{"id":21132,"date":"2021-04-02T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T00:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=21132"},"modified":"2021-03-21T12:59:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-21T12:59:31","slug":"neo-geo-pocket-color-selection-vol-1-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/02\/neo-geo-pocket-color-selection-vol-1-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"NEO GEO Pocket Color Selection vol. 1 (Switch)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Game maker SNK is known for their fighting games, but they also made their own consoles, like the NEO GEO and subsequent arcade machine.\u00a0 When it came time for them to compete with Nintendo\u2019s Game Boy Color, they brought out the NEO GEO Pocket Color.\u00a0 This was a really awesome little handheld, and for a short while, I even liked it better than Nintendo\u2019s portable offerings.\u00a0 And now you can play a collection of ten NGPC games on the Switch!<\/p>\n

The menu screen lets you select from the ten games and view 3-D models of the boxes, instruction booklets, toggle the languages, and choose the borders (mostly NGPC handhelds).\u00a0 I\u2019ll briefly go over the games on here I haven\u2019t reviewed yet, and provide links to the ones I have.<\/p>\n

Big Tournament Golf<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always knew this one as Neo Turf Masters, so I don\u2019t know where it got the name change.\u00a0 But it\u2019s the same game either way.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a handheld golf game, but don\u2019t let my generic description fool you.\u00a0 For being on a portable system from the late 90\u2019s, this one is pretty good.\u00a0 Simple to pick up and easy to control for the most part.\u00a0 For a while my friends and I were really into it back then.<\/p>\n

Dark Arms: Beast Busters 1999<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s an overhead action game where you shoot at a bunch of zombies and demons with bullets and try to upgrade your weapons.\u00a0 I had a hard time getting into this one, though.\u00a0 The shoddy translations (SNK was known for that back then), plus the slow, plodding gameplay just kept me from getting into it.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure for 1999 this isn\u2019t a bad game, though.\u00a0 There actually was an arcade game from SNK called Beast Busters.\u00a0 It was a light gun game where you shot at monsters in urban settings.\u00a0 I remember when I would go to arcades, my stepdad and my best friend\u2019s dad would play this one all the time!\u00a0 We\u2019d even have to pry them off the machine when it was time to go!<\/p>\n

Metal Slug: 1st<\/sup> Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 2-D run and gun shooter series with fluid animation, Metal Slug is one of SNK\u2019s flagship series.\u00a0 They did the best they could with the handheld version, and you can even ride in some of the vehicles in certain sections.\u00a0 But even so, the underpowered hardware causes the game to be slower and less hectic, you can only play as Marco, and the bosses take FOREVER to beat.\u00a0 It\u2019s still not a bad game, I\u2019d just rather play the originals.<\/p>\n

Metal Slug: 2nd<\/sup> Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now talk about an improvement!\u00a0 This game has better animations, two selectable characters, branching pathways, voice clips, and a wider variety of gameplay. \u00a0Definitely one of the NGPC\u2019s best!<\/p>\n

OK so the rest of the games on this collection I\u2019ve already reviewed, as they were sold separately before this collection.\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to just post links to my reviews for the rest of them.\u00a0 In particular, please read the reviews for Gals Fighters and SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium, as those are some of my favorite NGPC games!<\/p>\n

Fatal Fury: First Contact<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

King of Fighters R-2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Samurai Shodown 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Gals Fighters<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t think the two player modes would work here since you had to use a link cable in the originals, but they got around it here but having a second NEO GEO Pocket Color pop up so the other player can choose their character and whatnot.\u00a0 Also, since these games came out 20 years ago, they don\u2019t have all the quality of life features that a lot of today\u2019s games have.\u00a0 But luckily, there is an option screen that takes care of a lot of that.\u00a0 You view the action on a mock up NEO GEO Pocket Color handheld (which is weird when you are playing the handheld on the Switch handheld mode), but you can choose to zoom in on the screen to make it much easier to see.\u00a0 You can also toggle various screen filters, and rewind, too.<\/p>\n

Really the only problems I had with this collection aren\u2019t really the game\u2019s fault.\u00a0 It more has to do with the NGPC in general and how these titles were released on the Switch.\u00a0 There is a lack of variety in this collection, as over half of it are fighters.\u00a0 But then, that was a problem with the original NGPC, since SNK is most known for their one on one fighters.\u00a0 But the collection could still stand to have more variety.\u00a0 There were a lot of puzzle games on that handheld, and having one of those here would\u2019ve been nice.<\/p>\n

The other problem I had was how these games were released.\u00a0 Originally they were sold separately before being on this collection.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like it when companies nickel and dime you like that.\u00a0 Just release the compilation!\u00a0 Also I would\u2019ve liked to have seen a physical release of this collection as well.\u00a0 But if you didn\u2019t get any of these titles separately, you gotta get this collection!\u00a0 The best news is that since it says vol. 1 in the title, maybe they\u2019ll be a vol. 2?\u00a0 I\u2019d love to see a collection that has Puzzle Link or SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash on it!\u00a0 Or maybe even third party stuff like Sonic Pocket Adventure!\u00a0 Make it happen, SNK!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kid Factor<\/strong>
\nNEO GEO Pocket Color Selection vol. 1 is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, and Suggestive Themes.\u00a0 Most of the games on here are fighters where you punch and kick others.\u00a0 But the short, squatty cartoony character graphics really negate a lot of the violence.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t really notice any blood, and the in-game graphics aren\u2019t very suggestive either.\u00a0 The only time you may see that would be in the instruction booklets, where some of the art of the female characters wear skimpy outfits.\u00a0 (Mai, I\u2019m looking at you\u2026oh sorry about that Andy).\u00a0 Reading skill is also helpful for the text, but otherwise I\u2019d be OK with any kid playing this collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game maker SNK is known for their fighting games, but they also made their own consoles, like the NEO GEO and subsequent arcade machine.\u00a0 When it came time for them to compete with Nintendo\u2019s Game Boy Color, they brought out the NEO GEO Pocket Color.\u00a0 This was a really awesome little handheld, and for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21132"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21134,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21132\/revisions\/21134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}