The Game Boy Color has obviously been out of production for decades, but a brand-new video game is coming to Game Boy Color in 2026, nearly 30 years after the handheld was first released. Video games don’t release for GBC every day, although that has not stopped the handheld from maintaining a surprisingly active community.
Nintendo’s 1998 handheld still has a dedicated audience of collectors, retro gamers, and developers making new homebrew games for the Game Boy systems, with modern cartridges continuing to appear long after the hardware left store shelves. The rise of devices like the ModRetro Chromatic has also made playing these games more accessible, essentially giving the Game Boy Color concept a modern home without abandoning the original hardware and cartridge experience.
Buddy: The Movie is Getting an Official Video Game Tie-In for Game Boy Color
Buddy: The Video Game is one of the strangest new upcoming official games for 2026, not just because it is being made for the Game Boy Color, but because it is a movie tie-in based on a fictional children’s show. ModRetro has announced the survival horror game as a new Chromatic title, with a planned Q4 2026 release on the ModRetro Chromatic that is also fully compatible with the original Game Boy Color. The game is based on the upcoming Buddy movie, which is scheduled to hit theaters on August 28, and is about It’s Buddy! It’s Buddy! is a children’s TV show starring Buddy, a bright orange unicorn who spends his days singing, dancing, and teaching children lessons about happiness, until one child refuses to play along.
- Director: Casper Kelly
- Screenplay co-writer (w/ Kelly): Jamie King
- Keegan-Michael Key as Buddy
- Cristin Milioti
- Topher Grace
- Michael Shannon
- Patton Oswalt
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Developed by playinstinct and published by ModRetro, Buddy: The Video Game will bring that same strange world to a Game Boy Color-compatible cartridge. The game mixes survival horror gameplay with visual novel storytelling and several mini-games based around Buddy’s children’s show. Overall, it has three core modes:
- Story Mode will let players follow the movie’s storyline while deciding whether to appease Buddy or refuse to follow his rules and face his wrath.
- Survival Mode removes the story and focuses on staying alive, with players needing to run, hide, and scavenge while Buddy hunts them across locations from the movie.
- Buddy Mode flips the premise around entirely, allowing players to take control of the orange unicorn and hunt down fleeing children.
There is also a Mini Game Mode for players who want something a little less horrifying. This mode includes a collection of cheerful activities based on Buddy’s show, including dancing, dusting, painting, riding, and batting challenges. Players can compete for high scores and achievements, creating a fun, bizarre contrast with the survival horror game.
Find the odd one out before the timer hits zero.
The most notable part of Buddy: The Video Game, though, may simply be the fact that a brand-new Game Boy Color game is coming out in 2026. While the ModRetro Chromatic gives the game a modern piece of hardware to run on, its compatibility with the original Game Boy Color makes this a legitimate throwback release for one of Nintendo’s oldest handheld consoles. With Buddy arriving in theaters on August 28 and the game following in Q4 2026, fans will soon be able to experience the strange orange unicorn’s world both on the big screen and through a cartridge that could have been released nearly 30 years ago.
Source: IGN