SNK Neo-Geo Pocket: A Beginner’s Guide
Presented by Fastbilly1, pullmyfinger, Flake, GSZX1337, and Racketboy
The RetroGaming 101 series is aimed at gamers who are just starting out in the classic gaming scene or are curious about an older console that they don’t know much about yet. Those of you that are especially knowledgeable about the featured console, I encourage you to add any information that you think would be beneficial into the comments section.
Photo by Shawn Liu
Background Info
- Two versions: Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color (abbreviated to NGP and NGPC respectively.)
- The original Neo Geo Pocket was released in late 1998 in Japan.
- After slow sales of the original, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was released onMarch 16, 1999.
- The U.S. version of the Neo Geo Pocket Color had an exclusive launch on the website eToys
- The system debuted in the United States with six launch titles (20 promised by end of year) and retail price of $69.95.
- Six different unit colors were available: Camouflage Blue, Carbon Black, Crystal White, Platinum Blue, Platinum Silver, and Stone Blue.
- Before SNK was bought out, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was being advertised on US television and units were being sold nationally in Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Toys “R” Us (and their online partner, Amazon.com)
- Once SNK was bought out by the Aruze group, remaining inventory was bought back by SNK for repackaging in Asia, where the handheld would still be supported with games.
Historical Impact
- Forward-Compatible: One of the only systems in which the earlier form (NGP) could play the majority of the new games for the new system (NGPC)
- SNK’s First Hardware Since the Neo-Geo:And although it carries the trademark Neo Geo name it has few true arcade ports (for obvious reasons).
- Hurt SNK’s Bottom Line: NGP is blamed as one of the reasons that SNK had to close their doors, other reasons cited were the decline of the American and European Arcades during the late 90s and the ease of playing backup copies of the MVS software on your home computer.
- Bringing The Arcade To The Road: While not true Arcade ports, the NGPC was blessed with a wide array of games based on its older brothers games – Metal Slug 1st Mission, King of Fighters R-1, and Bust a Move Pocket for example – a first for the company and a defining point for arcade to handheld ports for the future.
- Put Up A Good Fight Against Nintendo: The one of the few significant handheld competitors to the Gameboy, the Gamegear is the obvious first.
- Portable Controls: One of the first handheld consoles to feature a Joystick as its primary mode of input.Another system that utilized a similar joystick would be the GP32, both are known for making a unique clickty-clack sound.
- Battery Backup: To my knowledge it is the first handheld to utilize a second internal battery to backup the memory and clock.The battery is a CR2032, well know to Saturn fans, and sold here by Racketboy.
- Linking With Console: Before Nintendo had their GBA-to-Gamecube linking, the Neo-Geo Pocket Color actually linked with the Sega Dreamcast for unlockable game features
Neo-Geo Pocket Color Screen by Andrew Murray
Screen & Color Capabilities
- The screen is high quality,160×152 display
- Had a “virtual screen” that allowed for 256×256 resolutions, 16 palettes per plane, and 64 sprites per frame
- No form of internal lighting it does need to be played in well-lit conditions.
- The Neo-Geo Pocket Color can put out 146 colors at once out of a possible 4096 colors
- This compares to the Wonderswan Color & Crystal’s 241 colors on screen out of 4096 and the Gameboy Color’s 56 simultaneously on screen out of 32,768
Hardware Variations
- In addition to a handful of standard color variations of the standard Grey,  Crystal Yellow and Crystal Turquoise, you can also find Neo-Geo Pockets in Crystal [transparent], Camo, and a Hanshin Tigers Limited Edition Version.
- There is also a slim version of the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Here is a video detailing the differences between the two versions. Bit of warning: You might want to keep the video on mute until the guy gets the ruler out. He moves the camera around a bit and creates a lot of noise.
Accessories
- Shock n’ Rock by Nyko: Provides Stereo sound, audio-based rumble, rechargeable battery, and some rubber grips that unlike all other grips for portables, feel comfortable and don’t add that much bulk to the console.
- Link Cable: Fighting games are always better with friends. The link cable connection is very simple, just link up, select vs and fight away, no loadings, no lags, just fun. This is a third party cable can be hard to find, however, and can go for $30+..
- Wireless Link: There was a wireless connector released in Japan that allowed several players in proximity to play together, with some cartridge moulding reshaped to hold it.
- Official Carry Case: Pretty small and easy to carry and even comes with two straps, both of which are way too big for my taste. It has space for the console, and an extra pocket for games and accessories, pretty useful and easy to get, they are all over eBay for $15 a piece.
One of the Color Variations of the NGP - photo by Jason OConnell
Strengths
- Big-Name Backing: SNK had one of the best development houses in the world at that time.
- Amazing Game Catalogue: From Last Blade to Densha De Go!, all major genres and most SNK series are represented (albeit in “petite†form)
- Decent US and Europe support/naturalization: Quite surprising for a limited release outside of Japan. This also brought aplethora of multilanguage carts
- Forward Compatibility: Early adopters were not overly screwed when the new version came out
- Durable Hardware: Not quite Gameboy durable, but better than previous competitors
- Sega Partnership: Resulted in a Sonic game and a Dreamcast to NGPC cable that allowed some neat unlockables in games such as Capcom vs SNK 2
- Comfortable & Tactile Controls: The joystick is absolutely amazing for fighting and puzzle games, which thankfully there are a lot of on the system.
- High Quality Screen: 160×152 resolution
- Amazing Battery Life: Roughly 30 to 40 hours with two AA batteries (compared to the Wonderswan Color’s otherwise impressive10+ hours on a single AA battery)
- Inexpensive Aftermarket Price: Can pick up a handheld and a bundle of games on eBay for about $60 in all.
Weaknesses
- Difficult Living Up To SNK’s High Standards: Technical limitations in some games, several of the more intense action games suffered some pretty bad slowdown.
- Timing: Originally released in 1998, in the midst of “Pokemania†and slowed even more by the 1999 rumors of a 32-bit Gameboy successory (the Gameboy Advance)
- Very Little Third Party Support: SNK had Sega on board, but that was just about it.
- Game Cases: American releases were boxed in cardboard boxes, instead of the hard cases that the rest of the world had (while I do not agree with this others do so I thought it should be mentioned)
- No Backlight: Don’t plan on playing in the dark with the Pocket
Neo-Geo Pocket Game Cartridge by Andrea Vail
Notable Games & Imports
- Games The Defined the Neo Geo Pocket – If you want to read up on the the essentails of the Neo Geo Pocket library, this guide should be your first stop.  In addition to having a good lineup of games directly from SNK (including some of the best portable fighting games ever), the Neo Geo Pocket actually had a handful of quality games from third-party developers like Sega and Namco. This guide will be a solid foundation for building a collection for this gem of a handheld.
- Neo Geo Fighters – Last Blade, Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters, Capcom vs SNK – Card Fighter Clash, etc: Unlike their arcade counterparts, the portable titles adopted a super deformed graphic style but animated almost as smoothly with all the same moves and combos. Even with its diminutive two button control scheme and an amazing joystick these games are simply the best portable fighting games of their time.I would say of all time, but I feel that Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the GBA has finally surpassed them.The controls do take a little getting use to, but soon you will realize that they took a four button game and made a faithful two button version.I know I sound crazy but I believe most fighting game fans can agree on this.
- Metal Slug 1st and 2nd Missions: While I am a huge fan of the original Metal Slug (I have owned it several times in almost every format imaginable) these games are far from the intense run and gun action of it.These are slower paced (for an arcade styled game), uniquely controlled, and feature a health bar.So yeah it is kind of a downgrade from the arcade version, but they are still excellent games and set the standard for handheld run and guns (see CT Special Forces series on the GBA).
- Sonic Pocket Adventure - As part of the partnership between Sega and SNK, a Sonic game was produced for the system in 1999. Developed by Sonic Team and Dimps (a full 2 years before Sonic Advance), Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure is essentially a re-telling of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with elements of Sonic CD and Sonic 3 sprinkled in with the final result being Sonic’s first true game on a non-Sega platform.
- Dark Arms Beast Buster: Sequel to the arcade lightgun game Beast Buster, Dark Arms is an action adventure rpg, in the vein of Zelda 2, Crystalis, or Magic Knight Rayearth on the Saturn.So you have an isometric viewpoint and you do some fetch quest, but the mechanics are sound and the game is very unique for its time.When you kill monsters you can gather their “remains†for lack of a better word, and forge newer weapons based on what you are using.So if you kill a lot of fire badguys you can upgrade your gun to shoot fire bullets.With a decent bit of depth, fitting dialogue, and spot on controls, Dark Arms is by far my favorite original game on the system.It may have been surpassed by games like Boktai, Ghost Trap, and The Sound of Thunder, but I think it still has a lot of charm, besides who doesn’t like to kill zombies on the go every once and a while.
- Legend of Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia – the obligatory import: Serving as a gaiden (side story) to the Ogre Battle Saga, this game follows the Prince of Zenobia on his journey through the land.Taking place during March of the Black Queen (or just Ogre Battle if you care) but through different parts of the world.The game plays exactly like the original, and if it was not for different areas I would call it a port.However it is an amazing game and well worth looking into finding if you are a fan of the series.If you are not a fan I would suggest finding a copy of the SNES or PSX version of March of the Black Queen, mainly since the game is in Japanese and fairly heavy in dialog, it is a fantasy strategy game with rpg battles.
- Rockman: Battle and Fighters -Â Rockman: Battle and Fighters is a Neo Geo Pocket Color remix of Rockman The Power Battle, an arcade game created by Capcom in 1995. The game is essentially a Mega Man game without the levels. You choose your character (Rockman, Forte, or Blues) and proceed through a boss rush that is one part Street Fighter, one part Megaman. Rockman: Battle and Fighters borrows elements from the two arcade games and art assets from the original NES titles. This game is fairly hard to come by and collectors should expect to pay handsomely for this import title.
NGPC-to-Dreamcast Linking
- King of Fighters R-2 (links with King of Fighters ’99 Dream Match and King of Fighters Evolution)
- SNK vs Capcom – Match of the Millenium (links with Capcom vs SNK 2)
- SNK vs Capcom – Card Fighters’ Clash (links with King of Fighters Evolution)
- SNK vs Capcom – Card Fighters’ Clash Expand Edition (links with Capcom vs SNK 2)
- Cool Cool Jam (links with Cool Cool Toon).
Emulation
- Neopop – One of the few emulators that is actually updated.The best compatibility and a built in debugger makes this easily the best emulator.
- Koyote – Many still use this older emulator, even thought the compatibility is not near Neopop’s, it does have TCP/IP enabled multiplayer that is smoother (on a whole) than Neopop’s.
Affordability
- Possibly the best part about the system is that for about $60 you can pick up a good chunk of the good games in a bundle.
- For sometime they were sold in packs of the system and six games at gamestores for $60-70.
- The packs I saw the most often had Metal Slug 1st mission, Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters R-1, Pacman and two various games (sometimes Metal Slug 2nd Mission or Samurai Shodown II).
- You can easily find a majority of titles at or below the below $20 mark (many at $5) and a bundle of the system with 10 games can be obtained for around $100.
- Find Handheld & Games on Amazon.com
- Find Handheld & Games on eBay
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When I had my Neo Geo Pocket, I used a slightly older version of this light that I found at Toys R Us.
It worked real well.
http://www.mylight.com/flexiclip-light-p-221.html
The GP32 did have a similar click-stick, but it isn’t as good as the NGPC’s.
As far as emulation goes, Neopop is the most well-known. It was the first open-source one, and thus got ported a lot. Before that, there was stuff like RAPE?, MHE, NeoPocott, and NGPocket.
Koyote was nice, but it wasn’t real well known.
There is also one called “RACE!” that’s open-source. It’s not as easily portable as Neopop, but it’s faster. The PSP version is quite nice, IMHO. http://psp.akop.org/race
RACE has been ported to other handhelds, too, so if you want to emulate on a handheld, look for it.
I do use emulation on the gp2x f200 but still like the feal of the original.SNK was one hell of a company.
One crazy thought, would it be possible to replace the screens in Neo Geo Pockets with ones from Razr phones?
I received my pearl blue slim NGPC and I’m in love with it. I recently also bought SwanCrystal, which I thought is pretty neat and got addicted to Gunpey, but NGPC is fighting on completely different level. NGPC has perfect type of games for portable gaming and every single one has been very fun so far, but I haven’t tried many. SwanCrystal gave me very toy-ish first impression, which I don’t mind, but NGPC feels like legit games machines. The stick is godly and buttons feel responsive and solid. Everyting about it feels so well designed and pleasant. I actually kind of prefer the screen to be lightless, it’s much more eye-friendly. Backlighting messes with eyes especially in dark. Haven’t used frontlit device in long time, so don’t know about that.
It’s truly a shame GBC won over this things, but what can you do about Nintendo.
My cousin is hardcore Neo Geo gamer…
this is one of my all time favorite hand helds ever,it had alot of great games on it and i kinda wish the Gameboy color and the Neo Geo pocket color could have co existed insted of the laiter getting rid of the NGPC all together,to bad SNK wont make a NGPC 2 or at least put games on the 3DS virtual console
A little known fact: the Neo Geo Pocket Color had a slim version that was released in limited number (due to the company collapsing). It was still called a Neo Geo Pocket Color, but it was significantly thinner.