Top Gear Rally on the Game Boy Color is one of those racers that feels way better than it has any right to. The controls are surprisingly tight for a handheld racer from 1999—you can actually powerslide around corners without spinning out instantly, which is rare for GBC racing games. The tracks have this cool mix of dirt, snow, and pavement, and the little sprite cars bounce around just enough to feel weighty.

At first glance, it looks basic (it is a GBC game, after all), but there’s a decent amount of strategy in picking the right car upgrades between races. I remember wasting all my early cash on engine boosts before realizing better tires made way more difference on muddy tracks. The music’s got that classic Top Gear synth vibe too—nostalgia overload if you played these back in the day.

Definitely one of the better portable racers from the pre-GBA era.