30. Survival Kids (GBC)

Best described as a cross between the TV series Lost and The Legend of Zelda, Survival Kids (or Stranded Kids as it was known in Europe) is groundbreaking in how much agency it affords the player; despite looking like your typical cute and cuddly RPG, it allows you to tackle the game at your own pace and in a largely non-linear fashion. Gameplay revolves around tracking various elements such as hunger, thirst, and tiredness, and there's even a crafting system present that enables you to create weapons and tools. Survival Kids is a standout GBC title and got a Japan-only sequel in 2000, and the series would go on to inspire the Lost in Blue franchise on DS and Wii.

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29. Mickey's Racing Adventure (GBC)

A great little licensed racer from none other than Rare, Mickey's Racing Adventure was the Game Boy Color precursor to Mickey's Speedway USA (which also received a less-well-regarded N64 counterpart). This one essentially combined the developer's isometric 8-bit racer R.C. Pro-Am (or more specifically Super R.C. Pro-Am on the Game Boy) with some of Diddy Kong Racing's adventurous spirit and stirred it all up with vintage Disney characters.

Featuring enormous character sprites wandering around a top-down overworld between land and water races, plus a host of puzzles and minigames, this is far more in-depth than your average licensed game. Worth investigating if you get the chance.

28. Harvest Moon 3 (GBC)

Harvest Moon 3 faced a bit of a conundrum. While it may provide some top-notch farming simulation and finally introduced the marriage system to the portable series, this game could have offered so much more. The core mechanics you know and love are present and work well, but the overall package feels like little more than a re-release of the previous Game Boy Color entry.

If you haven't played any of the early portable Harvest Moon games then this is probably the one to get, but don't expect much beyond the basics if you're a veteran of its predecessor(s).

27. Harvest Moon 2 (GBC)

Harvest Moon 2 for the Game Boy Color expands (slightly) on the previous game, although it's not exactly a significant enhancement. With the original SNES game and Harvest Moon 64 both including a relationship system, it's disappointing to go back and see that feature absent here (it wouldn't arrive until the sequel). There are new animals to raise, of course, not to mention an actual village to explore rather than just a menu. Nostalgic farmers look back on this game very fondly indeed — and there's plenty of enjoyment to harvest from its tried-and-true systems — although, inevitably, newer iterations on the template might have spoiled HM2 for modern fans. In its day, though, this was portable farming sim perfection.

26. Warlocked (GBC)

Coming from British company Bits Studios (who had a sizable portable back catalogue, including the excellent R-Type DX), this Real Time Strategy game was published by Nintendo itself in North America — the only territory to get the game. Despite the limitations of the hardware, Warlocked offered an intelligently-designed handheld take on a complicated genre and stands out as an impressive achievement two decades on.

25. R-Type DX (GBC)

Another remarkable GBC port, Bit Studios squeezed both Game Boy ports of R-Type and R-Type II onto one cart with added colour and created a remarkable piece of software — one of the best shmups available on any portable, let alone an underpowered 8-bit console.

Not much else to say, really. It's a real winner and no fan of the series should be without it.

24. Game & Watch Gallery 3 (GBC)

Game & Watch Gallery 3 mostly sticks to the formula of its predecessors, and it does a fine job of offering up some simple handheld gaming classics in a more convenient form, with a large number of games and a good, varied selection to boot. There are a lot of things to unlock for those willing to put the time in, and if you manage to get everything, you can always revisit any of the titles to improve your scores. Definitely worth a look if you're a G&W fan.

23. Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GBC)

As with the first game on Game Boy, Game & Watch Gallery 2 features a collection of several highly addictive score-based games. There's a lot to do, and with both faithful ports and remakes being included in the same package, you're sure to be entertained for a while as you attempt to earn all the stars available. And after that, maybe you can go in for seconds with the super hard difficulties.

22. Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! (GBC)

Would you rather have a hand made out of ham or an armpit that dispenses sun cream? That's just one of the questions not posed by Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! — the title immediately made us think of Richard Herring's emergency interview question, is all. The Hamtaro series, based on the anime, has delighted fans across a number of entries across portable Nintendo systems, and this little game is a diverting, diminutive adventure. Who could resist those cheeks?

Ham-Hands unite!

21. Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (GBC)

Pokémon Puzzle Challenge is a deceptively meaty experience from Intelligent Systems, with plenty of content to keep you occupied for hours at a time, or you can simply dip into it every so often for a few minutes if that’s what you prefer. The Pokémon theme was hardly a necessity, but it gives the Challenge mode a bit more substance, and probably drew in a lot of people that might have otherwise overlooked this brilliant little puzzler.