The Rarest Game Boy Games (& How Much They’re Worth)

The Game Boy wasn’t the first handheld gaming machine, but it was one of the most successful ones on its 1989 release. Combined with its successors, the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, they would go on to sell more than 100 million units. It couldn’t quite contain the NES’ tech, but it managed to run 8-bit games with buttons and a D-Pad based on the NES’ joypad.

The console was discontinued in 2003 but remains a firm favorite for collectors of retro gaming consoles, as it was an important part of console history in popularizing handhelds. Between that and being many players’ first machine, the Game Boy’s games have become pretty collectible. However, since the console came out 35 years ago, many of them have become pretty rare.

Updated November 15, 2024, by David Heath: Given it was one of the most successful handhelds in history, it’s little wonder there’s a thriving collecting scene for the Nintendo Game Boy. It outlasted its higher-rated rivals by having a richer game library, and being more cost-effective by making 4 AA batteries last 20+ hours instead of 6. Even when it was succeeded by the Game Boy Color, it had a mid-1990s revival thanks to new accessories like the Game Boy Camera, Printer, and the phenomenon that is Pokemon.

But buying Pokemon Red, Blue or Green is child’s play, as are its other classics like Super Mario Land, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Tetris. This handheld console had a whole host of cult classics, rarities, and weird standouts that are worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars. So, this list has received a few more highly-prized cartridges for the gray block of wonders, alongside updated prices for all the old entries.

All prices were taken from
PriceCharting.com
and were accurate at the time of publication.

19 Ninja Boy 2 (PAL)

A Space Adventure at Space-Age Prices

Culture Brain’s Chinese Hero series had a bit of an identity crisis on its journey to the west. The original arcade/NES game Chinese Hero retained its Chinese themes as Kung Fu Heroes. But it took them 5 years to make the sequel, Super Chinese 2, which became Little Ninja Brothers in the West. The action-RPG’s other Western follow-ups also stuck to the ninja theme with Ninja Boy and Ninja Boy 2 on the Game Boy.

The former can be found for relatively reasonable prices, given it was a cult classic even back on its 1990 release. But the latter, which sees heroes Ryu and Jack fight aliens in space, went for an eye-watering $1,100 CIB and $2,530. That is, until September when both crashed down to $155 CIB and $357 new. It may rise again, but until that happens, the only purse-stretching version of the game is the PAL port, costing $286 CIB and $685 new.

18 NIV Bible and The 20 Lost Levels of Joshua

It’ll Take a Miracle to Afford

Nintendo’s ethos behind the Game Boy was “lateral thinking with withered technology,” and it certainly showed. It had monochrome graphics with a grim, babyfood-green screen that needed bright light at the right angle to see anything. Even then, the action could become a blurry mess if it got too hectic. Yet some developers thought it would be a great platform to release books on, like Wisdom Tree with their infamous, unlicensed religious games.

They released the King James Bible for the device, but the NIV Bible and the 20 Lost Levels of Joshua threw in a simple (if janky) platformer on top of the Bible’s tiny text. It’s worth more today as a collector’s item. New copies recently spiked up to their peak at $1,735, and CIB copies are nearly a grand cheaper at $754.

17 Mega Man 4

A Different Beast from the NES Game

People would think Mega Man 4 on the Game Boy was just a squeezed-down version of the NES game. But the Game Boy Mega Man games actually followed their own storyline, as GB MM4 doesn’t involve the NES game’s big bad Dr Cossack. Instead, Mega Man has to fight off Dr Wily, a new foe called Ballade, and a mix of Robot Masters from MM4 and MM5. Gameplaywise, it manages to capture the jump-and-shoot appeal of the NES game, despite the Game Boy’s blurry screen and tinny sound.

The Loose and CIB prices have gradually doubled in price over the past decade, though they’ve actually gone down by a few tens or so in the past few years. However, getting it new used to be a pipe dream as sealed copies were going for nearly $10,000 in the middle of 2022. It’s gradually stepped down since, though there’s a chance it could spike again. PAL copies used to be a little cheaper, but they’re now more on less on par with the NA editions, with CIB copies being $80 more expensive.

16 Fish Dude

Relive the 90s With a Fish With Attitude

People might think Fish Dude was another animal mascot from the early 90s hopping on Sonic the Hedgehog‘s bandwagon. However, SOFEL’s game actually predates the Blue Blur, turning up in Japan in October 1990, then in America the following April. It’s also not a platformer. Instead, it plays more like a survival sim as players move their fish around the sea to scoff smaller fish while avoiding getting gulped by bigger ones.

Players could even leap out of the water briefly to avoid becoming another fish’s dinner, while risking becoming a bird’s supper in the process. It’s a strange game with strange enemies, and might intrigue some people into giving it a go. Though whether their curiosity is worth $81 for a loose cartridge, and 10 times that price for a complete box, is another matter. They might want to try before they buy by using an emulator beforehand.

15 The Flintstones: King Rock Treasure Island

Stone Cold Prices

Between the 1994 live-action movie and Cartoon Network’s reliance on classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons at the time, The Flintstones had a resurgence in the 1990s. It also meant they got a lot of tie-in games, though few of them have stood the test of time. But collectors have been keeping a keen eye on The Flintstones: King Rock Treasure Island over the years.

Released in 1993 by Taito, it was a simple platformer where Fred Flintstone found a treasure map and went through 7 levels to find where it leads to. It’s not too purse-straining to find a loose cartridge, but finding it complete in box (CIB) or brand new has gotten increasingly rare. At its peak in 2013, new packs cost collectors $5,000. It quickly calmed down, but CIB and New prices have been climbing since 2022. If people really want their hands on an affordable cartridge, its PAL version is available for $27.41 loose.

14 Knight Quest

An RPG That Tests the Game Boy’s Battery Power

The Game Boy may have had the best battery life among the early handhelds, but those 4 AAs could only handle an RPG like Knight Quest for so long. That’s putting aside its tiny, blurry screen, which made reading stats and dialogue a task in itself. For an extra ill portent, the game was made by Lenar, the same people behind the infamous NES action RPG Deadly Towers. Luckily, it’s way better than that rough entry, though it’s not exactly on par with games like Pokemon or Final Fantasy Legend.

It’s also gotten more expensive over time, with the occasional dip here and there. Loose cartridges were going for $315 back in mid-2022, before going as low as $77 in 2023. New copies went for a relatively more manageable $500 in the summer of 2023, then doubled in price in July 2024, before doubling again in September of the same year. CIB copies are more stable by comparison, in that they’ve only risen in price since the start of the year. Just being able to afford this game is a quest in itself.

13 Battletoads & Double Dragon

Beating Up The Bank Account

Rare’s hard-as-nails amphibian-based brawler met the Lee Brothers to form Battletoads & Double Dragon, where they had to team up to stop the Dark Queen and the Shadow Boss. The game was released on the Sega Genesis and Nintendo’s consoles to fair acclaim, though its difficult gameplay and wacky animations were definitely more like Battletoads and less like Double Dragon. The Game Boy was the weakest of the ports thanks to its tiny screen blurring the hectic action, and the rough sound quality.

This made it rarer than its bigger ports, and thus more valuable to collectors. Picking it up loose is no problem for people who just want to play the game on real hardware. But if they want it boxed, they’re going to have to cough up nearly $1,000, then double that with change to just over $2,000 for new copies. In the 2010s, CIB and New copies were barely going for more than $200-300, but they began spiking up to their current prices from late 2021 onward. If anyone invested in either version of the game in the past, they can get a lot if they can find a buyer now.

12 Metal Masters

Rise of the Pricetags

Metal Masters actually began life on the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and IBM PCs, where it predated Virtua Fighter 4 and Tekken 5 in letting players customize their character. By using credits earned from beating up opponents, they could get new parts for their body, arms and legs to increase their strength. Unfortunately, their computer opponents can do the same, including the evil Baron Harkan, who plans on building his Super Robot to conquer the Metal Master tournaments and the world.

It received a Game Boy port in 1993, which had limited distribution, and made finding a copy of it all the more challenging for collectors both back in the 90s. Even Limited Run’s re-release of the cartridges couldn’t make a dent in its prices. New copies did dip from $1,721 in late 2021 to $621 in 2022, but they made an astronomical rise throughout 2023-2024 to $2,875. CIB copies weren’t any better, as they’ve nearly increased tenfold from $152 in 2023 to $1,250 now.

11 Mega Man 5

Vulnerable to Price Spikes

Mega Man 4 on the Game Boy combined elements from the NES versions of MM4 and MM5 to tell an original story. Its sequel, Mega Man 5, had an original story with new foes. Mega Man took on Terra the Stardroids, a bunch of formidable bosses named after planets that use special attacks themed after their namesakes. While it and the other GB MM games were decent games, they paled next to the NES games, and have rarely been re-released. The closest they got were digital releases on the now-defunct Nintendo 3DS E-shop.

The Loose and CIB prices have largely stayed the same over the years, stable enough for keen Mega-fans to save up their pennies. But if anyone was hoping to buy a new copy, they’re in for some bad luck. They went from being worth $2,200 to nearly triple the price at $6,100 over the course of one month, and it’s now nearly $7,000. There’s a chance it might die back down to $2,000 or so, but either way, collectors in need of a new GB MM5 will have to go back to saving their pennies.

10 Sumo Fighter

Hundred Hand Slap, Thousand Dollar Value

There aren’t a lot of games featuring sumo wrestlers. Even in fighting games, they tend to be thin on the ground. Nonetheless, developers KID gave making an adventure game based around the giant grapplers a shot in 1991’s Sumo Fighter, where players helped Bontaro throw, slap, palm-thrust, and use other Sumo wrestling-inspired moves to defeat foes, avoid traps and hazards, and save his friend Kayo.

In Japan, the game is cheap as chips, going for $213 new and $22 loose. But it was lucky enough to get a rare Western release in 1993, where sumo wrestling is less common, and thus it didn’t sell very well. Players who did get it back in the day will be glad they did, as it’s worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars now. Not even loose copies can be picked up cheaply nowadays, netting sellers a tidy $275. It might be one of the most valuable English ports of a Japanese game around.

9 Killer Instinct Not for Resale Demo

When Less Game is Worth More Money

Rare’s Mortal Kombat clone Killer Instinct carved its own niche thanks to its (c-c-c-)combo-heavy gameplay, very 90s character designs, and fatalities that had a sense of humor to them (Chief Thunder turns Sabrewulf into a can of dog food with one uppercut). It was meant to be a flagship title for the Nintendo Ultra 64, but its delay meant the console lost its ‘Ultra’ title, and KI had to get ported to the SNES instead. If it wasn’t cut down enough for players, the Game Boy port was even more squished down.

Even so, a copy of the Killer Instinct Not for Resale Demo managed to go for $1,528 at a sale in January 2024. The seller hadn’t even tested it and couldn’t confirm if it would work or not. But these old retail demos for the old Game Boy Kiosks can be tricky to find at the best of times. The KI one was one of the rarest, only making sparing appearances years prior. So, even if the cartridge ended up being a dud, it would still be worth a small fortune as a genuine dud.

8 Toxic Crusaders

Toxic to Credit Balances

If only they still made kids’ cartoons based on R-rated movies. Rambo, Robocop, and the Killer Tomatoes, among others, all got animated for the Saturday morning schedules. Even Troma Entertainment got in on the action where their cult classic flick, The Toxic Avenger, got turned into Toxic Crusaders, where Toxie made friends and helped clean Tromaville of polluting bad guys instead of killing them horribly. It was popular enough to get a side-scrolling beat ’em up for the Game Boy, the Sega Genesis, and the NES in 1992.

But while the show managed to go overseas, the games didn’t. Which might be why they’re pricey to track down today. The Genesis edition is the cheapest, costing just $73.30 for CIB copies, while the NES port is $379.41. However, being the least popular of an already region-exclusive run of games, the Game Boy release is $1,700 CIB, and nearly $4,000 for sealed copies. That could fund the next Troma movie, let alone buy its games.

7 Hammerin’ Harry (PAL)

There’s No Hammering Down These Prices

Who needs a superhero when they can get a carpenter? The original Hammerin’ Harry saw the titular star keep corrupt construction companies from tearing down his hometown with his hammer. It reached the arcades, and popped up on the Famicom and the NES, albeit only in Japan and Europe. The same went for its Game Boy-exclusive sequel, where Harry now clobbers ghosts, ghouls, and other spooky creatures.

This version gave Harry a life meter instead of having him die in one hit, though he moves slower than he does in the NES game. Fans of old-school platformers might want to check it out, if they have a spare $670 for a loose cartridge, or $1,885 for a CIB copy. It’s that or emulation, as the Hammerin’ Harry Concrete Collection sticks to the console games rather than its handheld spin-offs.

6 Avenging Spirit (PAL)

Back from the Dead

Avenging Spirit is like an arcade-based predecessor to Ghost Trick, or a supernatural gangster-themed take on Paradroid. After being shot to death, the player’s character must avenge his fate and save his girlfriend by attacking foes, or possessing them directly from one of four playable characters. It was a curious but original game that earned admirers, though not enough to make the Game Boy port a must-have title. For years, it was one of the most prized games for collectors, as demand was high, but supplies were low.

It’s still hard to find CIB, though the price has gone down to $519. The real kicker goes to the PAL port, which demands over $2,050 for a CIB copy, and new copies go for $4,720, just under 4 times the price of NTSC new copies at $1,194. The only upside for Europeans and other people in PAL territories is that their loose copies are cheaper, costing $70 less than the NTSC’s $169.60 price tag.

5 Beethoven (PAL)

Beethoven to Kids, Cujo to Bank Balances

Remember Beethoven? The cuddly St. Bernard, not the composer. Funny dog movies used to be big deals. Now only the Air Bud flicks keep this odd subgenre alive. They were enough to get their own tie-in games, including Beethoven for the Game Boy. Based on the movie Beethoven’s 2nd, players jumped, barked, and shook water off on foes in order to recover each of his and Missy’s puppies. It’s enough to warm any dog lover’s heart.

The price is anything but standard though, as it’s a tricky game to track down. Loose cartridges require at least $320, while getting one in its cheap cardboard box goes for as much as $2,120. It’s easier to get its SNES equivalents. Loose NA copies only go for $9.99, while PAL ones go for $49.94. Though if anyone still had their copy from back in the day, or has a factory-sealed one, they could earn themselves a decent amount of cash from this rare but unremarkable pooch-based platformer.

4 Kid Dracula

Chibi Vampire, Big Prices

Made as a sequel to the Famicom game of the same name, Kid Dracula was the West’s only exposure to Konami’s chibified spin-off to the Castlevania series. It played a lot like a classic Castlevania game too, albeit for a younger audience. Players fought cutesy takes on horror monsters with attacks and magic spells to stop the evil Galamoth, with only Death by his side to help, who gives Kid Dracula tips and heirlooms from his dear dad Dracula.

It’s only a touch easier to find loose than, say, GB MM5 or Sumo Fighter. But if players want the complete set, they’ll have to cough up nearly $2,260. New copies were only a few hundred dollars more expensive at $2,040 in late 2022, until they spiked in 2023. At its peak, new copies were worth $5,211, and are slowly climbing back to that mountaintop at $5,195. Sellers may want to find a buyer soon if they want to make a hefty profit.

3 Spud’s Adventure

A Very Hot Potato

Made by Atlus, the company behind the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei franchises, Spud’s Adventure seems like it has more in common with Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. It doesn’t help that its damsel in distress is a similarly named and themed character called Princess Mato. Spud has to save her from Devi in an action RPG adventure that, despite its cutesy theme, has some dramatic turns. Super Mario it ain’t.

It’s also never been cheap. The game entered 3-figures for loose copies way back in 2013 and is currently at its peak at $699.99. CIB copies dropped by nearly half its 2015 price from $4,000 to $2,350, and are slowly climbing in value. But those new copies are still worth thousands, only dropping a touch from $6,016 in 2022 to $5,711. It’s showing no signs of dropping further (for now), so owners don’t have to worry about it crashing any time soon.

2 F1 Pole Position

Accelerating in Cost

Localized from the Japanese game Nakajima Satoru F-1 Hero GB ’92: The Graded Driver, F1 Pole Position is a rather engaging Formula 1 Grand Prix racer, with profiles to create and some surprisingly detailed proto-cutscenes made from pixel art that make it one of the prettier racing games on the handheld. Though if players wanted to give it a spin, they’d be better off getting its PAL release, which is way cheaper at $13.84 for loose copies.

Loose NA copies spiked up to $150 in 2018, and have only slowly risen in price from there. Likewise, the past 6 years have seen its CIB and New copies increase exponentially, going from $286/$658 in 2018 to $2,499/$5,748 today. Owners could see a great return on their investment, particularly as that price has stayed the same for the past 2 years. Though considering the steepness of the price tag, it might be because the demand has met the game’s meager supply.

1 Amazing Tater

Amazing Prices

Also made by Atlus, Amazing Tater is technically related to Spud’s Adventure, as Spud and co have to move crates, turn wheels to fill holes, and open gates to reach the end of the level. It was made as a sequel to Kwirk, which was the same, except the West turned Spud into a tomato. This predecessor can be picked up for $10, whether it’s NA or PAL. Its sequel is much rarer, and thus by far the most expensive Game Boy game out there.

It wasn’t always this way. Anyone curious could’ve picked up loose cartridges for $24.99 in 2014. Then it started climbing in worth from 2016 onward. At its peak, the game cost $718 Loose, $5,981 CIB, and $13,757 New. It had a mild drop at the start of 2024, but has started climbing back up in price. The game got a fair reception back in the day, being a reasonable puzzle game for the platform. Few could imagine it would end up being one of the most valuable games for the Game Boy.