The Game Boy Color (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is an 8-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998^[6] and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of its product line. Critics like IGN consider it more akin to a hardware revision than a next generation product.^[7]

The handheld features a color screen rather than monochrome, but it is not backlit. It is slightly thicker and taller and features a slightly smaller screen than Game Boy Pocket, its immediate predecessor. As with the original Game Boy, it has a custom 8-bit processor made by Sharp that is considered a hybrid between the Intel 8080 and the Zilog Z80.^[8] The American English spelling of the system’s name, Game Boy Color, remains consistent throughout the world.