The Game Boy Color was Nintendo's second handheld console.  It was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan.   It was released on November 18, 1998 in North America.

     The system featured an 8-bit processor.  The major difference was that new games were now in color.  The system was fully backwards compatible with original Game Boy games.

     Game Boy Color games came in clear-colored cartridges.   Game Boy Color games that were also compatible with earlier versions came in black. 

     The system featured over 30 hours of game play with 2 AA batteries.  The system also could provide multi-player gaming with a serial port.  Some games took advantage of wireless gaming through the infrared port.

     The system could display up to 56 colors at a time.  It featured a palette of 32,768 colors.  Some games used a technical trick and were able to display more than 2,000 colors at a time.

     The system originally released with five colors.  They were berry, grape, kiwi, dandelion, and teal.  Nintendo featured limited edition versions. Several of these were made for Pokemon games.