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Nintendo Game Boy Color
First written November 3, 2024Nintendo's Game Boy Color was the first "real" hardware upgrade made to the Game Boy range, with the processor running twice as fast and four times the memory. The Game Boy Color is backward compatible with the Game Boy and will run all Game Boy games, with the option to select different color palettes for them as the system boots up, and thanks to the wide range of Game Boy accessories is largely compatible with the right link cable or adapter with other Game Boys. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and in North America on November 18, 1998. This coincided nicely with the Pokemon Boom of the late 1990s, and many Game Boy Colors were sold with the main objective of playing Pokemon, and several bundle deals and Pokemon-themed Game Boy Colors were released.
The American English "Color" name was used in all regions, even ones that use the "colour" spelling. The colors in "Color" in the logo match the colors the handheld was available in at launch (minus the translucent Atomic Purple).
Berry (1998)
A pinkish-red Berry Game Boy Color. This one has a reproduction battery cover - note the slight color mismatch. Some of the tells of reproduction shells and stickers are discussed at the bottom of this page.
Grape (1998)
The purple "Grape" Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color has the same control layout as previous Game Boys. The power switch is on the right side of the unit with a lanyard strap ring, the link cable port, and the volume wheel on the left side.
Kiwi (1998)
Lime green "Kiwi" Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color runs on two AA batteries.
Dandelion (1998)
This Dandelion yellow Game Boy Color is a bit more beat up than some of my other ones, but I think it is from an earlier production period than some of my other ones based on the made in Japan style-sticker.
Teal (1998)
The Teal Game Boy Color. This one was also made in Japan, but I think it was made a bit later.
Atomic Purple (1998)
The sixth color in the initial Game Boy Color launch lineup was the cool Atomic Purple that first debuted on a 1997 Japan-only Game Boy Pocket. This is generally the Game Boy Color I play on the most.
Neotones Ice (1999/2000)
This neat clear Neotones Ice Game Boy Color was released in Japan around 1999 and limitedly in Australia in 2000. This one is a Japanese import and does not have its original battery cover.
Pokemon Special Edition (Pokemon Yellow pack-in) (1999)
Alongside the release of Pokemon Yellow in the United States in late 1999 a special Pokemon-themed Game Boy Color handheld was released with Pokemon Yellow as a pack-in game. This Game Boy is a popular one thanks to the Pokemon tie-in while still being produced in such numbers that it is not impossible to find. This shell was also popular enough to be one of the early styles offered in reproduction form - I bought a reproduction shell a few years after finding this Game Boy without its battery cover and rear sticker, which is why the battery cover is a slight color mismatch and, if you look closely, the rear sticker is not correct for this Game Boy. The Pokemon Game Boys all used a variant of the sticker that also attributes copyrights to Game Freak and Creatures, and an original example of this style of sticker can be seen on the Gold & Silver style Game Boy Color below. I think there are now reproduction shells that more closely match the original color and have a more correct sticker, but I also think they cost a bit more, and personally I probably wouldn't buy one of these online unless the photos very specifically showed some of the markings shown at the very bottom of this page.
Pokemon Gold & Silver Limited Edition (2000)
This cute Game Boy Color with Pikachu and Pichu on the screen boarder was released in 2000 alongside Pokemon Gold and Silver. It appears primarily silver but shows up gold in stronger lighting. The power LED shines through Pikachu's cheek, which is a cute touch.
Unlike the previous Pokemon Yellow Game Boy, this Game Boy did not include a game. There was a somewhat odd commercial advertising this Game Boy where a boy gets a goose to lay the Game Boy like an egg by showing it pictures of Pokemon... odd.
I actually owned two of these Game Boys for a little while... I kept the nicer condition one, which is in pretty good shape with all its original stickers. It hardly even has any marks around the cartridge slot from games being slid in and out. Like the Pokemon Yellow Game Boy Color and other Pokemon-themed shells, the rear Game Boy Color sticker mentions Game Freak and Creatures in addition to Nintendo.
Here is a scan of the American foldout instruction booklet for the Game Boy Color.
There are a few variations of the rear sticker on the Game Boy Color. In particular, there are -1 and -2 variations of both the made in Japan and China stickers. Japanese production would have been the original region and was used into the export period, with Chinese production beginning later in the system's lifespan.
A note on some ways to identify reproduction shells - I don't usually buy these, but I have come across several reproduction or third-party battery hatch covers, and those are sometimes a good way to identify a real shell in an online auction listing because there will sometimes be a photo of the hatch open to show the condition of the contacts and, if you are lucky, you can see the molding and tooling marks around those parts of the shell.
One thing to immediately look out for on some third-part battery covers is the complete lack of the Game Boy text, like on the clear one to the bottom right, but most modern "repro" shells like the Berry cover on the right have this. It does not seem, however, that these shells replicate the molding slot marks present near the clip seen on the two real covers to the left, and the round marks in the plastic - the ejector pin locations, where the machinery pushed the cooled, formed plastic out of its metal die and further down the production line, emptying its cavity to form the next shell - are also in different locations on more modern shells (although the clear cover lacking the Game Boy text and slot marks actually does have its ejection pin marks about in the right spot, possibly by accident).