Tobu Tobu Girl Deluxe

When a good game gets an even better version, that's a rare luxury — and Tobu Tobu Girl Deluxe is exactly the kind of enhanced release that nudges the original idea up a notch. This time we're no longer stuck with the monochrome Game Boy: this variant is made for the Game Boy Color, adding to the fresh vertical arcade game the color that the original DMG version lacked.

The foundation stays faithful to the original, and that's a good thing. It's still about climbing upward, with the heroine bouncing off enemies and objects, gathering altitude and pushing her score up against merciless gravity. The „one attempt, restart, once more“ loop is just as addictive as before — only polished up. The colorful environment helps you read what's happening on screen, tell enemies apart from the background and generally gives the game a visually richer face.

The Deluxe version is a lovely example of how the new-era Game Boy scene works. Rather than merely flipping the game into color, the creators use the possibilities of the GBC hardware — a more powerful processor and a color palette — to refine the experience, not just repaint it. It's the same approach the DX and Color versions of classics like Link's Awakening once demonstrated: take a working foundation and expand it respectfully.

In genre terms nothing changes about the essence — it's a pure arcade game about reflexes, timing and the appetite to beat your own record. And the strength lies precisely in that purity. The game doesn't over-engineer, doesn't overwhelm you with mechanics, it lets a single good idea shine and hones it to a point. That's a craft often missing on big platforms today, but one that always flourished on the Game Boy.

It's also worth noting how sensibly Deluxe handles color. It could have been a cheap repaint, where a monochrome game just gets sprayed with vivid shades — instead the color serves the gameplay. It makes it easier to distinguish what to grab and what to avoid, and in the faster passages, where a fraction of a second decides everything, that legibility directly raises your chance of climbing higher. It's exactly the kind of improvement you appreciate without ever having to think about it.

For anyone who took a liking to the original Tobu Tobu Girl, Deluxe is the clear choice — the same joy in a prettier coat. And for newcomers it may be the best possible way to begin at all: you get a more complete, more colorful and more polished version of one of the most likable pieces of the modern homebrew scene. It's a small proof that even a game for long-dead hardware can have its „definitive edition,“ and that the enthusiasm of today's scene creators goes far beyond merely dusting off old ideas.

Why play it: A colorful, polished release of a fresh vertical arcade game for the Game Boy Color — just as addictive as the original, only in a prettier and more legible coat.