Remember, several of these Game Boy titles are now playable on Switch with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. You can check out the full list here:

Friday 21st April 1989 — the day that the Game Boy launched in Japan. 35 years ago the video gaming landscape would be forever changed as Nintendo opened up the new frontier of portable gaming to the masses. The company’s Game & Watch line let you take limited gaming experiences on the go, but the Game Boy was a different beast entirely.

The 8-bit machine with the 160x144 pixel LCD screen might have been modest in the specs department, but it was just powerful enough to offer deep gaming experiences, with the best examples rivalling those on home consoles. More importantly, its limitations proved to be strengths in the long run; that blurry monochrome screen used significantly less power than a backlit colour equivalent, and therefore gave the portable decent battery life – an essential factor to consider when your handheld relies on AA batteries to function away from a wall socket.

Gunpei Yokoi’s design philosophy – using proven, inexpensive components in new and interesting ways – continued through Nintendo's handheld line

Primarily the work of Satoru Okada and Gunpei Yokoi, the console was designed to a specific price point and goal; to be a practical, portable device. Rival companies got carried away with the technical possibilities and contemporary handheld consoles with far superior specs fell by the wayside as Game Boy marched on. Gunpei Yokoi’s design philosophy – using proven, inexpensive components in new and interesting ways – continued through Nintendo's handheld line and carried over to its home consoles with Wii. The Switch itself, and novel experiments such as Labo VR, show that this approach continues to keep the Kyoto company in rude health.

Of course, it’s software which makes or breaks any console and the humble Game Boy could never have endured so long without its catalogue of incredible games. Obviously, it had the archetypal killer app in Tetris, and many still insist it’s the finest version of Alexey Pajitnov's puzzler. The story of its convoluted journey to the console, which has been adapted into movie form (although we much prefer the BBC documentary Tetris: From Russia With Love) is well worth investigating – a thrilling combination of guile, subterfuge, and blind luck that went on to shape Nintendo and the video game industry at large.

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Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

Any company would be overjoyed to have a game with half the appeal of Tetris on its books, but after seven years – when you’d expect the console to be winding down – the Game Boy got the biggest second wind in video game history with the 1996 Japanese release of Pokémon Red & Green. A smaller, lighter revision of the hardware, the Game Boy Pocket, also arrived that year, and the console’s true successor – the Game Boy Color – would launch worldwide two years later alongside the western release of Pokémon. Although this marked a transition away from the OG hardware, the Game Boy line continued to enjoy almost 100% backwards compatibility up until the Micro variant of the Game Boy Advance in 2005.

While Tetris and Pokémon were the system sellers, there’s a vast library of games released for the system

While Tetris and Pokémon were the system sellers, there’s a vast library of games released for the system. The following list showcases the very best titles. You’re sure to find lots of ‘lands’ here — someone at Nintendo HQ decreed that the diminutive handheld simply couldn’t contain massive ‘worlds’, so Super Mario Land ushered in an era of ‘Land’ games from the likes of Kirby, Donkey Kong, and Wario.

As with our list of the 50 best Switch games and other Nintendo console Top 50 lists, the ranking here is governed by the game’s user rating on this very site. Logged-in users can interact and rate the titles directly on these pages by hovering over the rating, or alternatively from each game's page. To be clear, the games listed here are for the original Game Boy only — there are no backwards compatible 'black cart' Game Boy Color games included (unless they happened to also receive a separate release for the original). If it says 'Game Boy Color' on the box, you won't find it below!

Can't see your favourite on the list? Use the handy search bar below to find Game Boy games and input your own ratings. Already rated your collection? Let’s dive in…

Note. In order for games to become eligible, they need a minimum of 30 User Ratings in total.

50. Balloon Kid (GB)

Sequel to the NES game Balloon Fight, Balloon Kid isn't without its charms, but those charms are undeniably superficial: the graphics are nice and the music is fun, and the nods to Balloon Fight are all worth a smile, but there’s not a huge amount of depth. That said, it nails the mechanics of the original game and expands on its endlessly replayable Balloon Trip mode, making it ideally suited as a portable experience.

49. Tennis (GB)

Between the NES and Game Boy versions of Tennis, this is the one people usually remember, and for good reason: it's a lot more enjoyable simply due to its presentation. As with the similarly bluntly-named Golf, it's a basic game but extremely solid in those basics. It's got impressive controls and physics for such a small title, and while there's not really that much to do, you're getting an enjoyable, fun little game which will keep you entertained for a set or so. Perfect for a short trip, although we'd recommend Camelot's Mario Tennis on GBC if you're after something with more strings on its racket.

48. Contra: The Alien Wars (GB)

A Game Boy version of the SNES original, this was developed by Factor 5, the studio behind the Super Turrican games on the Super Nintendo and the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series. The levels and overall structure were altered and a password system was added but it still manages to deliver a serviceable game of Contra on a system with the processing power of a modern day toaster.

47. Battletoads (GB)

A totally bespoke portable outing for Rare's crew of not-Turtles, Battletoads does a decent job of translating the NES brawler's gameplay to the 'Boy. With just Zitz to control, the already-repetitive beat-'em-up loop is magnified on the handheld, but the shmup sections help break things up and David Wise's music is as reliably excellent as ever.

Not one to rival Rare's best output, but a solid little game.

46. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (GB)

This is a well-presented title with great music, sound effects and visuals that combine to capture the look of the show well. Gameplay is what matters, though, and this features varied levels and an assortment of different enemies that should provide a fun time even if you are not a fan of the Ninja Turtles (or this particular incarnation). The lack of adjustable difficulty is unfortunate, but otherwise Fall of the Foot Clan is an enjoyable gaming experience.

45. James Bond 007 (GB)

There are a few problems such as invisible barriers blocking bullets, and visually it's not the most ambitious Game Boy game, but the simple look works well, as does the music in this 8-bit take on ol' JB. James Bond 007 is an exciting, fun little game that provides plenty of pocket-sized entertainment.

We're also suckers for its classic gun barrel, blood-soaked cover. Diwww-di-di-diw diwwwww diw-diw-diw...

44. Pinball: Revenge of the 'Gator (GB)

Published by Nintendo in Europe, HAL Laboratory's Pinball: Revenge of the 'Gator may lack the refinements showcased by modern pinball games, but that doesn't mean it should be ignored. Splitting the table across four separate screens, the titular 'gator waits at the bottom of the table to devour any balls that drop. Ahem.

The simple nature of the tables means you can give high-score chasing your full, undivided attention without being waylaid by distractions, and the ball physics in this '89 Game Boy title are respectable enough to ensure you don't lose any games through anything but your own fault. HAL's effort may have been improved upon over time, but Revenge of the Gator is still an appealing and addictive pinball outing.

43. Motocross Maniacs (GB)

A side-on motocross platforming game from Konami, Motocross Maniacs blends classic Excitebike-style controls with tricky courses to negotiate that position it as a precursor to Ubisoft’s Trials games. The simple but addictive gameplay suits the handheld very well, although it’s a shame that the cartridge’s lack of onboard memory means your best times are lost every time you switch the console off. Still, this is a very fun way to pass an hour or two.

42. Tetris 2 (GB)

This time it’s personal. A sequel to the system-selling puzzler was an absolute given, of course, and looking back on Tetris 2 all these years later, it’s admirable just how much of a departure it was from the original classic. Named Tetris Flash in Japan, it takes the basic falling-blocks gameplay but adds in a match-three element with irregularly-shaped tetrominoes. It’s jarring at first if disappearing horizontal lines are burnt into your brain, but give it time and you’ll find a surprisingly addictive little puzzle game in its own right.

41. Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (GB)

Wario Blast is a Bomberman crossover that sees the our favourite antihero dropped into the world of Hudson Soft’s brilliant top-down bomber. Released in Japan as Bomberman GB, you get the classic maze combat of Hudson’s game with a dusting of Nintendo’s IP and Wario’s dastardly antics. Sounds good, no? Yes, it is.