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GBHack

Game Boy ColorRPGRoguelikeExternal

GBHack

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    Overview

    GBHack is a roguelike dungeon crawler for the Game Boy Color, modelled on NetHack. You go down 15 randomly built dungeon levels of rooms, corridors and doors with a kitten or a puppy at your side, find the Amulet of Yendor on the deepest one and climb all the way back out with it. Death is permanent, potions and scrolls hide behind random names until you try them, and you have to keep eating as you go.

    It is by Ian Langworth (statico), written in C with GBDK together with Claude Code, with tiles adapted from Kenney's packs and music by Beatscribe and Tronimal (Yoki). It was released in April 2026.

    Made by
    Ian Langworth (statico)
    Released
    2026

    Controls guide

    In the dungeon

    Button and keyAction
    D-padArrowsMove one square; walk into a monster to attack it, into a closed door to open it, or into your pet to swap places
    BZ + D-padArrowsMove diagonally (hold B, then press two directions)
    BZTap on its own: pick up what you stand on, or rest a turn if there is nothing
    AXAction menu: Inventory, Eat, Quaff, Read, Zap, Rest, Pick up, Drop, Save+Quit
    StartEnterCharacter sheet: level, hit points, armour, strength, experience, gold, depth, hunger and equipment
    SelectShiftMenu: Help, View Messages, music and sound effects on or off, Save+Quit

    Menus and screens

    Button and keyAction
    Up / DownMove the cursor
    AXChoose
    BZClose the menu
    StartEnterSkip the credits, leave the title screen, and go back to the title after the game ends

    Cheatsheet

    Getting around

    Stairs
    Step onto them and answer Yes to go down or up; each trip builds a fresh level
    Level 15
    No stairs down; the Amulet of Yendor lies somewhere on the floor
    Winning
    Carry the Amulet up the stairs on level 1; without it the exit stays sealed
    Saving
    Every 50 turns, and with Save+Quit; the title then offers Continue. Dying deletes the save
    Score
    Experience plus gold when the game ends; escaping with the Amulet adds 5000

    Food

    Hunger
    You start with 900 food and use 1 each turn, 2 when you move or fight: Hungry below 300, Weak below 150, Fainting below 50, and you starve at 0
    Ration
    800 food
    Tin
    300 food
    Apple
    200 food
    Corpse
    100 food; monsters often leave one when they die
    Booze
    A potion that also gives 50 food
    Every level
    Has at least a ration or an apple, a piece of armour and a pile of gold

    Monsters with a trick

    Snake, giant spider
    Poison: extra damage on every hit
    Wraith, vampire
    Each hit lowers your maximum hit points by 1
    Nymph
    Steals 5 to 20 gold and runs off
    Imp
    Often vanishes to another spot on the level after attacking
    Troll
    Heals 1 hit point every turn
    Acid blob, floating eye
    Never attack you
    Depth
    Monsters up to two levels tougher than the floor you are on can appear

    Items

    Healing potion
    Restores 4 to 14 hit points
    Poison potion
    Up to 6 damage and 1 strength lost
    Scroll of teleport
    Moves you to a random spot on the level
    Scroll of fire
    Burns every monster next to you
    Scroll of remove curse
    Lifts curses from everything you carry
    Scroll of identify
    Names one item in your pack
    Cursed
    Cursed weapons and armour can't be taken off
    Pickaxe
    Wield it from the inventory, then walk into walls to dig through them; it wears out

    Pets and shops

    Pet
    Fights next to you and eats corpses; it follows you down or up the stairs only if it is within two squares
    Feral
    A pet left more than 15 squares away for 50 turns turns wild and hostile
    Shop
    Picking up an item puts its price on your bill; dropping it in the shop takes it off
    Selling
    Drop your own items in a shop to get half their price in gold
    Leaving unpaid
    Walking out with a bill makes the shopkeeper attack

    Tips

    1. Resting with B costs half the food of walking, so it is the cheapest way to let time pass, but do it only when no monster is near.
    2. Drinking an unknown potion names that kind for the rest of the game. Try them when you are at full health, since one of them is poison.
    3. Wear the armour each level gives you: monsters hit you less often the better your armour.
    4. Keep your pet close before taking the stairs, or you leave it behind for good.
    5. Shops are the best way to turn spare equipment into gold, and gold counts towards your score.
    6. Levels are not kept: each one is new every time you arrive, so the climb out with the Amulet means finding the up stairs on 14 fresh levels. Bring food for it.