Editing Game Boy Color

| compatibility = [[Gameboy|Game Boy]]

** external: 3V DC 0.6W ({{convert|2.35|x|0.75|mm|abbr=on}})

The Game Boy Color also featured an [[infrared]] communications port for wireless linking. The feature was only supported in a small number of games, so the infrared port was dropped from the [[Game Boy Advance]] line, to be later reintroduced with the [[Nintendo 3DS]], though wireless linking (using [[Wi-Fi]]) would return in the [[Nintendo DS]] line. The console was capable of showing up to 56 different colors simultaneously on screen from its [[Palette (computing)|palette]] of 32,768 (8×4 color background palettes, 8x3+transparent sprite palettes), and could add basic four-, seven- or ten-color shading to games that had been developed for the original 4-shades-of-grey Game Boy. In the 7-color modes, the sprites and backgrounds were given separate color schemes, and in the 10-color modes the sprites were further split into two differently-colored groups; however, as flat black (or white) was a shared fourth color in all but one (7-color) palette, the overall effect was that of 4, 6 or 8 colors. This method of upgrading the color count resulted in graphic artifacts in certain games; for example, a sprite that was supposed to meld into the background would sometimes be colored separately, making it easily noticeable. Manipulation of palette registers during display allowed for a rarely used "high color mode", capable of displaying more than 2,000 colors on the screen simultaneously.

For dozens of popular Game Boy titles, the Game Boy Color has an enhanced palette built in featuring up to 16 colors - four colors for each of the Game Boy's four layers. If the system does not have a palette stored for a game, it defaults to a palette of green, blue, salmon, black, and white. However, when the user turns on the system, they may choose one of 12 built in color palettes by pressing certain button combinations (namely a direction key and optionally A or B) while the Game Boy logo is present on the screen.

These palettes each contain up to ten colors. In most games, the four shades displayed on the original Game Boy would translate to different subsets of this 10-color palette, such as by displaying movable [[sprite (computer graphics)|sprites]] in one subset and backgrounds, etc. in another. The grayscale (Left + B) palette produces an appearance similar to that experienced on the original Game Boy.

A few games used a technical trick to increase the number of colors available on-screen. This "Hi-Color mode" is a mode used by the Italian company 7th Sense s.r.l. among others, and can display more than 2000 different colors on the screen. Some examples of games using this trick are ''The Fish Files'', ''The New Addams Family Series'' and ''Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare''.

Game Boy Color exclusive games are housed in clear-colored cartridges, referred to as "Game Pak" cartridges. They are shaped differently from original Game Boy games. When inserted into an original Game Boy, these translucent cartridges prevent the system from turning on due to a missing notch present in original Game Boy cartridges that prevent the cartridge from being removed once powered on (barring the Rumble Pack games or [[Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble|''Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble'']]).  While the Game Boy Pocket, Super Game Boy, Super Game Boy 2 and the Japanese-exclusive Game Boy Light do power on with a Game Boy Color exclusive cartridge inserted, these games display a warning message stating that a Game Boy Color system is required and refuse to play. In the cases of ''[[Chee-Chai Alien]]'' and ''Pocket Music'', it however did power on with Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP, these games also display a warning message stating that a Game Boy Color system is also required and also refuse to play. Games that are designed for the Game Boy Color, but which also include backward compatibility with the Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Super Game Boy, Super Game Boy 2 and the Japanese-exclusive Game Boy Light, use the same cartridge shape as original Game Boy games, but are typically black and never gray. In some colorized versions of games like ''R-Type DX'', it only managed to get the monochrome versions and not the full color versions if you're playing on Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Super Game Boy, Super Game Boy 2 and Game Boy Light.