Editing Game Boy Color

{{rewrite-expand|add more information on accessories and their relevance to ''Super Mario''}}

{{About|the handheld gaming system|the gamebook series that originally used the name "Game Boy Color"|[[Game Boy Advance (book series)]]}}

{{redirect|GBC|the accessory for the Game Boy systems|[[Game Boy Camera]]}}

{{system infobox

|image=[[File:GBC Atomic Purple.png|200px]]

|release={{flag list|Japan|October 21, 1998|USA|November 18, 1998|Europe|November 23, 1998|Australia|November 27, 1998|South Korea|December 20, 2000<ref>{{cite|author=신상민|date=January 4, 2001|url=https://www.gamemeca.com/view.php?gid=5892|title=정식유통판 게임보이 컬러, 호응누린다|publisher=GameMeca|language=Korean|archive=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622153738/https://www.gamemeca.com/view.php?gid=5892|accessdate=June 9, 2024}}</ref>}}

|discontinued={{flag list|Japan|September 25, 2003|USA|2003}}

|predecessor=[[Game Boy]]<br>[[Virtual Boy]]

|successor=[[Game Boy Advance]]

{{quote|Get into it.|The Game Boy Color slogan}}

Some games made for the original Game Boy display more colors if played on a Game Boy Color. Other games were made exclusively for the Game Boy Color. The older versions could not play these, but the [[Game Boy Advance]], the {{wp|Game Boy Advance SP}}, and the [[Game Boy Player]] could. It also had the shortest lifetime of a Nintendo handheld, as it was discontinued in 2003, and the last game was released later the same year.

The Game Boy Color has identical controls to those of the original Game Boy and the NES controller. These are {{Button|gbc|A}}, {{Button|gbc|B}}, {{Button|gbc|start}}, and {{Button|gbc|select}} buttons and the {{Button|gbc|Pad}}. There are no compatibility issues with games made for the original Game Boy being run on a Game Boy Color. All games, accessories that are programmed for a particular game (such as a Game Link Cable), and non-standard features (such as the camera protruding out of a [[Game Boy Camera]] cartridge) will work on a Game Boy Color. Playing games that did not have any color can now be played in color using a color palette by using a combination of {{Button|gbc|Pad}} and {{Button|gbc|a}}, {{Button|gbc|b}}, or no additional button being pressed to select presets, similar to the [[Super Game Boy]] how someone can change the colors into the typical monochrome display.

Some Game Boy and Game Boy Color games were once available through the [[Nintendo 3DS]] [[Virtual Console#Nintendo 3DS|Virtual Console]] service until the Nintendo 3DS eShop's closure on March 27, 2023.

==Hardware specifications==

*Maximum number of colors on sprite: 4 (Same as [[Family Computer]] and [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]])<ref>http://nesdev.com/NESTechFAQ.htm#chrgfx</ref><ref>http://www.consoledatabase.com/consoleinfo/nintendogameboycolor/</ref>

 

===Compatibility modes===

!Example cartridge

!Usual color

!Original Game Boy cartridge

|style="background-color:#C1F2C1"|[[File:Check mark.svg|30px|center]]

|style="background-color:#FFDBE2"|[[File:X mark.svg|30px|center]]

!Game Boy Color cartridge (black)

|style="background-color:#C1F2C1"|[[File:Check mark.svg|30px|center]]

|style="background-color:#C1F2C1"|[[File:Check mark.svg|30px|center]]

!Game Boy Color cartridge (clear)

|style="background-color:#FFDBE2"|[[File:X mark.svg|30px|center]]

|style="background-color:#FFDBE2"|[[File:X mark.svg|30px|center]]

|style="background-color:#C1F2C1"|[[File:Check mark.svg|30px|center]]

All [[Official Nintendo Seal|official]] accessories compatible with the [[Game Boy]] are compatible with the Game Boy Color.

 

The same link cable the Game Boy and its variations use can be used on Game Boy Color.

The Game Boy Printer that was used to print pictures from the player's Game Boy. This accessory gained some extended support when the Game Boy Color was released, such as being used in ''[[Super Mario Bros. Deluxe]]'' in [[Super Mario Bros. Deluxe#Toy Box|Toy Box]] image albums and in Records tables, in ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Color)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' for the [[DK Sticker Pack]]s, and as an accessory for [[Game Boy Camera]].

Only available in Japan, the '''{{wp|Game Boy accessories#Mobile Adapter GB|Mobile Adapter GB}}''' allowed certain games to connect to some Japanese mobile phones. The only strictly ''Super Mario'' games to utilize it were ''[[Mobile Golf]]'' and ''[[Mario Kart: Super Circuit]]''; however, the operation software that came with it (''[[Mobile Trainer]]'') features references to the ''Super Mario'' franchise. This peripheral was referred to as the '''Mobile Game Boy Adapter''' [https://archive.is/o56o4 in a translated Iwata Asks interview]. The device was released exclusively to Japan on January 27, 2001 and was not a commercial success.

 

 

==IR communication==

There is an infrared LED, indicated by the black rectangle on top of the unit, that a Game Boy Color can use. This was the primary method in which [[Bulbapedia:Mystery Gift|Mystery Gift]] worked in the [[Bulbapedia:Generation II|Generation II ''Pokémon'']] games, but ''[[Super Mario Bros. Deluxe]]'' can make use of this feature by sending high scores and other data to other copies. This feature is exclusive to the Game Boy Color and is not present in later Game Boy devices.

==BIOS colors==

These colors will also work on a [[Game Boy Advance]], a Game Boy Advance SP and a [[Game Boy Player]] when a [[Game Boy]] game is inserted, but will not work on [[Virtual Console]] on [[Nintendo 3DS]], whereas in [[Game Boy - Nintendo Switch Online]] only the hardware-coded palette for each game can be set as a color palette.

{{image|more=yes|Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins are not the only games to have this functionality}}

|image3=SML2 Ladder Game.png

The Game Boy Color will display a unique hardware-coded palette of colors for some titles using an internal list of original Game Boy games. Two such instances are ''[[Super Mario Land]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins]]''. The palettes do however fall short of being a full colorization of the games, notably in the case of ''[[Dr. Mario (game)|Dr. Mario]]'' where the regular black and square-patterned black viruses look similar.{{br}}

Donkey Kong Game Boy - Super Game Boy - Game Boy Color palette comparison.png|Comparison for ''[[Donkey Kong (Game Boy)|Donkey Kong]]''

 

====Standard colors====

GBC Clear.jpg|{{Conjectural|Clear}} (Japan only)

====Special editions====

GBC Mario Atomic Purple.jpg|Mario-themed Atomic Purple Game Boy Color (Japan only)

GBC Mario Clear.jpg|Mario-themed {{Conjectural|Clear}} Game Boy Color (Japan only)

===Game gallery===

Wario Land 2 GBC NA cover.jpg|''[[Wario Land II]]''

MarioGolfGBCBoxArtCover.jpg|''[[Mario Golf (Game Boy Color)|Mario Golf]]''

Dinky and Dixie Kong GBC cover art.jpg|''[[Donkey Kong Land III|Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong]]''

Warioland3.jpg|''[[Wario Land 3]]''

Mario Family cover.png|''[[Mario Family]]''

*In {{wp|English in the Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth English}}, the correct spelling for "color" is "colour". Despite this, the name of the console was never changed outside of America to reflect this difference.

{{NIWA|Bulbapedia=1|HardDrop=1|NWiki=1|StarfyWiki=Terminology#G|StrategyWiki=Category:Game Boy Color|WarsWiki=1|WiKirby=1|ZeldaWiki=1}}

 

[[Category:Systems]]