Editing Game Boy Color (section)

=== Legacy ===
Commentary on the legacy of the Game Boy Color has been shaped by the perception that the handheld was as an incremental and transitional upgrade of the Game Boy rather than a completely new device,<ref name="Fahs 2009">{{Cite web |last=Fahs |first=Travis |date=July 27, 2009 |title=IGN Presents the History of Game Boy |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/07/27/ign-presents-the-history-of-game-boy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528083411/http://retro.ign.com/articles/100/1007864p3.html |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |access-date=August 6, 2022 |website=IGN |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Carroll 2018" /> and had a relatively brief lifespan, being supplanted by the Game Boy Advance after two years, five months on the market.

In a history of Nintendo, author Jeff Ryan noted the Game Boy Color had a reputation as a "legacy machine" that found success mostly due to its backward compatibility, as "few wanted to lose all the ''[[Dr. Mario]]'' and ''[[Pokémon]]'' cartridges they had amassed over the years."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ryan |first=Jeff |title=Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America |date=September 25, 2012 |publisher=Penguin Random House |isbn=978-1-59184-563-8 |pages=208}}</ref> Quoted in ''[[Retro Gamer]]'', [[Blitz Games Studios]] developer Bob Pape acknowledged that although "backwards compatibility more or less defined (the) Game Boy Color", the handheld "ticked all the right boxes with regards to size, battery life, reliability and most importantly backwards compatibility".<ref name="Carroll 2018">{{Cite magazine |last=Carroll |first=Martyn |date=December 2018 |title=Game Boy Color |magazine=[[Retro Gamer]] |pages=50–55 |issue=187}}</ref>

Positive assessments of the legacy of the Game Boy Color have focused on the merits of its game library, particularly for its third-party and import titles. Travis Fahs for ''[[IGN]]'' noted while "the Game Boy Color's life was relatively brief", it "built up a small library of excellent games", including ''[[Wario Land 3]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'', and a "unique" and "previously unheard of" line of successful third-party games, including ''[[Dragon Warrior Monsters]]'', ''[[Metal Gear Solid (2000 video game)|Metal Gear Solid]]'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories]]''.<ref name="Fahs 2009" /> Ashley Day of ''Retro Gamer'' noted that the handheld had an "overlooked" status, stating "the Game Boy Color (has) an unfair reputation as the one Nintendo handheld with few worthwhile titles, but this simply isn't the case...returning to the Game Boy Color now reveals a wealth of great games that you never knew existed, especially those available on import."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Day |first=Ashley |date=May 2006 |title=Game Boy Color |magazine=[[Retro Gamer]] |pages=41–43 |issue=24}}</ref>