RetroGaming

Warlocked for GBC - it was ambitious as hell, and has some quality scenario ideas.

Vegas Stakes - simple casino games, perfect time-killer for the format.

Wendy Every Witch Way - concept of reversing gravity has been used in other platformers since, but this might be the OG, and is very solid.

James Bond 007 was one of my favorite Gameboy games.

I spent countless hours as a 4 year old trying to solve the puzzles and got through it by sheer determination.

I can still probably remember every path in the desert mission.

https://youtu.be/z7VzLtnm2G4?si=jooUp5cOUnbAP9AS

I had an Itchy and Scratchy game (from the Simpsons). It was a mini golf game that was a lot of fun.

Radar Mission. I can hear the music in my head from both game types whenever I think about it, right down to the music when the carrier launches the fighter. I enjoyed both game types a lot, though I remember getting frustrated as a kid until I learned the nuances of the opponents.

A whole back when I got a Miyoo Mini, I went looking for original GB games that I missed. I found Cave Noire and it quickly became my favorite ways to kill time. It's simple (but not easy), being a Roguelike offers some variety, and it's just fun.

Dragon Warrior Monsters.

I think I'm the only person who's beaten the Monster Master fight enough times to know there's a bug in it where he eventually gets strong enough that you get one shotted by him even if you're cheating and using a Gameshark to keep your health in the 1024 hp range...

Boomer's Adventure in ASMIK World

Gameplay

Review & Explanation

I never figured out why they gave the world such a weird name, or didn't just call it Boomer's Adventure

I didn’t have a Gameboy, but I did have an Atari Lynx and I would say for Atari it was Batman in color.

Falling sand games, specter supreme, escape velocity, gyromite.

Probably doesn't hold up anymore, but no one really talks about "Kingdom ~~Conquest~~ Crusade". It's like a really tight minimalist version of the combined live action melee and big battle strategy of the Dynasty Warriors series - compressed to fit on a classic Gameboy.

Great Greed!!!

Lighthearted RPG with a really neat combat system, funny writing, and food puns everywhere! So awesome and I never see anyone talk about it.

Shout out to Hungry Goriya for her excellent review on this gem.

Pac in Time was a great game, came bundle with my red original Game Boy. Turok 1 and 2 for Gameboy were loads of fun too

You know what was great and gets no love? Q*Bert for GameBoy was a really solid game that had a LOT of stage variety and even silly cutscenes. Literally the only thing it was missing was color. Highly recommend.

Quest for Camelot was a banger. I think it's in NSO actually. The sword swing sound effect is burned into my DNA.

Donkey Kong (1994) - not really rare or obscure, but definitely not talked about enough.
It starts out like regular donkey kong but then it goes somewhat differently.
The colorization is only complete with SuperGameboy so it might be tricky to play that way but there is a colorization hack being worked on.

My favorite GBA game is The Urbz: Sims in the City. The console version of the game wasn't received very positively, but the GBA/DS version is a completely separate game, and a very good one. It's a very goofy game with a lot of stupid (read: amazing) jokes, RPG elements, mini games, some of the best music in any GBA game and a lot more. I still revisit this game once in a while.

I even played the predecessor "Sims bustin out" for the GBA a few years ago. Urbz is way more refined than bustin out, but if you liked Urbz and you want more, Bustin Out is a great way to scratch that itch.

Ambitiousamphibian did a great video on this game a few months ago. He seems to feel exactly the same about this game as I do. Because of that, I will link it, but be aware that it contains a lot of spoilers and going blind into the game is the best way to play IMO.

Konami's Motocross Maniacs

Pinball Tycoon was one of my favorites. great music, solid no-nomsense pinball gameplay. it even had a multi-player mode! never seen another soul talk about it.