The Game Boy just turned thirty so it’s a good a time as any to go back and reminisce about all of the great games for the system and its upgraded hardware, the Game Boy Color. Instead of ranking what the best games are, we instead want to look at what games deserve to get a remake. It’s not just because The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is right around the corner either.
The Game Boy has actually gotten a lot of remake love recently. Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! are remakes of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. Prior to that Metroid II also got a remake, but for 3DS and not Switch. Anyway as per usual no series is multi represented here in order to keep the list more diverse.
10 Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
That’s actually the Japanese name to the Western’s title of Metal Gear Solid. Since that is stupidly confusing, we’re going with the inarguably better Japanese title. Anyway this is a side story not affecting the canon of the franchise.
It plays closer to the original two MSX titles, but instead of exploring one big open world, the game is level based. Since Konami is not capable of making a new game in the series, as proved by the disastrous Metal Gear Survive, maybe they should try their hand at something simpler like this remake.
9 Dragon Quest III
This, like many games in the series, has been remade and ported several times. For Dragon Quest III, or Dragon Warrior III as it was original called in the West, it got a SNES remake as well as a Game Boy Color enhanced port. Now is a great time to remake this game since Dragon Quest XI’s true ending seemed to hint that Dragon Quest III was chronologically the next title. Square Enix probably already has this in the works.
8 Super Mario Land 2
The console Mario games are the titles that get the most love. It is not hard to see why as Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 are seminal classics, but so is the often-forgot Super Mario Land 2.
The first game was a decent attempt at making a Game Boy Mario title, but the sequel broke incredible ground. On top of its fun factor, it’s also super weird, which always makes for the best adventures. As a runner up Wario Land 3 would also make for a killer remake.
7 Shantae
WayForward made a name for itself when it turned otherwise shrug inducing licensed based titles into decent games. After breaking their backs for over a decade, they finally got to make their own game and launched Shantae for the Game Boy Color in 2002. Because of the late launch for the basically dead portable, not a lot of copies were produced so the cartridge is incredibly rare. That is also to say not a lot of people played it. WayForward is no stranger to remaking their games so it’s about time they go back to their original darling.
6 Kirby’s Dream Land 2
The Kirby series is actually one we wish would take a break. It has been a yearly franchise for almost a decade. That said if Nintendo had to grind out another title perhaps they should venture into remaking Kirby’s Dream Land 2. This sequel introduced rideable animals akin to how Yoshi played in Super Mario World. It, and its direct sequel for the SNES, isn’t remembered as much perhaps due to this odd mechanic. It may have been needless, but it made the game ten times cuter.
5 Pokémon Gold/Silver
We know we just got remakes of the original two games. We also realize Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver were remade for the DS. That being said, these two titles remain the best in the series because of their scope. It added in just the right amount of new Pokémon to make the world feel bigger. On top of that it let players travel back to Kanto, which no mainline entry has done since. By that we mean include another full region after the main region was completed. Anyway, it’s the best!
4 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
As long as we are wishing for an obvious choice like Pokémon, let’s double down and get the rest of the Game Boy Zelda series up in here too. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and its counterpart could easily be made in the same engine as the remake for Link’s Awakening. Nintendo might have to make an extra deal with Capcom to make this work, but it should be easy enough. Maybe they could even finish the project by adding in the canceled third game.
3 Resident Evil Gaiden
Resident Evil Gaiden is understandably an odd choice. It placed Leon and Barry on a boat fighting off swarms of zombies. The big catch here is that touching a zombie turns the game into kind of an RPG where knife strikes and gunshots have to be aimed with special reticles in a first-person perspective.
It is sort of like a callback to the horror RPG that inspired Resident Evil, Sweet Home. A Resident Evil RPG has always fascinated us and a remake could make this concept better realized.
2 Gargoyle’s Quest
Gargoyle’s Quest is another strange RPG that stars one of the enemies from Ghosts ‘n Goblins, the Red Arremer, or Firebrand in the West. Part of the game has RPG elements like going into towns and talking to NPCs. Certain objects will also make Firebrand stronger. There are no turn-based battles, or experience points though. Most of the game is actually just a straight up platformer. Sequels further fleshed out these ideas so with a remake it could incorporate a lot more of those improved elements.
1 Kid Dracula
At first we thought about putting one of the Castlevania games on here, but then we decided to go a goofier router. Enter Kid Dracula, the spinoff platformer starring, well, the son of Dracula. It’s a super cute and fairly easy platformer that has almost virtually nothing to do with Castlevania. That being said it could easily be turned into a Metroidvania, which would be awesome. That would be like an ultra remake!