Was the Game Boy Color a Flawed Product?

April 23rd, 2009

Last Monday, the Good Game team did a short retrospective on the Game Boy console, after all this year is the system’s 20th anniversary. In fact, a few publications ran articles covering the console’s history including MTV Multiplayer and the Retronauts blog, I suggest you check them out.

The reason why I mention all this is because I’ve been thinking about the Game Boy Color and something that was said in the recent Good Game segment (you can watch here, episode 11). When running through the various Game Boy iterations, presenter Junglist mentions that the console was rather short-lived. Short-lived? Hmmm…really?

And since then I’ve been thinking about the GBC and wondering if it really was that(italics) successful. The system lasted almost 3 years before being superseded by the Game Boy Advance . Not a very long time when you frame it in that light. I never owned a GBC myself, instead relying on my Gameboy Pocket and the B&W titles for both platforms, later then playing catch ups with the Gameboy Advance. I remember the software line up being fantastic, Wario Land 3, Zelda Oracles, Pokemon Gold/Silver, Tomb Raider and Metal Gear Solid are all great examples. In a few short years the GBC had a line up of games that were perhaps better than the first decade of Game Boy software.

I’m going to throw this question out to the audience for a consensus. Was the Game Boy Color are real success? And how does it compare to the original Game Boy?