Hope you all enjoyed the video! I just remembered that I did a whole video on Sonic Pocket Adventure a few years ago, so if you want to see some more NGP love, check that video out here! ua-cam.com/video/Db01ieHJjQs/v-deo.html
it always bothers me when one of the first things said about these consoles is "even thought it came out in 1999, the screen wasn't backlit"... modern gamers really need to understand how and why these consoles were made that way. in 1999, we all wanted backlit screens indeed, but the gbc, ngpc and wonderswan instead chose to go with battery life. the swan got 30hours on one battery, the ngpc 40 on two (and they were sold for the equivalent of 30 and 60 bucks, respectively), and this is the numbers that mattered (and the screens were genuinely good, too, if you're ever held an ngpc or a swan alongside an old game boy -and even the gbc, which was way too dark, same with the gba-, their screens were *godlike* in comparison, big and crisp). only two machines had tried going with lighted screens before, the lynx and the gamegear, and both failed because they needed ungodly amounts of batteries to play a meager two to three hours (and were thrice as expensive as the game boy, too). we'll need rechargeable lithium batteries and another leap in compact technology (thanks mobile phones for that, ask the ngage) to go backlit, with the gba sp and nds, *four to five years later* (and the nds retailed for *$150* !). no light in 1999 *wasn't* a problem ; it was a necessity, for autonomy and retail price, and we all accepted the tradeoff.
I love the NGPC! I used to have one when I was younger, I actually just bought a used one to do some mods and case swaps. And as much as I'm for sustainable packaging for products, wowzer did we get shafted on game cases!
Good luck with the mods! Yeah no idea why they decided to only use cardboard boxes in America? Probably cost saving.. if you’ve got some, consider getting some protective cases for them!
KoF R2 is a very good Pocket Fighter for the system, but SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium is one step sharper in many ways, it has great graphics and has alot more characters, and it got some fun of mini games and extra super moves to unlock by playing mini games. It can also link up with SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash to unlock all the hidden characters in Match of the Millenium if you link your card album. As well as to link up with the Dreamcast KoF 1999 Dream Match Never ends to get points that you transfer from the Dreamcast game to the NGPCG and SNK vs Capcom Pro on the DC to transfer points from the mini games to the DC version to unlock stuff in that game. I got both the Neo Geo link cable with 2 NGPC systems and Neo to Dreamcast link cable to try these stuff out, it adds some flavor to the games but its not like you need it, its just a cool feature.
The problem with a lot of the also-ran handhelds of the 90s is their companies just weren't as aggressive as Nintendo. While other handhelds had the Gameboy beaten on technical specs, Nintendo made sure through aggressive marketing, bundle deals, and pricing, that every kid wanted a Gameboy for Christmas. In Australia, I saw a total of _two_ Lynxes in my childhood. Never saw a Gamegear despite all of my friends having Sega consoles at home, and the Neogeo Pocket was never released down here to my knowledge. Everyone had a Gameboy, and by the time Pokémon came out, some kids had two, because they needed a second one to complete their Pokédex. While it's tempting to think Pokémon is what secured the Gameboy's place, it had been undisputed king of the hill for years before Pokémon came out. I think Pokémon had more to do with there being no point in competing with Nintendo after the Gameboy Color, which is why the GBA ran almost entirely unopposed for its whole generation. I think another thing that held competitors back is the nature of gaming at the time. Throughout the Gameboy's early life, gaming was a pick up and play affair. You didn't need save games, because you'd be playing a simple sports game, or Centipede, or some other game that'd take you half an hour to finish if you're good. Nintendo's library excelled at that, with much of the Gameboy core library being adaptations of NES titles. Nobody really offered anything apart from bite sized pick up and play gaming experiences, and you could get those on the console everyone had, the Gameboy. There was no compelling reason to get a Lynx or a Gamegear, because, while they had colour screens, the screens were just as bad for ghosting as the DMG-1's. The first time I used a Lynx, I didn't even realise the screen was colour because of the lighting around me. It just looked like a grey soup worse than the Gameboy.
All good points, yeah I think Nintendo really had a monopoly not just because of the insane amount of money they had for marketing, as well as NES ports etc, but also because they understood what differentiated a handheld from a console game, a lot of what Atari and Sega tried to do was bring the console experience to the handheld, which didn't always gel with the kind of way the games would actually be played. Nintendo's always done really well differentiating the two... until recently at least!
Great to see some content on the NGP! I actually have a couple ROMs like Sonic Pocket Adventure and SNK Gals’ Fighters that I was going to play on the Everdrive GBA, but of course that emulator isn’t worth much of anything ;^^ hopefully I can find a way to play these games soon! Great video!
Cool! I've always wanted to try the Dreamcast link up! Apparently Sonic Pocket adventure and SA1 and 2 on the dreamcast were going to support it, but it was dropped... wonder if a Chao garden was planned for the game?
Great video here! I have no nostalgia for this console, I tried it out first time ever 2 years ago, and its definitely an awesome system that deserved better! So far, I've been really liking Metal Slug: 2nd Mission.
Thanks! Goes to show how good of a system silt is, that you only played it a few years ago and could still enjoy it! It still feels fresh! Think it’s partly due to the arcade style gameplay of a lot of the games!
I love how it has a scrolling background layer. That creates a really cool effect. Parallax is rare in an 8-bit system, especially this kind of parallax And it can be used for other stuff too I bet
I never realised how brilliant the Neo Geo Pocket's library was. Very much looking forward to more of them hitting the Switch in the future. Awesome Video.
Great to see you again Nick. So glad that you reviewed the awesome NGPC. Such an underrated unit that offers so much even after all these years. I made sure I have this in the collection bro. What a gem this unit is. 8^) I posted this up on, The official NEO-GEO Thread for others to take notice and enjoy on what you have to say bro. Thank you for sharing this and keep up the great work for sure. 86) Anthony..
Love the NGPC. Personally even tho I owned every handheld. I always had a low key grudge against game boy and game boy color.The games on GB and GbC felt like mini mini games,like I wasn't playing a real game worth buying. It wasn't the same feeling for example when I would play Gamegear games and NGPC games, the games felt like actual games with gameplay depth. Like Capcom vs SNK felt and played like a home console quality game, a feeling I didn't get from GB. It wasn't until the GBA that I finally thought Nintendo had a great handheld that was as good as game gear and NGPC
I can see why you'd feel that, but there are some good deeper games on the Game Boy too! They are just few and far between in with all the licensed kids games and quick cash grabs, which something like the NGP had a lot less of
I like the Gamegear more than the Gameboy. The Gamegear has deep sound to it. It is fun to hold in your hand. Most of the games are fun, and Sonic Triple Trouble is pretty good. There was even a TV tuner for it and a Master System adapter. It was a real battery eater though, so I could only play Gamegear with an AC adapter. I remember playing Neo Geo Pocket Color on the train during my college days. I wish there were more platformers on it.
Great video!! I absolutely love the Neo geo pocket color! Picked it up when it came out and played it a ton!! Match of the MILLENNIUM and card fighters where my favorites.
NO TECHNICAL FEATURES?! That clicky stick in itself is fantastic! Still best D-Pad ever for a handheld! Bothers the parents and gives you all the comfort of an Arcade stick that you need! :P. One annoyed adult at a time :P. All kidding aside, the Ram was not a problem, one could easily put some on the cartridge had the system lasted longer. The system's main CPU had plenty of DMA channels as well, so you can keep a lot of the tiles just stored on the rom itself. It also won't make the system run slower. That's more a development issue. It either fits in ram or it doesn't. But it is why later Color Only games like Metal Slug Second Mission were MILES ahead of the previous color and gray scale compatible games. Sonic is another game that actually runs quite fast. I am sure had it actually lasted a bit longer, SNK would easily have taken advantage of those DMA channels, used bank switching for the carts (as they did in the Arcade A LOT) and just brute forced it with ROM size and some ram on the cartridge itself into something that would have surpassed the GBC in everything. It just didn't last, as the Gameboy advance was the final nail in it's coffin. Not to mention that better systems were out there if you were just in it for the graphics in Japan :P. I mean FFS, Bandai's wonderswan's series of handhelds were just insane in the end in what it could pull off :P .
The reason they have so many slot games etc is gambling is illegal in Japan so these games can give you the thrill without using cash and breaking the law 😁
Here in the US, remember reading about the Neo Geo Pocket Color in gaming magazines, but never seeing it on shelves. Now that I think of it, even the magazines didn't publish reviews for the games either...
Great video, my favorite games on the system are probably Card Fighter’s Clash, Faselei!, and Pocket Tennis. CFC and Faselei are surprisingly deep experiences for the handheld (Faselei even has a vocal song in the intro!), and while Pocket Tennis isn’t super deep, it is super fun to play and the simplicity and cute art style gives it a lot of charm.
The most satisfying thing mankind has created would have to be the Neo Geo Pocket stick haha. Them clicks are like bubble-wrap times a thousand. Mmmmmm. Some of the best spritework ever exists in a bunch of NGP games too. Great choice for a video topic.
Agree to both points! I’ve had the NGP on my desk for a few weeks now and when I’m bored at work I’ll pick it up and just click the click stick! So satisfying!
I've got a soft spot for this. I had one and it got stolen from my bag at school which was crushing. My parents were able to get a new one for me eventually, but that memory is stuck in my head. I loved card fighters, gotta try and give it a go again, especially that there is an english patch for the sequel.
I bought the Neogeo pocket colour a few years ago. I bought two each for 50 euro. I bought some games like Pac-man, Metal Slug, King of Fighters. I bought Samurai Showdown twice, but I got no link cable. Maybe I should get on ebay and buy a cable. Awesome handheld. I think the larger memory on the Gameboy colour is for displaying the colours on screen. King of Fighters looked very fast on my Pocket. Metal Slug showed tons of sprites.
@@RetroBreak you definitely need some soldering skills. I learnt by myself. Got a cheap electric board from Ali express and bought a soldering kit and was learning how to tin the points. Once you get used to that, then yeah you can definitely do it. Honestly, give it a go. It's fun to do and the satisfaction when you complete the mod is amazing
it's not *just* that the games on this system are good (and they are very good). but the hardware was just better than GBC. faster processors, sharper colors, cleaner pixels, better sound, etc. but with all of SNK's problems at the time, this poor thing never had a real chance 😞
Yes as I showed near the start, pretty much all the specs are slightly better. But not a huge leap ahead of the GBC.. sound is actually a bit worse, less channels I believe
11:28 i’m really surprised that they actually showed how the baubles looked on the monochrome neo geo pocket in the british manual! the monochrome was only released in japan and was on the market for a very short time; there were only something like nine monochrome-only games and very few backwards-compatible color games
I highly recommend the new bigger backlit screen :) I bought a second NGPC for cheap from Japan and the screen for only $45 on ebay, and it was quite an easy mod, the first ever screen mod I attempted on my own… just had to have my roomie desolder and resolder the speaker, the rest is quite straightforward.. some people also do extra work for the on screen display stuff, but it isn’t necessary
I always get this system confused with the Wonderswan. Then I remind myself "oh yeah Wonderswan had the Evangelion tamagotchi where you raise an Angel in a shockingly complex recreation of NERV HQ, Neo Geo Pocket Color had the one Sonic game IGN gave a perfect 10/10 score" Also holy shit the image at 0:50 made me really concerned for a second until I remembered European cars have the driver's seat on the right lol
Big fan of this console. Really great games like Sonic, the card fighters and standard fighting games. Just a really cool device and I'd love to see a classic rerelease.
I loved my Neo Geo pocket, I bought every game I could find at the time and there wasn't one game that I didn't enjoy. It was sad when SNK pulled the plug. They sold off remaining stocks by repackaging the handheld and a few games in a blister pack without the SNK or NeoGeo branding - was a sad ending for a fantastic machine. I wish I'd kept my Biomotor Unitron.
I actually owned three different NGPC. The first one was broken by a friend's little brother, second was stolen, and I still have the third one. My current one is the lite and it csme with a slots game. I really need to get a back-lit screen.
Damn right this deserved better. I totally missed out the first time around, so I've been snatching up the Switch ports from Day 1. So far I've tried Card Fighters, Big Bang Wrestling and Unitron. I just wish SNK would drop Faselei next cuz I'm really into strategy.
I miss my NGP so much. I had 13 games, including Biomotor, Fasali, Dark Arms and the Card Fighter and SNK Vs Capcom games. Hope the guy in Brazil I sold them to enjoyed them. I’ve tried emulating them but nothing beat that clicky stick.
I had the blue camo. The stick is amazing and probably the best part. More portables should emulate it. I had biomotor unitron wish I kept it now for that price tag! :D
My brother bought the black and white console at the time and I bought the gameboy color…when the color version came out just 6 months after he was pissed!…but he used all the money to buy the color version but was never able to sell the black and white, we still have those till today but is been unused for a long time now
Saw a Neo Geo Pocket in my local Cex once with a copy of Sonic, I didn't get it, although I was tempted. Afraid I'll probably go the Switch port route for trying this system's games. I did pick up a Wonderswan Color from ebay last year with a backlit ISP screen (Also came with a FlashMasta cart). bought it from the same guy who modded two of my 3DSs. I had a look through a box of Wonderswam games at Allan's stall in Blackpool, but decided to pick up Saturn games instead.
Nice review and gotta say I’ve never played a real Neo Geo Pocket. I had never heard of it before the games were released on the switch. Easily the best fighting game for me is match of the millennium. Not only is it an excellent fighter with a ton of characters to unlock to make a total of 26, 13 SNK and 13 Capcom. But the mini games included are awesome too.. including metal slug shooter and a ghouls and ghosts jumping game. It’s probably the best hand held fighting game of all time. And honestly might be better than capcom vs SNK. Like a lot of brits I was priced out of playing SNK/Neo Geo games growing up. Which is sad really. They are easily one of best games companies and seem to really care about quality. That shows in this device and it’s games. Far better than Nintendo’s game boy
yes if it got more support i believe it could have survived, i live in the usa and i only knew 1 person that had the neo geo pocket color, so even back in the day to me it was rare!
This was a truly great console for those who purchased at the time, best handheld for awhile until GBA SP launched unless you were one of the very few who front lit modded a GBA. The original GBA might as well have been a useless brick since the screen was so dark. At least with the NGPC you could see the screen easily without angling it directly into the mid day sun. A console doesn't need a ton of titles if over 50% of the titles are great which this library did. Unlike its big brother, the games were cheap and a good value for the time. For such an obscure console I had very little trouble finding games and even years later games would surface at retail in liquidation.
I had one of these when they came out, but in the UK it was realy hard to get the games, I only has sonic, streetfighter vs snk , and I think some other game. But streetfighter vs was amazing for its time
I had one, I must be the only person that thought the stick sound was annoying. Most people I showed it to were disappointed with this, due to the reputation of the Neo Geo being a graphics powerhouse & this being somewhat graphically below the Lynx & GG.
How does this compare to the Wonderswan, Sega Nomad, and Turbografx LT? Furthermore, I'd like to see 16-bit consoles ranked by battery life. Lastly, it's fascinating that it took 12 years after the Atari Lynx came out to make 16-bit handhelds obsolete. Even more astounding is that an 8-bit console dominated the market for 12 years.
It’s actually my current goal to collect and beat every physical neo geo pocket game (except slots bc I don’t think it has an end?) anyway currently I have 32 Neo geo pocket titles. (Most North American as im trying to finish those first!) now don’t get my wrong I love the switch version but the physical is nothing compared. Also did you know they finally made a FULL screen mod for the NGP and a new flash cart that can hold ALL NGP games and it loads one at a time with 4/5 on stand by
Your accent has always been so interesting to me. When you said you go to Edinburgh for your job, it made me focus more on your accent... and I'm wondering, is it like a British English / Scottish combination? Like 85% British English, 15% Scottish? The way you say "found" reminds me of Scottish, for instance. But this could just be confirmation bias! Either way, very nice accent!
I think if it had a backlight it would've done a lot better. Saving battery seems worth it until you're standing under an awning on a sunny day trying to play your NeoGeo. Crazy how much marketing and brand recognition contribute too
Not sure how that’s relevant to anything? And there’s a lot of puzzle bobble clones, guess it’s generic enough that any one can copy it, same with bejewelled
You got me! Haha… truth is, I got that collection 2 weeks after recording the first part of the video.. it’s been difficult to make this one so I’ve been piecing it together over time! XD glad it’s got a re release!
@@RetroBreak I looked it up, and apparently the Collection on Steam has Crush Roller in the collection instead of SNK vs Capcom Match of the Millennium. It’s probably due to licensing, but it’s nice that Crush Roller is easily available for people that want to play it.
I missed out on getting a Game drive a year or so ago and they are out of stock now. Flashmaster is in stock though so kinda tempted but the limit or 1 or 2 games at a time seems restrictive
I just bought one for my son for Christmas. I got it from Japan. I have a question for you, the screen is hard to see during day time. Is there a way you can make the screen brighter?? I spend a lot of money for it . Thank you!
If you just got a regular one it doesn’t have a backlight. The one I have in the video has an IPS screen. You can get them modded or buy a kit and try to do it yourself
Hope you all enjoyed the video! I just remembered that I did a whole video on Sonic Pocket Adventure a few years ago, so if you want to see some more NGP love, check that video out here! ua-cam.com/video/Db01ieHJjQs/v-deo.html
for sure thanks bro
SNK did have high hopes to have games developed for it outside of Japan, as they contacted me about doing some artwork for them at the time.
Woah that’s cool!
You’re amazing, Larry!
Did you make Videogame Cover Artworks?
Thanks for the info Larry! That’s cool! Did you ever get as far as actually drawing anything for them or was it cancelled too soon?
This isn't true lmao
it always bothers me when one of the first things said about these consoles is "even thought it came out in 1999, the screen wasn't backlit"... modern gamers really need to understand how and why these consoles were made that way. in 1999, we all wanted backlit screens indeed, but the gbc, ngpc and wonderswan instead chose to go with battery life. the swan got 30hours on one battery, the ngpc 40 on two (and they were sold for the equivalent of 30 and 60 bucks, respectively), and this is the numbers that mattered (and the screens were genuinely good, too, if you're ever held an ngpc or a swan alongside an old game boy -and even the gbc, which was way too dark, same with the gba-, their screens were *godlike* in comparison, big and crisp). only two machines had tried going with lighted screens before, the lynx and the gamegear, and both failed because they needed ungodly amounts of batteries to play a meager two to three hours (and were thrice as expensive as the game boy, too). we'll need rechargeable lithium batteries and another leap in compact technology (thanks mobile phones for that, ask the ngage) to go backlit, with the gba sp and nds, *four to five years later* (and the nds retailed for *$150* !). no light in 1999 *wasn't* a problem ; it was a necessity, for autonomy and retail price, and we all accepted the tradeoff.
It has the best directional stick in history! it was mind blowing back in the day.
wow this video exudes enthusiasm, great content! this was a very entertaining watch
Thanks glad you enjoyed it!
I love the NGPC! I used to have one when I was younger, I actually just bought a used one to do some mods and case swaps. And as much as I'm for sustainable packaging for products, wowzer did we get shafted on game cases!
Good luck with the mods! Yeah no idea why they decided to only use cardboard boxes in America? Probably cost saving.. if you’ve got some, consider getting some protective cases for them!
The animation for some of these games are really amazing for the time! snk vs capcom and a lot of the other fighting games have such good animation
Yeah the animation, and sprite work in those fighting games is great!
Thats where the 16bit processor comes in handy. The graphics aren't persay 16bit but the animations definitely are.
Underrated as hell channel. Huge fan of underrated handhelds as well, like the NeoGeo Pocket Color, Wonderswan, and the PlayStation Vita.
Underrated channel and underrated handled! This video was meant to be! XD
KoF R2 is a very good Pocket Fighter for the system, but SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millenium is one step sharper in many ways, it has great graphics and has alot more characters, and it got some fun of mini games and extra super moves to unlock by playing mini games.
It can also link up with SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash to unlock all the hidden characters in Match of the Millenium if you link your card album.
As well as to link up with the Dreamcast KoF 1999 Dream Match Never ends to get points that you transfer from the Dreamcast game to the NGPCG and SNK vs Capcom Pro on the DC to transfer points from the mini games to the DC version to unlock stuff in that game.
I got both the Neo Geo link cable with 2 NGPC systems and Neo to Dreamcast link cable to try these stuff out, it adds some flavor to the games but its not like you need it, its just a cool feature.
The problem with a lot of the also-ran handhelds of the 90s is their companies just weren't as aggressive as Nintendo. While other handhelds had the Gameboy beaten on technical specs, Nintendo made sure through aggressive marketing, bundle deals, and pricing, that every kid wanted a Gameboy for Christmas. In Australia, I saw a total of _two_ Lynxes in my childhood. Never saw a Gamegear despite all of my friends having Sega consoles at home, and the Neogeo Pocket was never released down here to my knowledge. Everyone had a Gameboy, and by the time Pokémon came out, some kids had two, because they needed a second one to complete their Pokédex. While it's tempting to think Pokémon is what secured the Gameboy's place, it had been undisputed king of the hill for years before Pokémon came out. I think Pokémon had more to do with there being no point in competing with Nintendo after the Gameboy Color, which is why the GBA ran almost entirely unopposed for its whole generation.
I think another thing that held competitors back is the nature of gaming at the time. Throughout the Gameboy's early life, gaming was a pick up and play affair. You didn't need save games, because you'd be playing a simple sports game, or Centipede, or some other game that'd take you half an hour to finish if you're good. Nintendo's library excelled at that, with much of the Gameboy core library being adaptations of NES titles. Nobody really offered anything apart from bite sized pick up and play gaming experiences, and you could get those on the console everyone had, the Gameboy. There was no compelling reason to get a Lynx or a Gamegear, because, while they had colour screens, the screens were just as bad for ghosting as the DMG-1's. The first time I used a Lynx, I didn't even realise the screen was colour because of the lighting around me. It just looked like a grey soup worse than the Gameboy.
All good points, yeah I think Nintendo really had a monopoly not just because of the insane amount of money they had for marketing, as well as NES ports etc, but also because they understood what differentiated a handheld from a console game, a lot of what Atari and Sega tried to do was bring the console experience to the handheld, which didn't always gel with the kind of way the games would actually be played. Nintendo's always done really well differentiating the two... until recently at least!
Great to see some content on the NGP! I actually have a couple ROMs like Sonic Pocket Adventure and SNK Gals’ Fighters that I was going to play on the Everdrive GBA, but of course that emulator isn’t worth much of anything ;^^ hopefully I can find a way to play these games soon! Great video!
Thanks glad you enjoyed it! And yeah… that GBA emulator is so bad! Not sure why they even bothered releasing it if it can’t even run at 10fps!
@@RetroBreak For real! It was so sad to turn on the FPS counter and see it max out at 2
The Neo Geo Pocket Color was the first thing I bought when I got my first paycheck from my first job. Frickin' loved that thing. I miss it.
The only one really pushing the envelope is the king of fighters...
What a great little handheld. Thanks for showcasing all these games - excellent video!
Bought myself a crystal system last year and i love it also got a cable that connects to Dreamcast with the handheld
I also reccomend Gal's Fighters
Cool! I've always wanted to try the Dreamcast link up! Apparently Sonic Pocket adventure and SA1 and 2 on the dreamcast were going to support it, but it was dropped... wonder if a Chao garden was planned for the game?
Great video here!
I have no nostalgia for this console, I tried it out first time ever 2 years ago, and its definitely an awesome system that deserved better!
So far, I've been really liking Metal Slug: 2nd Mission.
Thanks! Goes to show how good of a system silt is, that you only played it a few years ago and could still enjoy it! It still feels fresh! Think it’s partly due to the arcade style gameplay of a lot of the games!
You're such a positive, laidback, and beautiful person. Thank you for making these comforting videos for us
Thank you! Glad you find my videos comforting
I love how it has a scrolling background layer. That creates a really cool effect. Parallax is rare in an 8-bit system, especially this kind of parallax
And it can be used for other stuff too I bet
I never realised how brilliant the Neo Geo Pocket's library was.
Very much looking forward to more of them hitting the Switch in the future.
Awesome Video.
Great to see you again Nick. So glad that you reviewed the awesome NGPC. Such an underrated unit that offers so much even after all these years. I made sure I have this in the collection bro. What a gem this unit is. 8^)
I posted this up on, The official NEO-GEO Thread for others to take notice and enjoy on what you have to say bro. Thank you for sharing this and keep up the great work for sure. 86)
Anthony..
Love the NGPC. Personally even tho I owned every handheld. I always had a low key grudge against game boy and game boy color.The games on GB and GbC felt like mini mini games,like I wasn't playing a real game worth buying. It wasn't the same feeling for example when I would play Gamegear games and NGPC games, the games felt like actual games with gameplay depth. Like Capcom vs SNK felt and played like a home console quality game, a feeling I didn't get from GB. It wasn't until the GBA that I finally thought Nintendo had a great handheld that was as good as game gear and NGPC
I can see why you'd feel that, but there are some good deeper games on the Game Boy too! They are just few and far between in with all the licensed kids games and quick cash grabs, which something like the NGP had a lot less of
I like the Gamegear more than the Gameboy. The Gamegear has deep sound to it. It is fun to hold in your hand. Most of the games are fun, and Sonic Triple Trouble is pretty good. There was even a TV tuner for it and a Master System adapter.
It was a real battery eater though, so I could only play Gamegear with an AC adapter. I remember playing Neo Geo Pocket Color on the train during my college days. I wish there were more platformers on it.
Great video!! I absolutely love the Neo geo pocket color! Picked it up when it came out and played it a ton!! Match of the MILLENNIUM and card fighters where my favorites.
NO TECHNICAL FEATURES?! That clicky stick in itself is fantastic! Still best D-Pad ever for a handheld! Bothers the parents and gives you all the comfort of an Arcade stick that you need! :P. One annoyed adult at a time :P. All kidding aside, the Ram was not a problem, one could easily put some on the cartridge had the system lasted longer. The system's main CPU had plenty of DMA channels as well, so you can keep a lot of the tiles just stored on the rom itself. It also won't make the system run slower. That's more a development issue. It either fits in ram or it doesn't.
But it is why later Color Only games like Metal Slug Second Mission were MILES ahead of the previous color and gray scale compatible games. Sonic is another game that actually runs quite fast. I am sure had it actually lasted a bit longer, SNK would easily have taken advantage of those DMA channels, used bank switching for the carts (as they did in the Arcade A LOT) and just brute forced it with ROM size and some ram on the cartridge itself into something that would have surpassed the GBC in everything. It just didn't last, as the Gameboy advance was the final nail in it's coffin. Not to mention that better systems were out there if you were just in it for the graphics in Japan :P. I mean FFS, Bandai's wonderswan's series of handhelds were just insane in the end in what it could pull off :P .
The reason they have so many slot games etc is gambling is illegal in Japan so these games can give you the thrill without using cash and breaking the law 😁
Here in the US, remember reading about the Neo Geo Pocket Color in gaming magazines, but never seeing it on shelves. Now that I think of it, even the magazines didn't publish reviews for the games either...
What a fun looking system! I was a gameboy kid, but def want to explore this system.
I had one of these brand new when i was younger. It was amazing.
Thx for telling me about so many games that I can now enjoy on my Miyoo Mini. :D
Severely underrated, perfect analog stick for its library
Awesome review i love the neogeopoket color❤ i’m glad Imma get my copy in the switch ver physical ⭐️
Great video, my favorite games on the system are probably Card Fighter’s Clash, Faselei!, and Pocket Tennis. CFC and Faselei are surprisingly deep experiences for the handheld (Faselei even has a vocal song in the intro!), and while Pocket Tennis isn’t super deep, it is super fun to play and the simplicity and cute art style gives it a lot of charm.
Great video! Was fun learning about NGPC. Sadly I never had the chance to play it growing up.
The most satisfying thing mankind has created would have to be the Neo Geo Pocket stick haha. Them clicks are like bubble-wrap times a thousand. Mmmmmm.
Some of the best spritework ever exists in a bunch of NGP games too. Great choice for a video topic.
Agree to both points! I’ve had the NGP on my desk for a few weeks now and when I’m bored at work I’ll pick it up and just click the click stick! So satisfying!
Even if you lose every game you play on there, you still got to click that stick so you're always a winner haha.
Haha maybe I don’t need a backlit screen. I don’t need a screen at all! Just that stick!
Hmmm...a Neo Geo stick as a keyring...
*boots up Kickstarter*
I've got a soft spot for this. I had one and it got stolen from my bag at school which was crushing. My parents were able to get a new one for me eventually, but that memory is stuck in my head. I loved card fighters, gotta try and give it a go again, especially that there is an english patch for the sequel.
I bought the Neogeo pocket colour a few years ago. I bought two each for 50 euro. I bought some games like Pac-man, Metal Slug, King of Fighters.
I bought Samurai Showdown twice, but I got no link cable. Maybe I should get on ebay and buy a cable.
Awesome handheld. I think the larger memory on the Gameboy colour is for displaying the colours on screen.
King of Fighters looked very fast on my Pocket.
Metal Slug showed tons of sprites.
I still play my ngpc time to time. I managed to mod it with a backlit screen also.
Nice! Was it easy to mod? I haven’t decided if I want to try it myself, or order a pre built one…
@@RetroBreak you definitely need some soldering skills. I learnt by myself. Got a cheap electric board from Ali express and bought a soldering kit and was learning how to tin the points. Once you get used to that, then yeah you can definitely do it. Honestly, give it a go. It's fun to do and the satisfaction when you complete the mod is amazing
another great video man, you're criminally underated
Thank you! Better to be underrated than overrated! Haha
Great videoI love the Neo Geo Pocket Color it's a great system it deserved to succeed.
it's not *just* that the games on this system are good (and they are very good). but the hardware was just better than GBC. faster processors, sharper colors, cleaner pixels, better sound, etc.
but with all of SNK's problems at the time, this poor thing never had a real chance 😞
Yes as I showed near the start, pretty much all the specs are slightly better. But not a huge leap ahead of the GBC.. sound is actually a bit worse, less channels I believe
hardware was better than GBC and the SCREEN was way more visible than GBA until the GBA SP fixed that horrible mistake by Nintendo.
11:28 i’m really surprised that they actually showed how the baubles looked on the monochrome neo geo pocket in the british manual! the monochrome was only released in japan and was on the market for a very short time; there were only something like nine monochrome-only games and very few backwards-compatible color games
I highly recommend the new bigger backlit screen :) I bought a second NGPC for cheap from Japan and the screen for only $45 on ebay, and it was quite an easy mod, the first ever screen mod I attempted on my own… just had to have my roomie desolder and resolder the speaker, the rest is quite straightforward.. some people also do extra work for the on screen display stuff, but it isn’t necessary
The clicking sound of the analog stick is satisfying.
I've never seen one before but it looked likes like a good competitor against the Gameboy. Would have been great if they kept making handhelds.
They did release the NEO GEO X handheld a few years later but it was a flop, and just played regular Neo Geo games from an SD card
Looks like a stutter.
I always get this system confused with the Wonderswan. Then I remind myself "oh yeah Wonderswan had the Evangelion tamagotchi where you raise an Angel in a shockingly complex recreation of NERV HQ, Neo Geo Pocket Color had the one Sonic game IGN gave a perfect 10/10 score"
Also holy shit the image at 0:50 made me really concerned for a second until I remembered European cars have the driver's seat on the right lol
Great video on this fantastic system. Only own 2 games so I learned a lot from your video.
PS: go easy on the coffee. 😄
Amazing Video! Thank so much!👏👏
Big fan of this console. Really great games like Sonic, the card fighters and standard fighting games. Just a really cool device and I'd love to see a classic rerelease.
I loved my Neo Geo pocket, I bought every game I could find at the time and there wasn't one game that I didn't enjoy. It was sad when SNK pulled the plug. They sold off remaining stocks by repackaging the handheld and a few games in a blister pack without the SNK or NeoGeo branding - was a sad ending for a fantastic machine. I wish I'd kept my Biomotor Unitron.
I actually owned three different NGPC. The first one was broken by a friend's little brother, second was stolen, and I still have the third one. My current one is the lite and it csme with a slots game. I really need to get a back-lit screen.
Damn right this deserved better. I totally missed out the first time around, so I've been snatching up the Switch ports from Day 1. So far I've tried Card Fighters, Big Bang Wrestling and Unitron. I just wish SNK would drop Faselei next cuz I'm really into strategy.
Glad you’re enjoying the games thanks to the switch releases! Hope they keep releasing more!
19:11 this looks like pinball what a brilliant idea :3 nice looking game :3 (never play sonic games)
I have a ton of NeoGeo Pocket games on my RG351P but I haven't really played many of them yet. I should get on that.
Nice summary of NGPC ! I must mod it too 😎
I miss my NGP so much. I had 13 games, including Biomotor, Fasali, Dark Arms and the Card Fighter and SNK Vs Capcom games. Hope the guy in Brazil I sold them to enjoyed them. I’ve tried emulating them but nothing beat that clicky stick.
have one - also modded with flash masta. my fav game: sonic... but my fav thing about the system is the joystick :D
I had the blue camo. The stick is amazing and probably the best part. More portables should emulate it. I had biomotor unitron wish I kept it now for that price tag! :D
definitely an underrated system
My brother bought the black and white console at the time and I bought the gameboy color…when the color version came out just 6 months after he was pissed!…but he used all the money to buy the color version but was never able to sell the black and white, we still have those till today but is been unused for a long time now
Okay, i'm inspired to start a Neo Geo Pocket collection
Did you know a new screen mod came out for the Neo Geo pocket awhile back that doesn't require a bezel and is larger?
My fav fighter on it was samurai shodown 2
Such a great game with that stick
Not the same without it
Such a great System. It is sad that it was never released where i live :(
Saw a Neo Geo Pocket in my local Cex once with a copy of Sonic, I didn't get it, although I was tempted. Afraid I'll probably go the Switch port route for trying this system's games.
I did pick up a Wonderswan Color from ebay last year with a backlit ISP screen (Also came with a FlashMasta cart). bought it from the same guy who modded two of my 3DSs. I had a look through a box of Wonderswam games at Allan's stall in Blackpool, but decided to pick up Saturn games instead.
Do you have any wondedswan recommendations? I need to get some more games for the system!
Nice review and gotta say I’ve never played a real Neo Geo Pocket. I had never heard of it before the games were released on the switch. Easily the best fighting game for me is match of the millennium. Not only is it an excellent fighter with a ton of characters to unlock to make a total of 26, 13 SNK and 13 Capcom. But the mini games included are awesome too.. including metal slug shooter and a ghouls and ghosts jumping game. It’s probably the best hand held fighting game of all time. And honestly might be better than capcom vs SNK. Like a lot of brits I was priced out of playing SNK/Neo Geo games growing up. Which is sad really. They are easily one of best games companies and seem to really care about quality. That shows in this device and it’s games. Far better than Nintendo’s game boy
Awesome, I really want to try and track down a copy of Match of the Millennium! It sounds awesome!
10:04,
thats hella premium case for old games!
would cost an arm and leg if we have'em back then in states LOL
Faselei is a real gem.
i live in the US and never knew this existed til it was discontinued
yes if it got more support i believe it could have survived, i live in the usa and i only knew 1 person that had the neo geo pocket color, so even back in the day to me it was rare!
This was a truly great console for those who purchased at the time, best handheld for awhile until GBA SP launched unless you were one of the very few who front lit modded a GBA. The original GBA might as well have been a useless brick since the screen was so dark. At least with the NGPC you could see the screen easily without angling it directly into the mid day sun. A console doesn't need a ton of titles if over 50% of the titles are great which this library did. Unlike its big brother, the games were cheap and a good value for the time. For such an obscure console I had very little trouble finding games and even years later games would surface at retail in liquidation.
It sure did, I love mine and collection. Make sure you upgrade the screen though.
When I get my own one I’ll make sure to get the newer IPS screen, they look amazing!
@@RetroBreak they sure do I’m chuffed with mine. Anything Neo Geo I’m in!
I had one of these when they came out, but in the UK it was realy hard to get the games, I only has sonic, streetfighter vs snk , and I think some other game. But streetfighter vs was amazing for its time
I had one, I must be the only person that thought the stick sound was annoying. Most people I showed it to were disappointed with this, due to the reputation of the Neo Geo being a graphics powerhouse & this being somewhat graphically below the Lynx & GG.
How does this compare to the Wonderswan, Sega Nomad, and Turbografx LT? Furthermore, I'd like to see 16-bit consoles ranked by battery life. Lastly, it's fascinating that it took 12 years after the Atari Lynx came out to make 16-bit handhelds obsolete. Even more astounding is that an 8-bit console dominated the market for 12 years.
It sucks, I remember seeing these at Babbage's back in the day and I REALLY wish I would have bought one :(
It’s actually my current goal to collect and beat every physical neo geo pocket game (except slots bc I don’t think it has an end?) anyway currently I have 32 Neo geo pocket titles. (Most North American as im trying to finish those first!) now don’t get my wrong I love the switch version but the physical is nothing compared. Also did you know they finally made a FULL screen mod for the NGP and a new flash cart that can hold ALL NGP games and it loads one at a time with 4/5 on stand by
When I was in highschool all the cool kids had this system and would play sonic at lunch time
All I knew about this system was the Sonic game on it. It looks really cool though.
Your accent has always been so interesting to me. When you said you go to Edinburgh for your job, it made me focus more on your accent... and I'm wondering, is it like a British English / Scottish combination? Like 85% British English, 15% Scottish? The way you say "found" reminds me of Scottish, for instance. But this could just be confirmation bias!
Either way, very nice accent!
Thank you! Well… I live in the West Midlands, but my mum is from London and my Dad is from Birmingham, so it’s probably a bit of a mix of those…
GBC is the fifth generation and the Neo Geo Pocket Color is part of the sixth generation surprisingly
The black and white NGP is 5th gen apparently, not sure who decides that..
i was a gameboy kid but i always wanted a neogeo pocket
I think if it had a backlight it would've done a lot better. Saving battery seems worth it until you're standing under an awning on a sunny day trying to play your NeoGeo. Crazy how much marketing and brand recognition contribute too
what i don't get is how team 17 was able to make worms blast, which the game play is identical to puzzle bobble/bust a move!
Not sure how that’s relevant to anything? And there’s a lot of puzzle bobble clones, guess it’s generic enough that any one can copy it, same with bejewelled
I believe Dark Arms is on Switch via the NGP Collection Volume 1.
Yes it is, you can briefly see it at the end of the video when I show the box for the switch collection
@@RetroBreak I realized that, but you mentioned in the video that it never saw a re-release of any kind.
You got me! Haha… truth is, I got that collection 2 weeks after recording the first part of the video.. it’s been difficult to make this one so I’ve been piecing it together over time! XD glad it’s got a re release!
@@RetroBreak I looked it up, and apparently the Collection on Steam has Crush Roller in the collection instead of SNK vs Capcom Match of the Millennium. It’s probably due to licensing, but it’s nice that Crush Roller is easily available for people that want to play it.
My favorite! I truly wish it did better to compete with the Gameboy.
Yeah. Such a shame that not many third party developers got on board to make games for it!
I missed out on getting a Game drive a year or so ago and they are out of stock now. Flashmaster is in stock though so kinda tempted but the limit or 1 or 2 games at a time seems restrictive
Yeah it’s quite annoying only being able to have two games on there! Took forever for me to film that section! >.
The problems were the games, people do not get handleds to play a million fighting games, and also they had to compete with the pokemon craze.
Best handheld that isn't from Nintendo.
Sony PSP: Am I a joke to you?
Subbed!!
I had every game for this but sold it all due to being skint, I am a knob.
Noooo! Hope you got a lot for it at least and it helped your situation at the time!
@@RetroBreak No big deal, I kept my GAMEBOY stuff, so not the end of the world, I couldn't part with that, I'd rather sell a testicle.
I just bought one for my son for Christmas. I got it from Japan.
I have a question for you, the screen is hard to see during day time. Is there a way you can make the screen brighter?? I spend a lot of money for it . Thank you!
If you just got a regular one it doesn’t have a backlight. The one I have in the video has an IPS screen. You can get them modded or buy a kit and try to do it yourself
UK CIB games aren’t cheap are they!? Are the Japanese versions cheaper?
A couple of years ago, they were now unfortunately due to inflation they're round about the same as UK prices.
God I would love to see Sonic Pocket Adventure ported to Switch.
I loved my Neo Geo pocket color, unfortunately my nephew killed it. Now it's too expensive to get one f*ck.
Great Video Nick !!!! Is the Neo Geo Pocket Color Games Region Free??
Thanks! And yes it's region free, the sonic game I have is the American version and it works fine! :D
i really enjoyed biomotor unitron, it's too bad the sequal only has a partial translation.
Yeah i was disappointed after downloading the patch to realise it wasn’t completed :( hopefully it will be one day!
What is that heinous bright red thing around the screen, tho?
I had no idea this existed.
I played the Neo Geo pocket games using an emulator the fighting games were fun
The best non-Nintendo handheld? Come on. The Tapwave Zodiac is clearly the taker of that crown.
Did you miss spell Gizmondo?? Haha
I’m hoping to pick up the NGPC adapter for my Analogue Pocket, when it ships in 2028
Haha that’s being optimistic!