Game Boy palette
The four-shade original Game Boy (DMG) green palette as hex codes, how the 2-bit screen works, and downloads for your editor. Plus tips for drawing in 4 colours.
Click a swatch to copy its hex code.
Limits you’re designing around
Four shades total, 2 bits per pixel, 160×144 screen. Sprites use 3 shades plus transparency, 8×8 or 8×16 pixels, with at most 10 sprites per line.
About the Game Boy palette
The original Game Boy (model DMG-01) had a reflective STN LCD with no backlight. Its shades are really four darkness levels of a green-yellow panel, so the hex codes are an artistic approximation widely shared in the pixel art community.
The later Game Boy Pocket used a more neutral grey-black screen, which is why you will also see grey "Pocket" versions of this palette.
Designing in only four values forces strong silhouettes: keep the darkest shade for outlines and the lightest for the background so characters stay readable.
Draw with it now in the pixel art editor, or convert a picture to these colours.
Hex codes
| # | Colour | Hex | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | #0F380F | 15, 56, 15 | |
| 1 | #306230 | 48, 98, 48 | |
| 2 | #8BAC0F | 139, 172, 15 | |
| 3 | #9BBC0F | 155, 188, 15 |
Other palettes
Frequently asked questions
How many colours are in the Game Boy palette?
This version has 4 colours. Four shades total, 2 bits per pixel, 160×144 screen. Sprites use 3 shades plus transparency, 8×8 or 8×16 pixels, with at most 10 sprites per line.
How do I use the Game Boy palette in PixelMint?
Open the editor and pick “Game Boy” from the palette menu beside the canvas. To convert an existing picture to these colours, choose Game Boy in the image to pixel art converter.
Which file should I download?
GPL for Aseprite, GIMP, Krita and Inkscape; HEX for Lospec-compatible tools and quick copy-paste; PNG for anything else (and for loading as a palette image in Aseprite or Pyxel Edit).