Game Boy Color

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Template:CVG system Image:Gameboy color collage.PNG Image:2809-vg gameboy color.jpg.jpg The Game Boy Color (also referred to as GBC) is Nintendo's successor to the Game Boy and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan and in November of 1998 in the United States. It features a color screen and is slightly larger than the Game Boy Pocket, though smaller than the original Game Boy.

1 History
2 Specifications
3 Cartridges
4 Color palette
5 Trivia
6 Screenshots
7 See also

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History

The Game Boy Color was a response to pressure from game developers for a new system, as they felt that the Game Boy, even in its latest incarnation, the Game Boy Pocket, was insufficient. The resultant product was backward compatible, a first for a handheld console system, and leveraged the large library of games and great installed base of the predecessor system. This became a major feature of the Game Boy line, since it allowed each new launch to begin with a significantly larger library than any of its competitors.

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Specifications

The processor, which is a Zilog Z80, has a clock speed twice as fast as that of the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also has three times as much memory as the original.

The Game Boy Color also featured an infrared communications port for wireless linking. However, the feature was only supported in a few games, and the infrared port was dropped for the Game Boy Advance and later releases. It should be noted that the infrared port is the likely precursor to the inclusion of 802.11b in the Nintendo DS.

The console was capable of showing up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its palette of 32,768, and could add basic four-color shading to games that had been developed for the original Game Boy. It could also give the sprites and backgrounds separate colors, for a total of more than four colors. However, this resulted in graphic artifacts in certain games; a sprite that was supposed to meld into the background was now colored separately, exposing the trick. One such trick occured in the Pokemon Red and Blue games. Players were supposed to navigate through Koga's gym by feeling around invisible walls and encountering rival trainers in the gym. On the Game Boy Color (and on the Super Game Boy), these walls could be seen clearly as dots.

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Cartridges

Game Boy Color games came in a clear plastic cartridge with a raised bump. Nintendo also made black cartridges that were compatible with the Game Boy Color and the older Super Game Boy and original Game Boy. The black color distinguished these special cartidges with the gray Game Boy carts and the transparent Game Boy Color carts. A Game Boy Color palette is built-in, making it impossible to change the palette like with old Game Boy games.

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Color palette

When inserting an original Game Boy cartridge into the Game Boy Color, the user could choose which color set to use for the game. During the Game Boy logo, the user could change the color by holding either the A or B button and a direction. It was also possible to choose a black and white color scheme that preserved the original look of the game.

The palettes for original GB games played on a later system are as follows (This applies for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, and Game Boy Player):

Up: Brown
Up + A: Red
Up + B: Dark Brown
Down: Pastel Mix
Down + A: Orange
Down + B: Yellow
Left: Blue
Left + A: Dark Blue
Left + B: Gray (i.e. preserves the original look)
Right: Green
Right + A: Dark Green
Right + B: Reverse

In addition, most Nintendo-published GB games have a special default palette, accessible by not pressing any buttons. Any game which does not have a special default palette will default to the Right + A (Dark Green) pallette instead.

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Trivia

The Game Boy Horror used in Luigi's Mansion is modeled after the transparent Game Boy Color.
The last Game Boy Color games released were Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (November 2002) in the United States; and Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite (January 2003) in Europe.
The last Game Boy Color game released in the United States that was also compatible with the Game Boy and Super Game Boy was Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 (September 2001). This gave the original Game Boy (1989-2001) one of the longest continuous lifespans of any console, only bested by the Atari 2600 (1977-1990) and the Neo-Geo (1990-2004).