Do you consider Gameboy Color a successor or a variant to the Gameboy?

[Juiceala]

Do you consider Gameboy Color a successor to the Gameboy or an upgrade to the Gameboy?

 

[Badseed Badseed]

It was the next evolution of the GB I guess. I never had one I had moved on to better things by that time.

 

[ArchienineArchienine's icon]

Since its had its own exclusive games i would considerer that a successor.

 

[virtua_willdu]

I've seen frequent games on GBC with smooth complex sprite animations like Metal Gear Solid (Ghost Babel), Rayman, and Road Rash (which is a version of Road Rash 2) compared to the original GB, there was even an impressive conversion of Dragon's Lair (the arcade experience) as impressive as the conversion of Dragon's Lair to the Amiga.

 

[Spiral1407]

I'd say variant, just like the new 3ds or PS4 Pro.

 

[Aldia Aldia]

It was the "New 3DS" of the gameboy's "Og 3DS", except it actually had games made for it.

 

[driftwood]

Just a fun FYI , the Gameboy Color peripherals included
a Singer Sewing Machine, a pocket fish sonar device, and a Suzuki Pocket Dash Diagnostic System similar to an OBD tool for Suzuki scooters and motorcycles.

 

[Kovlak]

I had one. It was just a variant that displayed colors. Just more lateral thinking, nothing fancy.

 

[Retro Doomer]

Only have the Og Gameboy but I would say the Gbc is a upgrade.

 

[Stardust Queen]

i think it's pretty clearly a variant. the reason i say so is considering the 3DS vs New 3DS. The latter has exclusive games but remains pretty similar otherwise, just a little new c-nub and a faster processor. The GBC has exclusive games, limited color for older games, and a higher clock speed. They both clearly exist within the same era. Both play each others exact game library with pretty few exceptions. The DS and GBA, in comparison, have entirely different design goals, and the GBA can't play the DS's games. Hell, the later DS models can't play GBA games either. They're technically quite different too, unlike the GBC vs GB which again is just clock speed.

I think the reason the GBC is commonly seen as a successor is moreso because of just how darn long the GB lasted. GBC games were released in 2000 and 2001, and they look and feel entirely differently from the GB's launch in 1989. It really does feel like a whole different console, but its really just what happens when we focus on optimizing what we have and not rushing out new hardware every few years. Hell, said games from 2000/2001 mostly did run on the original GB too (Pokemon GS for instance tho not C). We don't usually get that luxury. Even the 3DS to New 3DS was like, what, 4 years?

I kind of love how long lived the GB was, im pretty sure it alongside the ps2 and at this point the ps4 have the longest practical lifespans of any console, and even then the ps2 was losing relevancy by the start of the 2010s. The real question now is, based on this logic, can we consider the PS5 a variant of the PS4? (I'd argue it might!)

 

[Juiceala]

i think it's pretty clearly a variant. the reason i say so is considering the 3DS vs New 3DS. The latter has exclusive games but remains pretty similar otherwise, just a little new c-nub and a faster processor. The GBC has exclusive games, limited color for older games, and a higher clock speed. They both clearly exist within the same era. Both play each others exact game library with pretty few exceptions. The DS and GBA, in comparison, have entirely different design goals, and the GBA can't play the DS's games. Hell, the later DS models can't play GBA games either. They're technically quite different too, unlike the GBC vs GB which again is just clock speed.

I feel you just contradicted yourself with that argument, you said the GBC can play the GB library therefore it's a variant, but then the 3DS can play the DS library but not vice versa therefore the 3DS is a successor...

How's that different?

In fact, the DSi (and by extension 3DS) has a faster processor which supports some DS titles that can enhance the performance just like the GBC.

I think the reason the GBC is commonly seen as a successor is moreso because of just how darn long the GB lasted. GBC games were released in 2000 and 2001, and they look and feel entirely differently from the GB's launch in 1989. It really does feel like a whole different console, but its really just what happens when we focus on optimizing what we have and not rushing out new hardware every few years. Hell, said games from 2000/2001 mostly did run on the original GB too (Pokemon GS for instance tho not C). We don't usually get that luxury. Even the 3DS to New 3DS was like, what, 4 years?

Again I disagree, the PS4 lasted long yet I've not seen a single person refer to the PS4 Pro as a successor, same with the Switch OLED.

 

[shaggi]

Successor. Gameboy Color was more than only colors upgrade.

 

[Princess Viola]

Honestly the fun part of this whole discussion is that both sides of the argument have merit.

On the 'it was just a variant side', you can point to how both the hardware and form factor of the GBC aren't that much of an upgrade over the GB (it's got the exact same CPU, it just runs twice as fast for GBC games and four times as much RAM, 32 KB vs 8 KB) and how even Nintendo treats it and the Game Boy as being the same platform by combining the sales of all Game Boy variants and the Game Boy Color and, on the Switch and Switch 2, the Game Boy Classics app for NSO has both Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, there isn't a separate app for GBC games like for the NES, SNES, N64, GBA, or GCN.

But then on the 'it was a successor' side, there's the fact that there were over 900 games released for the Game Boy Color and even if you subtract the ones that were dual mode, I think you end up with something like 500 - 600 games that can only be played on the GBC. And sure, I'll admit that's a significant number of games that can be played on the previous console but other consoles that are undoubtedly variants either have no exclusive games of their own (there ain't no games that run only on the PS4 Pro and not the PS4, for example) or only a small number of full retail exclusives exclusives (The DSi had like 5 physical games that could only be played on it and yeah, I'll admit there were like 600 DSiware games and apps, IDK maybe it's just be but that'd be kinda like if there were digital games on the Pro revisions of home consoles that only worked on it, wouldn't really make it its own thing to me because they're not 'full' retail-size games)

 

[Stardust Queen]

I feel you just contradicted yourself with that argument, you said the GBC can play the GB library therefore it's a variant, but then the 3DS can play the DS library but not vice versa therefore the 3DS is a successor...

How's that different?

In fact, the DSi (and by extension 3DS) has a faster processor which supports some DS titles that can enhance the performance just like the GBC.

Again I disagree, the PS4 lasted long yet I've not seen a single person refer to the PS4 Pro as a successor, same with the Switch OLED.

I wasn't referring to the DS vs 3DS though? That's pretty clearly a successor for the reason you stated. The GB though can play almost all of the GBC games tmk. If anything the DS vs DSi is another similar case. They're almost entirely compatible both ways minus a few edge cases, similarly to old 3DS vs new 3DS, and GB vs GBC. The DS vs 3DS isn't, neither is the DS to GBA. That's why I see the GBC as a variant.

(also it was my point that the ps4 pro isn't a successor to show the longevity of the ps4 itself. hell i think theres a decent argument that the ps5 is effectively a variant atp given that almost all of its games are available on ps4, but those are at least not the literal same version but actual downgrades)

Honestly the fun part of this whole discussion is that both sides of the argument have merit.

On the 'it was just a variant side', you can point to how both the hardware and form factor of the GBC aren't that much of an upgrade over the GB (it's got the exact same CPU, it just runs twice as fast for GBC games and four times as much RAM, 32 KB vs 8 KB) and how even Nintendo treats it and the Game Boy as being the same platform by combining the sales of all Game Boy variants and the Game Boy Color and, on the Switch and Switch 2, the Game Boy Classics app for NSO has both Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, there isn't a separate app for GBC games like for the NES, SNES, N64, GBA, or GCN.

But then on the 'it was a successor' side, there's the fact that there were over 900 games released for the Game Boy Color and even if you subtract the ones that were dual mode, I think you end up with something like 500 - 600 games that can only be played on the GBC. And sure, I'll admit that's a significant number of games that can be played on the previous console but other consoles that are undoubtedly variants either have no exclusive games of their own (there ain't no games that run only on the PS4 Pro and not the PS4, for example) or only a small number of full retail exclusives exclusives (The DSi had like 5 physical games that could only be played on it and yeah, I'll admit there were like 600 DSiware games and apps, IDK maybe it's just be but that'd be kinda like if there were digital games on the Pro revisions of home consoles that only worked on it, wouldn't really make it its own thing to me because they're not 'full' retail-size games)

The main source I found online puts that exclusives number way lower https://altarofgaming.com/exclusive-games/nintendo/nintendo-game-boy-color/

 

[Princess Viola]

The main source I found online puts that exclusives number way lower https://altarofgaming.com/exclusive-games/nintendo/nintendo-game-boy-color/

I mean I wasn't speaking 'exclusives' as in 'games that are literally ONLY on the Game Boy Color' I was speaking 'Game Boy Color games that were not also compatible with the original Game Boy models'. Like yeah I'll admit there aren't that many GBC games that are 100% you HAVE to get a Game Boy Color to play them still (Wikipedia lists just 164 in their GBC-only category) because there's no other version of them on other consoles or they've never been ported to anything else if they were originally just on the GBC

 

[Stardust Queen]

I mean I wasn't speaking 'exclusives' as in 'games that are literally ONLY on the Game Boy Color' I was speaking 'Game Boy Color games that were not also compatible with the original Game Boy models'. Like yeah I'll admit there aren't that many GBC games that are 100% you HAVE to get a Game Boy Color to play them still (Wikipedia lists just 164 in their GBC-only category) because there's no other version of them on other consoles or they've never been ported to anything else if they were originally just on the GBC

Oh, I guess I misread. I'm still not sure where the number you have for gbc games that don't run on gb came from though. is it really 500-600 games that will outright not run?

 

[Princess Viola]

Oh, I guess I misread. I'm still not sure where the number you have for gbc games that don't run on gb came from though. is it really 500-600 games that will outright not run?

I'll freely admit it's not the most scientific method but I just friggin counted the number of dual mode games on the Wikipedia list of GBC games and there's like 310 of them (assuming I didn't miscount) so that leaves exactly 605 official GBC games that only run on the GBC.

Again not the most scientific method (I did try to find a concrete list that's better than just 'counting what Wikipedia says' and doing some math but I couldn't).

Mind you this is for all regions

 

[CrimeRobot]

I'd say that the GBC is basically on par with an NES, and therefore a solid generational leap above the games possible with the GB, similar to how GBA is roughly on par with an SNES.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

A successor it added color and whole list of new games and the color is a bit stronger than the GB.
One could maybe say it´s an upgraded GB on all aspects.

 

[DragonMals]

unlike the new Nintendo 3ds which barely had brand new games that were tailored for it, the game boy color actually had a good chunk of games that were made specifically for the hardware. as such, I would consider it to be a successor. if it was a variant, than IMHO that would mean that all of the games made for that system would be backwards compatible with the original game boy.

 

[dr grim]

i'd say successor as the gameboy color have various games made only for the support. it was a little more powerfull too if i remember.

 

[ThatOneLum]

I know that Nintendo bundle them both together, but the colour felt like a seperate console to me. It had it's own suite of games, was completely different in terms of capabilities and just felt different.

 

[FlyingToaster]

I've always considered it a successor. Very underrated console btw, it has tons of nice little games no one ever talks about

 

[dr grim]

I've always considered it a successor. Very underrated console btw, it has tons of nice little games no one ever talks about

it's true that we don't hear a lot from the gameboy / color, it's a shame.

it's a console i'd like to discover more too, i heard there are even some quality rpg on there.

 

[Sonic Boomer]

I'm going to get so much hate for this, but to me the GBC was carried by the GB library.
I consider it a successor, but it was more like a variant.
While the GBC did have its share of great games, MGS, Dragon Quest III, Shantae, what it lacked were simple pick up and play actually good LINEAR platformers, the kind of games I'd rather play on a handheld that's as hard to see as the GBC.

Pretty much every supposedly pick up and play platformer/action game it had was also something else, something more bloated or some kinda of a jank. Shantae is indeed an amazing game, but it's essentially a metroidvania and on a tiny screen like that I just want to get from point A to point B, jump some holes, kill some enemies and move on.

People were praising Commander Keen, but that was typical Western "trash" design that was so vague and frustrating I couldn't get past the first level let alone have a great pick up and play handheld experience with it.
Same with Duke Nukem for GBC, which was supposed to be a simple run 'n gun.

There were a few exceptions, Wendy Every Witch Way is a PHENOMENAL pick up and play game but it's still a puzzle platformer not quite the fast paced, fun romp I'd keep coming back to over and over.

Merlin is alright, very good visuals for a GBC game too

The system had too many licensed games most of which were not that great too.

Rhino Rampage is a perfect example of a pick up and play game, but good luck finding that one even back them, even I don't have it, plus it's a tad too frustrating/has too few lives.

But now, now things are different


Now we're finally getting the pick up and play platformers the GBC always needed and it's great, I hope we keep getting MORE pick up and play, linear platformers like Kero Kero Cowboy, Tanuki Justice and Trip World(GB to GBC remake but still)


Linear, simple, non rogue like games are the best for handhelds.
It's an absolute joy to play this stuff either on real hardware or emulation devices