The 10 Biggest Selling Nintendo Game Boy Games Of All Time

Now you're playing with portable power...

Arriving in 1989, Nintendo's 8-bit handheld video games console, the Game Boy, quickly outsold its competition, reaching one million units purchased in the United States alone within the first month available! Together, the Game Boy and its successor, the Game Boy Color, have sold an estimated 118 million units worldwide, becomming one of the most recognisable devices from the 1990s and a cultural icon.

The portable gaming device saw a total of 1056 official games released for its system, with more than 50 of them selling over a million copies each. Below we've rounded up the top 10 biggest selling Nintendo Game Boy games of all time. How many of these did you play?

1. Tetris
Bundled with both the original North American and European releases of the Game Boy, whereas players in Japan had to purchase their own copy, Tetris gave the handheld device a flying start as one of the six launch games available. Tetris was also the first game compatible with the Game Link Cable, a pack-in accessory that allows two Game Boys to link together for multiplayer purposes.

A colorised remake of the game was released on the Game Boy Color entitled Tetris DX, which was also backwardly compatible with the original monochrome Game Boy, helped to propel this title to the top of the sales charts once more, meaning Tetris shifted a total of 35 million copies and reigns supreme as the biggest selling Nintendo Game Boy game of all time.

2. Pokémon Red, Green and Blue
The first installments in the Pokemon franchise arrived on February 27th 1996 when Pocket Monsters: Red, Pocket Monsters: Green were released in Japan, with the special edition Pocket Monsters: Blue arriving later that year. The games were later retitled as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in North America and Australia in 1998 and Europe in 1999.

Nintendo clearly realised they were on to a good thing here, multiple releases all using the same engine with variations on character design and availability meant that, in many cases, players purchased multiple copies, playing through a very similar game because they "gotta catch 'em all" to complete their Po0kedex and become the champion of the Indigo League.

The games' releases marked the beginning of what would become a multibillion-dollar franchise that dominates the Game Boy best selling chart and continues to appear highly in all Nintendo devices subsequently. Since 1998 the Pokemon franchise has jointly sold over 300 million copies worldwide, with these three original titles combined selling 31,380,000 copies.

3. Pokémon Gold and Silver
November 21st 1999 saw the first installments in the second generation of the Pokémon video game series arrive in Japan, with Australia and North America getting the titles in 2000, and Europe in 2001.

With 100 new species of Pokemon, the combined sales were 23,100,000 making Gold and Silver the best selling games specifically for the Game Boy Color and third overall in the list of 10 biggest selling Nintendo Game Boy games of all time.

4. Super Mario Land
Along with Pokemon and Tetris, Nintendo's flagship character Mario, and his various spin-off adventures, make up this top 10 list. With gameplay similar to that of the 1985 Super Mario Bros., but resized for the Gae Boy's smaller screen, Super Mario Land sees the player advances Mario to the end of 12 levels by moving to the right and jumping across platforms to avoid enemies and pitfalls.

Unlike other Mario games, Super Mario Land is set in Sarasaland, a new environment depicted in line art, and Mario pursues Princess Daisy (who makes her debut in this game). The game also includes two Gradius-style shooter levels, and became a must-have purchase when released as a launch title with the Game Boy, eventually selling 18,140,000 copies worldwide.

5. Pokémon Yellow
Essentially an enhanced version of Red and Blue, Pokémon Yellow was released in Japan in 1998 and in other regions in 1999 and 2000, with a special edition yellow Pokémon-themed Game Boy Color also released.

The Nintendo Switch games Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! are remakes of Pokémon Yellow and were released worldwide in 2018, the 20th anniversary of Pokémon Yellow's launch and to celebrate its massive 14,640,000 copies sold.

6. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Released in October 1992, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins's gameplay built and expanded on that of its predecessor with innovations carried over from Super Mario World. Receiving critical acclaim the title went on to sell 11,180, 000 copies and features the debut appearance of the character Wario.

7. Pokémon Crystal
As Yellow was for Red and Blue, Pokémon Crystal is once again an enhanced version of Gold and Silver. Arriving roughly a year later than it's originator in each region, the gameplay of Pokémon Crystal is largely the same as in Gold and Silver, although it has several new features. It is the first Pokémon game to allow players to choose the sex of their character, while previously the character was always male, and Pokémon have animated sprites; for example, when a Cyndaquil enters battle, the flames on its back flicker. These small enhancements was enough to help it shift 6,390,000 copies worldwide.

8. Dr. Mario
You would think that back in 1990 when the vast majority of the original Game Boy owners were already estimated to have a copy of Tetris, they perhaps wouldn't want to invest in a similar game even if Mario's name was attached to it. But invest they did, with 5.340,000 copies sold of Dr. Mario

9. Pokémon Pinball
What's that you say? Blatant cash-in? Well yes indeed! Collect 151 different Pokemon on Pokemon themed pinball tables with, natural, a Pokeball instead of the standard silver pinball, 5,310,000 deaf, dumb and blind kids (and everyone else) sure played a mean pinball when this game was released in April 1999.