Blade: 2000
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Genre: Action

Blade for Game Boy Color is a 2D side-scrolling action game inspired by the 1998 film of the same name. It presents its own story unrelated to the film: vampire hunter Blade, the Daywalker, investigates a previously unknown clan of vampires who pursue some sinister agenda.

The game consists of several different types of gameplay: the main part is a side-scrolling brawler. Blade must move through various locations like an enemy base, the subway, the sewers, or Chinatown and beat up hordes of vampires with punches and kicks. Only two buttons (in combination with the D-Pad) are used for fighting, one for attacks and one for blocks. In addition, Blade can use his glave throwing blade weapon as a powerful extra attack, with only a limited number of uses per level.

The second type of stage is a shooting gallery, with Blade stading at the center of the screen and vampires attacking from either the background or the left and right. Blade must kill them by moving a crosshair and firing his weapon, with different buttons used for targeting background and foreground. Similar to the glave in the brawler levels, Blade can use a limited amount of shotgun shots to take out several enemies at once.

The third and final type are boss battles against very powerful vampires. These are seen from the side like the brawler levels, but limited to a single screen, and have Blade using his sword instead of his fists.

All levels are time-limited by Blade’s serum that limits his bloodthirst and must be finished before it runs out.

There are several different ways through the game. Three different levels can be selected at the start, the order of which they are played in determining the game’s difficulty. Exploring rooms and making choices in the game can lead to different paths by unlocking hidden levels and having enemies react differently to events.