The Best JRPGs Released on the Game Boy Color

The Game Boy Color is often seen as a mid-generation upgrade for the Game Boy, but it’s a distinctive platform with an impressive library all its own. While the Pokémon games were the most popular JRPGs on the handheld, they weren’t the only ones. Here are some of the best JRPGs to play on Game Boy Color.

Pokemon Crystal

You really can’t talk about the best JRPGs on Game Boy Color without mentioning Pokémon. Following up on the success of Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Crystal takes an already great game and adds a bunch of improvements. These include battle animations, new story elements, the option to play as a female trainer, and the thrilling Battle Tower. There’s a large world to explore, tons of Pokémon to collect and train, and plenty of white-knuckled battles to tackle. It’s a truly crowning achievement to cap off the Game Boy era of the Pokémon series.

Dragon Warrior 3

Despite the Dragon Quest series having a spotty localization record during the late 1990s and early 2000s, it saw several games make their way to the West under its former moniker of Dragon Warrior. The Dragon Warrior Monsters games are also great, but this superb port of the third mainline game offers everything you could want in a classic JRPG. In some ways, it’s still the best version of the game officially available in English, though that will likely change soon with the release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.

Lufia: The Legend Returns

The Lufia series hasn’t seen a new entry in a very long time, but it holds a special place in the heart of many JRPG fans. Its first handheld outing, Lufia: The Legend Returns, takes place one hundred years after the events of the original game. Playing as a descendant of the hero Maxim, you’ll face a new threat from the Sinestrals. If the main story isn’t enough for you, the Ancient Cave returns from Lufia II: Rise of the Sinestrals with 200 procedurally-generated levels to explore.

Azure Dreams

A reflection of its time and place, the Game Boy Color installment in Konami’s short-lived Azure Dreams series removes most of the cross-genre aspects of the PlayStation game in favor of a bigger tower to explore and a considerably greater number of monsters to collect. As a result of that, it loses some of the quirkiness of the previous game but in exchange offers a lot more for the player to do. While most of the roguelike elements have been retained, the new battle system is pure turn-based JRPG joy.

Metal Walker

If you’re looking for something a little different in the genre, Capcom’s Metal Walker has you covered. At its heart, it’s following in the footsteps of Pokémon with its collect ’em, evolve ’em, and battle ’em core loop. The mech theme helps it stand out, but what really makes Metal Walker different from other RPGs on the platform is in its then-unique combat system. You point your Metal Walker in the desired direction, set how much power you want to use, and watch it bounce around like a billiard ball. If you’ve ever played Monster Strike, it will be immediately familiar.

Let us know what you think are some of the best JRPGs release on the GameBoy Color below!