McDonald’s Cooks Up A New Game Boy Title Inspired By Grimace For Hungry Gamers

It might be 2023, and the gaming industry might have left Nintendo’s classic Game Boy in the dust, but McDonald’s is not ready to let the console go just yet. The fast-food chain has shadow-dropped a new title for the Game Boy in honor of Grimace.
 
Grimace is the giant purple mascot that always seems to have a purple milkshake on hand. He’s been a part of the McDonald’s mascot crew for 52 years now, and it’s only fitting he celebrates his special day in style—and there’s no better type of birthday party than one held at McDonald’s. But before he can get to his celebrations, he is tasked with finding his friends Birdie and the Hambruglar.
 
The game, simply called Grimace’s Birthday, has Grimace searching through McDondaldland on a skateboard as he collects milkshakes and looks for his friends.

 
Krool Toys and Gumpy Function helped create the game by using GB Studio Central, an open-sourced development tool that helped create many titles for the Game Boy Color. It has been formatted to be played on browser, and the site is decorated like an old flash game from the early 2000s. It even comes with banners of fake advertisements inviting you to download the McDonald’s I’m lovin’ it jingle as a ringtone for your phone, asking if you have seen the Hamburgler around, and even to book your next birthday party at McDonald’s.

If you’re playing it on your phone, it turns your screen into a digital version of the handheld Game Boy with a directional pad and ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons to move Grimace and have him jump.
 
Gizmodo points out that a version of the game has been uploaded onto the Internet Archive, where people can download it with an emulator for different devices.

McDonald’s has also released a commercial to ring in his special day. The video showcases Grimace celebrating his birthday through the years with Birdie and the Hamburglar alongside. 
 
In other video game news from the fast food chain, it also celebrated the McNugget’s 40th anniversary similarly with a nugget-shaped console to play Tetris on.

Are you ready to get your McDonald’s-themed party hat on? If so, you can help Grimace look for his friends here.
 
 
 
[via Game Rant and Gizmodo, screenshots via Krool Toys]