Xbox hasn't done anything too special to celebrate the whopping 20th anniversary of its beloved Fable series, but one dedicated fan spent four days remaking (demaking?) the classic comedy so it can run on everything from your internet browser to a literal Game Boy Color. Yes, Fable has been ported to the Game Boy.
James Grice published their Fable: 20th Anniversary Game Boy Color Demake on itch.io just yesterday, which is essentially a short demo that recreates the RPG's quaint opening section in Oakvale, chicken-kicking included. Just like the original, you play a young boy who everyone merrily calls 'lad,' and you need to quickly do some last-minute shopping for your older sister's birthday present. That involves a lot of running errands in exchange for gold and, in true Fable fashion, a lot of devilish choices. Do you keep a man's affair secret or rat him out to his wife? Do you protect another kid from his bully or join in on the bullying?
"Growing up I played Fable a lot and I often used to visualize how Fable would be on lower hardware," Grice writes in a recent Reddit post. "I had some free time so I spent the last four days making my first Gameboy game, and what better game to make then to try to reimagine on the hardware than Fable for its 20th anniversary!"
- "We would look at all the American RPGs and the JRPGs at the time and just go, 'Right, if they're doing it, we're not": Peter Molyneux and John McCormack talk the development of Fable 20 years on
- Fable 4's pre-alpha gameplay signals a new era for the series, but hobbe fights and chicken-kicking prove its old school spirit is still alive
Fable's sweet soundtrack has also been reimagined as a chiptune beat, and there are even fully voiced cutscenes here, too, which was a rarity on the old Nintendo handheld - though, you might not be able to make out what's supposed to be a tree and what's supposed to be a human.
Whether you're playing in your browser or with compatible Game Boy Color hardware, the Fable demake will only take around 20 minutes to get through, but Grice says that he might expand the project up to the Guild Graduation scene "if it gets enough interest."
Nostalgic for Albion? Check out everything we know about the next Fable that’s in development at the Forza Horizon studio.
BioWare makes a return to Dragon Age: The Veilguard with a surprise PC update, months after layoffs and a seemingly final patch
Baldur’s Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon warns games industry that "AI will have deep ramifications" if not properly regulated: "I believe in experiencing life and art through human expression, not software"
