We don't know about you, but here at Time Extension, we're always fascinated to see fan developers have a go at demaking classic games for less powerful hardware.
Even if the finished result only ends up vaguely resembling the original, it's always interesting to see what decisions have had to be made to try to recapture the spirit of a game, and what has had to be jettisoned for practicality's sake.
With that in mind, it's no surprise, then, that we were pretty excited when we stumbled across Halo Combat Devolved, an in-development demake of the original Xbox game Halo Combat Evolved for the Game Boy Color.
Developed by SofaSwordsman, the demake transforms the iconic first-person shooter into a top-down action-adventure game and is being built using GBStudio (a popular set of tools for creating modern Game Boy titles).
As it stands, the demake is currently comprised of two levels. This includes a recreation of 'The Pillar of Autumn', where an adorable version of Master Chief must escape the UNSC Pillar of Autumn after it is attacked by Covenant forces, and an equally charming rendition of the second-level 'Halo', set upon Installation 04, where Master Chief encounters the Kig-Yar for the first time.
As in the original game, Master Chief has a choice of an assault rifle and a pistol and can locate overshields and health kits throughout the two levels to prevent them from dying. There is even a drivable warthog to find in the second level, which can be used to navigate the environment and provide some added firepower to fend off the Covenant threat.
You can download the first two levels here to play on your Game Boy Color or Analogue Pocket. It can also be played in your browser of choice.