Game Boy Color

The Game Boy Color (also referred to as 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. It features a color screen and is slightly larger than the Game Boy Pocket, though smaller than the original Game Boy.

History

The Game Boy Color was a response to pressure from game developers for a new system, 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.

Specifications

The processor, which is a Zilog Z80, has a clock speed twice as fast as that of the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also has three times as much memory as the original.

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. However, this resulted in graphic artifacts in certain games; a sprite that was supposed to meld into the background was now colored separately, exposing the trick.
*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 on the Super Game Boy), these walls could be seen clearly as dots.
*In Super Mario Land, there are many hidden sprites (and thusly exposed enemies/opportunities) exposed by using a multicolored palette. These and other "spoilers" can be avoided by using the grey color palette as described below.

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 and the older Super Game Boy and 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 the Game Boy to be turned on when they were inserted; the Game Boy Color cartridges did not. A Game Boy Color palette is built-in, making it impossible to change the palette like with old Game Boy games.

Color palette

When inserting an original Game Boy cartridge into the Game Boy Color, the user could choose which color set to use for the game. During the Game Boy logo, the user could change the color by holding either the A or B button and a direction. It was also possible to choose a black and white color scheme that preserved the original look of the game.

The palettes for original GB games played on a later system are as follows (This applies for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, and Game Boy Player):
*Up: Brown
*Up + A: Red
*Up + B: Dark Brown
*Down: Pastel Mix
*Down + A: Orange
*Down + B: Yellow
*Left: Blue
*Left + A: Dark Blue
*Left + B: Gray (i.e. preserves the original look)
*Right: Green
*Right + A: Dark Green
*Right + B: Reverse

In addition, most Nintendo-published GB games have a special default palette, accessible by not pressing any buttons. Any game which does not have a special default palette will default to the Right + A (Dark Green) pallette instead.

Trivia

* The Game Boy Horror used in Luigi's Mansion is modeled after the transparent Game Boy Color.
* The last Game Boy Color games released were Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (November 2002) in the United States; and Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite (January 2003) in Europe.
* The last Game Boy Color game released in the United States that was also compatible with the Game Boy and Super Game Boy was Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 (September 2001).
* 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 (1990-2004).
* The word Color in the title is spelled the same way in all territories; there is no Game Boy Colour.
* The colors of the letters of the "COLOR" logo are the five standard colors of the Game Boy Color. There are various others as well, including translucent models and at least two Pokemon-themed models. One of these is yellow and blue and features various Pokemon and a Poke-Ball, the other shifts between gold and silver, and features a Pichu and Pikachu, the latter with its cheek as the power light.

Game Boy Color: Encyclopedia BETA