Let there be COLOR

Monochrome games that were brought to life on the GBC

TENNIS

This early sports title is transformed on the Game Boy Color. The court is a lush green colour and umpire Mario is wearing his red cap, as he should be. Obviously if you have a GBC then your go-to Tennis game should be the excellent Mario Tennis, but the original has a certain charm.

METROID II

Samus’s second adventure was supposed to receive a dedicated Game Boy Color update but it never materialised. That was possibly because the colourised version looked so good that a new release wasn’t warranted. While playing it’s easy to forget that this is a mono Game Boy game.

KID ICARUS

You can’t fail to be enchanted by this brilliant platformer – a sequel to the NES original – and it looks better than ever when played on the Game Boy Color. As with Metroid II, the introduction of colour almost transforms it into a brand-new game, with the sprites popping off the screen.

SUPER MARIO LAND 2

All three Mario Land games were enhanced on the Game Boy Color. This is the best of bunch, as the pastel-coloured palette lends itself well to the game’s breezy levels. Okay so the coins are not golden, and Mario’s wardrobe is a bit wrong, but we’re happy to let that slide.

DONKEY KONG LAND

Everyone was wowed when this hit the Game Boy and it didn’t look too far from the SNES original. However the brilliantly-animated sprites were often lost in the busy backgrounds. By simply colouring the sprites the problem was fixed and the game is transformed.