Top 8 Forgotten But Great Game Boy RPGs
RPGs are always a favorite among gamers, and the old Game Boy has a lot of great RPGs that people have forgotten about.
Because of Tetris, the Game Boy was a hit right away. It was the perfect portable game because it was a puzzle and could be played over and over again. RPGs and puzzle games both work well on small devices.
They can watch a movie or do something else to break up the monotony of beating levels. For the first few years, the Game Boy didn’t have much in the way of RPGs. The Pokemon games, which didn’t come to the West until 1998, were the most popular RPG series for the mobile. So, what did people play before these big games came along?
Dragon Warrior 1 & 2
Dragon Warrior 1 & 2 is a set of remakes of the NES games for the Game Boy Color. This was done before in Japan, but only on the SNES, which had better graphics. This collection takes those SNES ideas and reworks them, as well as adding new ones.
The third game was also made over for the GBC after being made over for the SNES first. At this time, the Dragon Quest series was still known in the West as Dragon Warrior. Through Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King, it would stay under that name until 2005.
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
Like its predecessor, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets got a number of platform games for consoles. But the game for the Game Boy Color was more interesting. Harry moved around the world from above and solved problems in a way that was similar to The Legend of Zelda games.
Combat, on the other hand, was done by taking turns. This would happen again with the Game Boy Advance version of Funny Shooter 2. Even the biggest fans don’t know that RPGs existed before Hogwarts Legacy.
The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls
The game The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls, or Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, is only available in Japan, but it is an important part of the past of the Game Boy. It was made by Nintendo, which makes it one of the few games that Nintendo made themselves that never left Japan.
Fans have done a great job of translating it into English, thanks to fan patches. It’s not impossible that this RPG with Zelda-like elements will get an official port or remake one day. If it happened to Famicom Detective Club, it can happen to The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls.
Lufia: The Legend Returns
Even though there were many titles to the RPG series Lufia, it never got the attention it deserved. The RPG started with Lufia and the Fortress of Doom on the SNES in 1993. In 1996, a prequel came out.
Then everything went back to normal until Lufia: The Legend Returns came out for the GBC in 2001. It’s a pretty typical turn-based RPG with a story about saving the world and other such things. It’s not a new idea, but the game’s music and bright design make it stand out from other GBC games at the time.
Metal Walker
Metal Walker was a GBC role-playing game (RPG) from Capcom that no one ever played. That is, until it was added to the Game Boy library of the Nintendo Switch. Even though it’s now freely available to all online subscribers, it still fits the spirit of this list because not even the port caused a fuss.
In turn-based battles, players handle a robot in the shape of a ball, which is different for an RPG. Players can choose where it goes, and like in a pinball game, it will bounce off of other players and walls.
Pokemon Trading Card Game
Like it said in the beginning, the most popular RPGs for the Game Boy were the core games like Pokemon Red. The digital version of the Pokemon Trading Card Game on Game Boy didn’t have many players, but it should have. To play, you have to go to different gyms and get badges, which you can then use to fight a series of competition fighters.
It’s the same as the main games, but you can’t catch Pokemon or go exploring. It did get a follow-up on the GBC called Pokemon Card GB2: Great Rocket-Dan Sanjo, but it never left Japan. Since then, fans have made an English patch for it, though.
Revelations: The Demon Slayer
Revelations: The Demon Slayer is the first game in the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series The Last Bible. The original was on the Game Boy, and this was a GBC version of it.
There are a total of six games, but this is the only one that was ever released in the West. If you’ve played Shin Megami Tensei or Persona games before, you should feel right at home with this one. Explore a world, fight demons, hire demons, and then try to stop gods from ruining the world.
Super Robot Taisen
This list is already full of games that are only available in Japan, so this game is a great way to end it. It needs to be brought to people’s attention because it is the first of its kind. Super Robot Taisen is a series of tactical RPGs that mix game and cartoon series like Gundam.
Most of these games, including this one, have been kept secret in Japan, but lately, newer games like Super Robot Wars 30 have been coming to PC. Fans of both anime and tactical RPGs should check out that game. Unofficially, they should also look for a version of Super Robot Taisen that has been fixed by fans.
