Fast Food, Faster Fun: The New McDonald's Game Boy Game

Paul Palmer
game boy Game Boy Color GB Studio Grimace McDonald's McDonaldland nintendo video games

Yesterday certain parts of the internet were going crazy when the news dropped that McDonald's had made a new game as a marketing tie-in for their Grimace birthday shake. While brands making games for the internet is not new and has been going on since the days of Flash, for whatever reason it was decided that their game should be in the form of a new Game Boy Color game. It's free and completely playable on their web page here, but people quickly ripped the ROM and loaded it up on original hardware to discover that it is indeed a true Game Boy Color game.

screenshot of a cutscene from the Grimace's Birthday game. It shows a McDonald's at night with the text "It's Grimace's Birthday! And he's throwing they part of the year at McDonald's."

Anyone that's been into the gaming homebrew scene lately might recognize that this game was probably made with GB Studio, a wonderful and easy to use game creation engine that allows you to make true Game Boy and GB Color titles. I made a short platforming game for Halloween last year using it and found it really fun to use. And in fact, GB Studio is listed in the credits of the game.

I'm a big fan of the McDonaldland characters, having grown up in the 1980s. They were everywhere, and going to McDonald's was always a special trip. Those old commercials still bring waves of nostalgia flooding back when I watch them. It's funny, because I know they are just using marketing to make me feel good about a brand, but I can't help that it really worked on me.

Before we get to the game though, let's take a moment to savor the website itself, because someone went above and beyond when making GrimacesBirthday.com. That is one 90s website, and I am here for it. Bravo.

a picture of the website hosting the Grimace's Birthday game. It has a very 1990s look to it, with animated and static banner images, small buttons at the bottom, and graphics for sending an email.

Now on to the game itself. The title is short and simple, but it has a little challenge to it to keep you entertained. There are only 4 or 5 levels, but they all have a distinct look and feel to them. Some have you moving on a skateboard, and you'll need to grind onto rails to reach higher areas to find the goal. Others are traditional platformers. One level has you in a giant bubble outside a soda factory, and you can infinitely jump to float around in it. For such a small game, there's a lot of variety to be had, and it all controls very well.

Screenshot from the Grimace's Birthday game. Grimace is standing on a rooftop at night, a collectable purple shake is hovering in the air near him.

I only had two complaints about this game. First though let me praise the graphics. The cutscenes are very well drawn, and the colors used throughout the game look really nice and make good use of the Game Boy Color's palette. But the music I found to be somewhat forgettable, which felt like such a shame when the graphics and colors are this good. I wanted something with a hummable melody as this fantasy character from McDonaldland traipses around the city! The other complaint is kinda minor, but the way they have Grimace talk in the cutscenes is a bit bizarre for someone who grew up on the McDonaldland characters. You got the idea Grimace was a bit of a friendly doofus. And while they didn't need to continue with that angle, the fact that he uses so much modern internet slang is really weird to me! In the first scene he says 'smh'. Do people even really say these things out loud? Or maybe it's because he was texting with Birdie. Anyway, it just seemed so out of character. It's a small complaint, and I'm sure a lot of younger people don't even know who he is anyway so they will not care.

Screenshot of a cutscene from the Grimace's Birthday game. Grimace is talking or texting on a phone. There is a speech bubble that says "OMG. K. OMW."

Overall I was really impressed with this simple fast food tie-in game. It's short, but it's fun and very well made, and I'd recommend anyone out there that is curious give it a shot. It won't take long to get through anyway.

Screenshot from the Grimace's Birthday game. Grimace is underground and riding a skateboard. He's wearing a white helmet. There are grindrails scattered around the screen and a brickwall background. Graffiti is painted on the walls.