Editing Game Boy Color

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

|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}}

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

The '''{{wp|Game Boy Color}}''' (also abbreviated as '''GBC''') is the fourth model to the [[Game Boy]] and, in some ways, the handheld counterpart of the [[Nintendo 64]]. It is similar to its predecessors, the most notable differences being that it is lighter, it is capable of displaying multiple colors, and the processing power is twice as fast. It is the final 8-bit handheld console. Although it is popularly described as a successor to the Game Boy due to its hardware advancements and the existence of Game Boy Color games that are incompatible with a standard Game Boy, [[Nintendo]] internally categorized it as a hardware revision. This disparity is reflected in the company's public representation of the system, such as in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', where the Chronicle lists Game Boy and Game Boy Color games under one section.

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.

*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>

All older cartridges are compatible with the Game Boy Color but not always the other way around. Here is a chart to explain.

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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]].

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}}

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}}

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.

{{Systems}}