I love the engineering hubris of seeing a device and saying “I can run Doom on that”, but I never thought 2009 sandbox game Minecraft would become a similar measuring stick. Ever since one engineer got the game running on a Game Boy Color, I’ve found myself wondering ‘what’s next?’
YouTuber Game of Tobi recently shared their work, and it’s a thing of beauty (via RetroDodo). They didn’t just want to approximate Minecraft in a 2D environment; they wanted a game that actually looked and felt 3D.
As they point out, the Game Boy Color launched hardware generations before we would get portable tech hardware intended for 3D games. They say, “Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it is even possible to have something like this on the Game Boy because it is in 3D, and it is recognisable as a 3D world where you can walk around.”
Though it is worth noting that Game of Tobi’s port isn’t the full Minecraft. You can choose from a couple of worlds, and it doesn’t seem to have a health or inventory system. You can also break and place blocks, but it doesn’t appear to have mobs or secrets.