8 Best Game Boy Color Platformers

Mega Man Xtreme 2 came out in Japan on July 19, 2001, and in North America that November. A strange DNA chip called "DNA Soul" is turning reploids irregular, and this time Zero is a full partner in the investigation. Capcom made it quickly after the first Xtreme, and it shows in a good way: the base is the same, with improvements on top. Beat Xtreme Mode and you unlock a Boss Rush that pits you against all eight Mavericks from this game and the eight from the first one.

Critics were mixed, mostly because it plays it safe. Players who bring up the Xtreme games tend to recommend the two as a pair, so if the first one clicks, this is your next cartridge.

Rayman first came out on the PlayStation in 1995, and Ubisoft brought him to the Game Boy Color in early 2000. Squeezing those big painted worlds onto a handheld meant changes, and some levels were simplified to fit. The Game Boy Color version was one of the Ubisoft games that used the "Ubi Key", which let you share data between games through the infrared port and unlock extra content. That is a very 2000 sentence.

It is also one of the versions Digital Eclipse put in Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition in 2026, next to the PlayStation and Jaguar releases. Not many players bring it up, but the ones who played it are fond of it. One summed it up well: "Rayman on GBC was surprisingly good for a Rayman game."

Mega Man Xtreme is a spin-off in the Mega Man X series, made by Capcom for the Game Boy Color. The peacekeeping Mother Computer has been hacked, and X has to clear eight stages in cyberspace to fix it. The game mixes stages, enemies and bosses from Mega Man X and Mega Man X2 with new content made for the handheld. When things get rough, you can call in Zero to help.

Reviews were mixed at the time, with complaints about the graphics and a high difficulty level. Players are kinder now. They tend to recommend the two Xtreme games together as fun handheld takes on the X series, and the hard edge is part of the appeal if you grew up on the SNES games.

Toki Tori is a small yellow chicken on a rescue mission, and his kidnapped brothers and sisters are still in their eggs. It came out on September 26, 2001, near the very end of the Game Boy Color. You gather every egg in a level using a limited set of tools, in a single run, against the clock. There are four worlds: Forest Falls, Creepy Castle, Slime Caves and Bubble Barrage. Later levels usually have only one way to collect all the eggs.

It went on to a long second life, with remakes on WiiWare, Steam and iOS and a sequel in 2013. On the Game Boy Color it came out too late for most people to notice. Players who did find it recommend it as a great puzzle platformer.

The original Donkey Kong Country was a 1994 SNES game famous for its pre-rendered graphics, and it is still the bestselling Donkey Kong game. In 2000, Rare developed a port for the Game Boy Color. Getting that look onto a handheld with a fraction of the colours sounds like a joke, but Rare pulled it off well enough that the GBC version was a runner-up for GameSpot's Best Game Boy Color Game and Best Platform Game awards.

You still swing between Donkey and Diddy, ride the mine carts and hunt for KONG letters, only smaller. Players who grew up with this cartridge still call it a favourite, and people seeing it for the first time are surprised by how solid it looks.

Super Mario Bros. Deluxe is a 1999 port of the 1985 Super Mario Bros., largely unaltered, with an unlockable version of The Lost Levels. The screen is smaller than on the NES, so you can use up and down on the d-pad to scroll the view. Nintendo added a Challenge Mode with five red coins and a hidden Yoshi egg in each level, a You vs. Boo race, and a Toy Box of unlockables.

It was one of the highest-selling games of 1999 and 2000, and it stayed on the sales charts for two years. Critics mostly picked at the smaller screen. Players still recommend it, especially if you have never played The Lost Levels, and plenty still call it their favourite version of the NES classic.

Wario Land 3 came out in Japan on March 21, 2000, and in North America that May. Wario's plane crashes in the woods, he finds a magical music box, and it sucks him in. Inside, a mysterious figure asks for help getting its powers back. There are 25 stages and four treasures in each, for a total of 100, and each treasure sits in a coloured chest that only opens with the matching key.

Time switches between day and night each time Wario leaves a stage, which can swap enemies or open new paths. Wario still cannot die, so the game is about puzzles and getting places. Players rank it among the very best games on the system, and some will tell you it is the best Game Boy Color game, full stop.

Shantae is a half-genie and the guardian of Scuttle Town, and the pirate Risky Boots has stolen a prototype steam engine from her uncle Mimic. If Risky finds four elemental stones, the engine becomes an unstoppable weapon. Shantae attacks by whipping her hair, and the dances she learns let her turn into animals: a monkey that climbs walls, an elephant that smashes boulders. There is a day and night cycle, with enemies getting stronger after dark.

WayForward spent years looking for a publisher before Capcom picked it up. It arrived a year after the Game Boy Advance and sold poorly, according to its creator. It is now a cult classic with a whole series of sequels. Players call it the best of the bunch by a long way.