Original Post

What is the last Game Boy game to be released that was in a gray cart? (i.e. not made with special features for Game Boy Color.) I’ve tried to find out, but all the lists for the original Game Boy games include the ones that were also released for GBC (i.e. have a black cart.)

13 Replies

Hey man I started digging and the closest I got was Wickapedia. I think i typed “List of games for the original GameBoy” It was the best I could find. Unfortunately there not in order of age BUT there release dates are there. Hope this helps! πŸ˜€ I would have posted a link but im on my cell and didn’t want to steer you wrong by accedent.

Just send an email to NOE or NOA support, I’ve seen the weirdest requests for help answered; i.e. where to find what PokΓ©mon in Yellow lol.

cYa,

Tauwasser

From memory I believe it was Castlevania Legends (March 11, 1998), which came out shortly after Wario Land 2 (March 02, 1998).

Maybe you can dig through 1998 catalogs/magazines that show release dates of the following 1998 games:

All-Star Baseball ’99
Beavis and Butt-Head
Bust-a-Move 3 DX
Disney’s Mulan
Harvest Moon GB
James Bond 007
Oddworld Adventures

VirtualJockey wrote:
From memory I believe it was Castlevania Legends (March 11, 1998), which came out shortly after Wario Land 2 (March 02, 1998).

Maybe you can dig through 1998 catalogs/magazines that show release dates of the following 1998 games:

All-Star Baseball ’99
Beavis and Butt-Head
Bust-a-Move 3 DX
Disney’s Mulan
Harvest Moon GB
James Bond 007
Oddworld Adventures

Ok, I have the conclusion.

Pokemon Yellow was the last non-gameboy color game that was released. It came out on 10/01/1999, however it did have a yellow colored cart plastic. This was the last original GameBoy game.

For gray colored carts, Oddworld Adventures and Rugrats:The Movie were both released 12/01/1998.

In all due respect for the gameboy, please remember that as a fact that the last and final game for Black & White GB was Pokemon Yellow and not rugrats. Pokemon Yellow did have correct colors for Pikachu and the Title screen, but how is that any different than Metroid II that Gameboy color was optimized for despite the game being released in November 1991.

  • This reply was modified 13 years, 3 months ago by VirtualJockey.

They still released games in gray carts even for the GBC, my copy of Link’s Awakening DX oddly enough came in a gray cartridge instead of the usual black. I’ve never seen another like it, then again I haven’t really looked for another gray copy. πŸ˜›

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HonkeyKong wrote:
They still released games in gray carts even for the GBC, my copy of Link’s Awakening DX oddly enough came in a gray cartridge instead of the usual black. I’ve never seen another like it, then again I haven’t really looked for another gray copy. πŸ˜›

that looks like it might be a bootleg fake Gameboy game… sorry to say! πŸ™

It works perfectly, so as long as it keeps working I’m pretty much happy seeing as I only paid $10 for it. Aside from the color is there anything that makes you think that? I can’t imagine why someone would counterfeit links awakening, its not even remotely a rare game. If I were to open it up would there be any sort of indicator you think showing it to be non original?

HonkeyKong wrote:
It works perfectly, so as long as it keeps working I’m pretty much happy seeing as I only paid $10 for it. Aside from the color is there anything that makes you think that? I can’t imagine why someone would counterfeit links awakening, its not even remotely a rare game. If I were to open it up would there be any sort of indicator you think showing it to be non original?

I can’t be 100% sure, but I know that all Link’s Awakening DX carts I’ve seen do not have “Includes New Secret Dungeon!” on the cart (its only on the box they came with) and the “DX” version carts always seem to be black colored, however Wario Land II had both a production run of black and grey carts but the “DX” in Links Awakening DX means its been GBC enhanced from the original therefor it should have a black cart (as most “can play on a original gameboy but has GBC enhancements” carts do) while the normal Links Awakening should have a grey cart

most counterfeit carts say “GAME” on the cart instead of “Nintendo Game Boy” but this one says “Nintendo Game Boy” which might mean (maybe) Nintendo had some sort of cart color mess-up on an early batch of Links Awakening DX, however some counterfeit carts have gotten harder to identify as fakes and have used “Nintendo Game Boy” instead of the reoccurring “GAME”

I’m not sure how you can identify a fake Gameboy (or color) game from the inside but I do know that real Gameboy Advance games have “Nintendo” and a year stamped on the board while counterfeits usually don’t have that

another thing counterfeit games can do is not save due to the cheap batteries they put in that last not as long as the non-counterfeits do (but some non-counterfeits get dead batteries and it causes saving failure, mostly because Gameboy/Gameboy Color games are now older meaning they have older batteries, and Gold, Silver or Crystal Pokemon games are the most commonly known to have dead batteries the most because they used the clock feature that used that battery a lot) but anyways you say the cart works perfectly so I’m guessing there isn’t any save failures

and now as for the label, Links Awakening DX does seem to commonly have either the old white ESRB logo or the black ESRB logo so either one could be correct, I believe this is due to different production runs… however a strange thing on the label is that the “Nintendo” logo is in a different place than the Links Awakening DX carts I have seen

also, as for the “Nintendo seal of quality” its usually not on Links Awakening DX unless if it has the newer black ESRB logo (from what I’m seeing on eBay in comparison to your cart)

ok, I’m finished… *phew!* πŸ˜›

Hahaha thats quite a lot of info. πŸ˜› I could see it having been a factory mistake. I’ve gotten stranger mistakes before. I had a CD by the band Isis titled SGNL>05 that had the disk artwork from a bonus disk that was included in an album by another band on the same label called Neurosis, but it had all the correct music on it. I later decided I wanted the correct disk since they are one of my favorite bands and ordered a new one, it had the same thing amazingly. I contacted the label and they said they had never seen any other examples of this happening to any of their CDs nor have they had another person contact them about it, they then sent me a CD with the correct artwork. Anyway, even if my game does turn out to be a pirate cart it does work perfectly, it saves every time and I’ve gotten through the entire game without encountering a single bug so I’m happy, though if I do discover it is indeed a pirate copy I’m going to plan on tracking down a real one since its one of my favorite games.

gunpeiyokoifan wrote:

HonkeyKong wrote:
They still released games in gray carts even for the GBC, my copy of Link’s Awakening DX oddly enough came in a gray cartridge instead of the usual black. I’ve never seen another like it, then again I haven’t really looked for another gray copy. πŸ˜›

that looks like it might be a bootleg fake Gameboy game… sorry to say! πŸ™

So I decided to open up my copy and compare it to another GBC game and wow! You were totally right. First problem I noticed, the cartidge doesn’t have that slight rattle all GB games have. Second, the screw whole wasn’t the same shape and it was difficult to get my security bit inside the whole. Third, the cartidge didn’t slide open like the two I compared it to and had to be popped open. Once I got it open it was very clear this was made by hand and quite poorly at that. Its a mess inside compared to the mechanical precision on the soldering of the other carts. Not to mention it looks completely different. Makes me a bit sad I traded my original genuine copy of the regular Links Awakening for a Lynx game. :/ Oh well nothing I can do about it now, and on the plus side I now know several ways to spot fake GBC carts. The contacts are a different color, the screw hole isn’t the same, and there is a little box with a number in it on the inside of the cart opening opposite of the contacts that isn’t on the bootleg.

so apparently the thing said about real GBA carts having “Nintendo” printed on the circuit board but fake games lack it is also true for GBC games too!

also, I’m glad I helped you find out its a pirate cart (thankfully Links Awakening DX isn’t that rare so you could get a real one eventually easily)

Yeah I’m glad its such a relatively common game. I see loose copies of it fairly often at a few local stores.

I’m a bit late, but on the plus side you have an actual (probably rare) bootleg version of the cartridge. There’s a niche interest in pirate carts and consoles, so if you hold onto it someone may one day be very happy with it (even though it’s an unmodified game).

 

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