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GBC Hardware Specifications

The Game Boy Color, often abbreviated "GBC," is a portable video gaming system created by Nintendo and the predecessor to Nintendo's original Game Boy. The system was first released in Japan on the 21st of October 1998. The Game Boy Color wasn't released in the United States and Europe until that November.

CPU, RAM and Power
- The Game Boy Color features an 8-bit processor manufactured by Sharp with similarities to the Z80 processor. In compatibility mode, when the system is playing an original Game Boy game, the CPU operates at 4.194304 MHz. When playing a regular GBC game, the CPU runs at 8.388 MHz, twice as fast. The Game Boy Color features 8 KB of main memory and 8 KB of video RAM. The Game Boy Color uses two AA batteries, giving the gaming console an estimated 10-hour battery life.
Screen, Color and Audio
- The Game Boy Color features a 2.6-inch 160-by-144-pixel LCD screen. It has a color palette of 32,768 colors with the ability to simultaneously display 54. The Game Boy Color features four-channel mono speakers and a 3.5 mm audio jack for headphone use.
Controls and Games
- The Gameboy Color features four face buttons -- "Start," "Select," "A" and "B" -- as well as a D-pad, power switch and volume control wheel. The game uses 2 MB cartridges with the same physical size as original Game Boy games. As stated, the GBC is backward-compatible, meaning it's capable of playing original Game Boy games as well as the newer GBC games. Original Game Boy games are played in black and white, not color.

Game Boy