As I mentioned in my other ‘top retro video games’ lists, 2020 was the year I got back into playing video games from my youth. This was heavily influenced by me ordering a Sega Mini to hook up to the tv I won at a Super Bowl party right before the world went on a long-running lockdown quarantine, but the thing that really kicked the new hobby up a notch was realizing that my Sega Mini could be ‘hacked’ to add ANY old retro video game from any old retro video game console. And once one goes down that online retro video game rabbit hole, one eventually realizes that one could have been playing any old retro video game right on one’s old iMac the whole time.

I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 2020.

And after blahg’n about some of my Sega Mini adventures, I started noticing that my most visited website pages, month after month, were my blog posts about retro video gaming (even though I am a ‘not a music blog, not not a music blog’), and most of those visits were coming from Google’rs.

So, since I also did a lot of searching for “best Game Boy / Game Boy Color games” or “most underrated Game Boy / Game Boy Color games” or “best Game Boy / Game Boy Color games that are still worth playing today” after I was done googling the same kind of “how to hack a sega mini” queries that have been directing people to my blog on a regular basis, I figured I should put together some console specific content for the Google search algorithms. Because SEO, innit?

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Please keep in mind that this list is not in a strict ranking order and it is definitely not an attempt at creating a “best Game Boy / Game Boy Color games ever” list (so prepare to adjust your “how could you not include ___?!” outrage appropriately). This is just a list of games that I have personally found the most enjoyable to play as an elder millennial in the 2020s + it should also be noted that I don’t really care much for fighting games or button-mashing or turn-based strategy RPGs (no matter how ‘critically acclaimed’ on the Youtubes & Reddits).

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AND NOW THAT WE’VE GOT ALL THE EXPLAINERS & DISCLAIMERS OUT OF THE WAY… HERE’S MY subjective LIST OF 25 GAME BOY / GAME BOY COLOR GAMES THAT ARE STILL FUN PLAYing:

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Ok, that’s it for my personal ‘Top 25 Gameboy / Gameboy Color Games That Are Still Fun To Play Now’ list. I know that there are some classic titles that seem crazy not to have included, BUT, again, this is not meant to be a ‘Top 25 All-Time Best Ever’ list and it’s also not meant to be your list. Besides, reading another list that just confirms what’s on every other ‘best of’ list is a bit boring and pointless, especially if you’re looking for games that might not be top of mind (and especially when you consider how all this stuff is individually subjective & doesn’t really matter beyond the enjoyment that comes from thinking/talking about your own experience & finding temporary moments of connection/agreement/discovery with others).

So, on that note, here’s TWENTY-FIVE more GB/GBC games that are of the kind of quality that has them constantly circling outside my TOP 25 list — so let’s just call it a TOP 50 list now (and you can click the cover art below to watch gameplay over on the Youtubes or you can scroll further down for a “HIGH 54” gameplay playlist):

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And since I’ve already found Youtube videos for my ‘FAVE 50’ GB/GBC games, and since I also have a thing about the number 54, I decided to put all the gameplay videos into one big-ass "High 54" Youtube playlist in case anyone wants to watch one HI54LOFI-ly recommended GB/GBC game being played by strangers on the internet after another (I’ve also added 4 more games to make the total 54):

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And while we’re listing things, here’s my other lists of retro video games that are still fun playing today… if you happen to be looking for more than just GB/GBC games to check out (and if you think you might have some crossover tastes in retro games with me):

Finally, please feel warmly encouraged to hit up the comment section below if there’s any games that I left off that would definitely be on your ‘Fave Gameboy / Gameboy Color Games’ list (whatever number you’d cap your list off at), as I’ve been known to make tweaks to my lists when a new ‘old game’ starts making a stronger case for more of my limited attention span.

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JEREMY / @HI54LOFI

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