alex Rider series by author Anthony Horowitz. ...

See also

• List of Game Boy Color games
• List of Player's Choice games

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This is a list of games for the Game Boy Color handheld game system, organized alphabetically by name, followed by catalog number where known. ... The NTSC Players Choice release of the GameCube title, Star Fox Adventures. ...

References