Indestructible and universal, the Game Boy made gaming portable with monuments: Tetris, Pokémon Red/Blue, Zelda Link's Awakening, Super Mario Land. This Top 50 gathers the best of Nintendo's handheld, re-tested and re-ranked by RomWize, each title with its re-evaluated score, its versions, their rarity and their collector value.
"Portable Dr. Mario. Two-color pills to align on viruses, fours to match, speed climbing with the level. Mechanics of absolute purity, perfect for Game Boy. Link-cable versus mode makes it addictive. One of the system's essential puzzlers, recommend to everyone."
"Game Boy adaptation of Donkey Kong Country by Rare. SGI-style pre-rendered sprites, polished Game Boy animation. Levels inspired by the SNES but compressed, level design sometimes punishing (millimeter jumps). Solid, but clearly outdone by Donkey Kong Land 2."
"Game Boy James Bond by Saffire/Nintendo. Top-down view, signature gadgets, espionage missions, blackjack casino included. Surprisingly ambitious for a 1998 handheld, stylish writing. More original and free than expected, worth a curious look for Bond or quirky action-RPG fans."
"Nintendo's Picross sequel (after Mario's Picross). 200+ grids, no-time-limit mode, smoother marking. More generous and accessible than the first, perfectly tuned curve. Still a top Game Boy puzzler, ideal for nonogram purists. Essential if you loved the first."
"Kirby as breakout. Kirby bounces like a ball, with special powers based on the absorbed element, brick boards to clear. Clever concept, polished Game Boy animation. More original than average portable breakout, the franchise's bubblegum-pink charm. Recommend for puzzle-action fans."
"Not a Tetris but Panel de Pon dressed as Yoshi for the West. Horizontal block swaps, color chains, link-cable versus mode. More addictive than Tetris in competitive play, mechanics of rare elegance. Excellent Game Boy puzzler, essential for competitive-puzzle fans."
"Nintendo vertical shooter, one of the earliest on Game Boy. Spaceship against the Granada empire, six levels, simple power-ups. Minimalist but clean mechanics, punchy OST for 1990. Shorter and simpler than Gradius or R-Type GB, ideal for starting on vertical shoot. Solid for its age."
"Japanese release of Battletoads Game Boy with added two-player co-op via link cable. New Norse-themed setting, same mechanics as the Western version but slightly toned-down difficulty for the Japanese market. The co-op changes everything and makes the experience more bearable."
"Game Boy adaptation of SNES Contra III. Compressed but recognizable levels, overpowered weapons, one-hit death. The move to Game Boy saps combat punch, and link-cable multi only helps a little. Still a solid Contra, but Contra (id 195) is smoother on the system."
"Portable Bust-A-Move. Color bubble shots, wall ricochets, group drops. The concept is so pure it survives monochrome perfectly. Solo and link-cable vs modes. Excellent Game Boy puzzler, truly addictive. An easy buy for Puzzle Bobble fans."
