Key Takeaways
- Nintendo’s Game Boy legacy lives on with unexpected support from companies like Nike, who recently released a Game Boy game.
- Cosmic Climb, developed by Krool Toys, is a browser-playable Game Boy game tied to Nike’s Air Jordan 11 Lows shoe campaign.
- While not groundbreaking, the game is a fun nostalgic experience with simple controls and solid sprite work for Game Boy fans.
Nintendo’s Game Boy first launched in 1989, and it was essentially superseded by the Game Boy Advance in 2001, with many more consoles launched in the following years. But that doesn’t mean it’s not still being supported, even if it is by the most unexpected companies. Nike (yes, the shoe company) has just published a Game Boy game called Cosmic Climb on its website, and you can play it right in your browser.
The game is part of an advertisement for the company’s latest sports shoes, the Air Jordan 11 Lows, but it feels fairly well executed for a marketing campaign. The game is actually developed by Krool Toys, who also recently made a game for the McDonald’s 2023 campaign celebrating the birthday of its mascot, Grimace. That, too, was a Game Boy game.
The Game Boy is still getting games 35 years later
Game Boy Color image credit: BestPhotosSierra
While the game is played in your web browser, Cosmic Climb is in fact a Game Boy game, and if you take a look at the page’s code, you can even extract the ROM file to download on your system. I actually tried this and ran the game on my own emulator just fine. Controls are fairly simple, as you’d expect for a Game Boy title. You move with the arrow keys, jump with Z, and attack with X. Of course, if you use your own emulator on a PC gaming handheld, you can remap the controls at will for extra comfort.
When Grimace’s Birthday was released last year for the McDonald’s campaign, fans actually found ways to get the game running on real Game Boy hardware, and there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to do it with this one as well. That would get you the most authentic way to experience this gem, though it’s definitely not a process everyone wants to go through. Of course, you can always pop the ROM onto a retro gaming handheld emulator, such as the Analogue Pocket.
Of course, you must be asking if the game is actually any good. And frankly, it seems to be totally fine for what it is. We didn’t get super far in it, but what we did play ran fairly smoothly and it controlled pretty well, too. It doesn’t seem like you can actually lose, but it’s still pretty fun to mess around for a few minutes at least. The sprite work is also solid for a Game Boy title. We recommend checking it out for a bit of nostalgia, and it’s arguably more interesting than the shoes it’s trying to advertise.