The handheld market of video games has always been a difficult corner of the industry to monopolize, but Nintendo has been the most successful in this area. Sega & Sony’s handhelds never quite took off as they hoped, but Nintendo’s handhelds have all been very popular and it started with the Game Boy.
The Game Boy marked experimental territory for Nintendo and it became the home for a lot of NES ports. Many people were initially skeptical of the Game Boy’s capabilities, but the humble handheld still features some lengthy and robust titles. This is especially true when it comes to RPGs and there are some real expansive gems on the platform.
10 Great Greed (13 Hours)
Great Greed is a serious anomaly of a video game. It’s an environmentally conscious RPG from Namco exclusive to the Game Boy that sees players prevent the pollution of Biohazard Harry and eventually tackle a corrupt political figure. Its story is ridiculous, but it takes its visual aesthetics and gameplay cues from the Final Fantasy Legend and Dragon Warrior titles. Impressively, Great Greed also features numerous different endings and a lot of interactivity on the user’s part, which contributes a substantial amount to the game’s length for those that want to experience everything.
9 Donkey Kong Land III (13 Hours)
The Donkey Kong Country franchise on the SNES helped solidify the relationship between Nintendo & Rare and it’s considered to be one of the best platformers on the console. The Donkey Kong Land games for the Game Boy try to translate this magic over to a handheld context and even though the games are greatly simplified, they’re still technical successes. Donkey Kong Land III is the series’ swan song and it packs in as much as possible, both in terms of the core game and the amount of hidden content.
8 The Final Fantasy Legend (13 Hours)
Final Fantasy Legend is a real turning point for Nintendo’s Game Boy and it marks a real effort to legitimize the handheld as a home for RPGs. The game even originated the feature of built-in batteries so players could save their progress.
Originally known as SaGa, but changed to Final Fantasy Legend in America to capitalize on the success of Square’s Final Fantasy franchise, the game is a fundamental RPG from the ‘90s. Final Fantasy Legend helped inspire many of the games that have gone on to become modern classics.
7 Donkey Kong Land 2 (15 Hours)
Rare are responsible for some of Nintendo’s best titles from the ‘90s and it’s encouraging to see that they could even show the Game Boy some love. Donkey Kong Country 2 is considered by many to be the apex of the three Super Nintendo platformers and the same is true with the Game Boy’s equivalent series. Donkey Kong Land 2 focuses on Diddy & Dixie and it manages to refine some of the rougher aspects of its predecessor. The more confident game also includes a ton of challenging material that’s guaranteed to challenge even the most seasoned Game Boy users.
6 The Sword Of Hope (15 Hours)
The Sword of Hope tells a story that’s downright Shakespearean. Prince Theo has to rise up against his maniacal & corrupt King father and avenge the death of his mother. The game is a first-person RPG set against a medieval fantasy backdrop and it has a fairly clever approach for its unique boss battles. The Sword of Hope is a title that doesn’t get nearly enough attention outside of Japan and it’s the prime sort of property that would benefit from a modern remake. The Sword of Hope was put on the 3DS’ Virtual Console, but only in Japan.
5 The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (18 Hours)
Link’s Awakening used to be one of the more obscure The Legend of Zelda titles, but thanks to the recent remake on the Switch, there’s been a whole new audience that can experience this unusual Zelda title. Link’s Awakening is the first handheld Zelda game and it’s still one of the best.
It proves how the franchise’s mechanics easily translate over to the Game Boy and this game in particular has such life to its eccentric world and enemies. Players can rush through Link’s Awakening, but there’s a lot in there for those that want to look for secrets.
4 Final Fantasy Legend II (18 Hours)
All of the Final Fantasy Legend titles for the Game Boy are satisfying and lengthy experiences, but it’s the second entry in the saga that’s looked at as the series’ best. The game improves upon the RPG mechanics from Square’s initial game and while the story is somewhat typical, it’s still easy to connect with these characters. Final Fantasy Legend II has eight different characters to experiment with and 77 Magi shards to collect, which promises to be one of the longer Game Boy games.
3 The Sword Of Hope II (25-30 Hours)
The Sword of Hope II is a bigger game than its predecessor, but in this case that’s not necessarily a good thing. The Sword of Hope II embraces dungeon crawler aesthetics, but the repetitive and prolonged nature of its battles draw out what’s already a long title. There’s also a much more generic plot present this time around where a released evil needs to be extinguished and a powerful relic needs to be found. The Sword of Hope II loses the momentum that the original game builds and it’s unfortunate the series didn’t go on to continue on the Super Nintendo.
2 Final Fantasy Legend III (25-30 Hours)
The final entry in the Final Fantasy Legend/SaGa series for the Game Boy is also the longest and most comprehensive of the three titles. Final Fantasy Legend III really shows what can be accomplished on the Game Boy’s hardware and the story features the biggest scope yet with an adventure that covers the past, present, and future. The SaGa series would migrate over to the Super Nintendo, but Final Fantasy Legend III is still an achievement and proof that the Game Boy can handle lengthier RPGs.
1 Pokémon Red & Blue (100+ Hours)
The Pokémon series is still going strong and it’s finally properly migrated over from Nintendo’s handheld systems over to home consoles. The original Pokémon games helped seriously popularize the Game Boy and it’s not just one of the most successful titles for the platform, but it also features some of the most content. The main game and the extent of the challenges that are featured will run players around 45-50 hours, but for the completionists out there that strive to catch them all, it’s very easy to invest at least 100 hours into the RPG.
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