A YouTuber has managed to get a 3D Minecraft-inspired experience running on Game Boy Color hardware, showing just how far creative developers can push older handheld systems.

The project was shared by Game of Tobi in a video titled “REAL 3D Minecraft on the Game Boy!” The footage shows a version of Mojang’s famous block-building game running on hardware that launched nearly three decades ago.

The project is called MINICRAFT 3D by GAMEOFTOBI in the in-game menu. From there, players can choose between several options, including opening a generated world, loading a flat world, turning textures on or off, or continuing from a saved file.

The generated world option allows players to explore a 3D Minecraft-style environment directly on the Game Boy Color. Even more impressively, the project lets players break and place blocks, recreating the basic building and exploration loop that made Minecraft so recognizable.

The fact that this works on Game Boy Color hardware is especially surprising, as the handheld was released long before portable systems were commonly associated with 3D games. Despite those limitations, Game of Tobi’s version manages to create a playable 3D block world with interactive terrain.

The YouTuber also included a Nether dimension in the project, giving the tiny handheld version another recognizable Minecraft-style feature. For players more interested in building than exploring random terrain, the flat world option offers a cleaner space to create structures.

Textures can also be enabled, though they are understandably limited by the hardware. The project is already impressive without them, but the texture option adds another layer of visual detail for players who want a more recognizable block-based look.

Another major surprise is that the game can also run on the original Game Boy. Game of Tobi showed the project working on the earlier handheld model, though it runs at roughly half the speed of the Game Boy Color version.

This new video also acts as a follow-up to the first video on the creator’s channel, which featured Minecraft running on the Game Boy Advance. With this Game Boy Color version, the project goes even further back in handheld gaming history.

Game of Tobi said the 3D Minecraft Game Boy Color project would be released right away. Like the Game Boy Advance version, it is being made available for free through a Patreon post. The creator also teased that an update for the Game Boy Advance Minecraft project is on the way.

While this is not an official Minecraft release, it is an impressive technical experiment and a fun tribute to both Minecraft and classic Nintendo handhelds. Seeing a 3D block-building game run on Game Boy hardware is a reminder that old systems still have plenty of surprises left when creative developers decide to test their limits.