Neo Geo Pocket Color
System/accessory by SNK
Reviewed by The Avardancer (Philip Wesley)
Released: 1998
Height: About 3 inches
Width: About 5 inches
Depth: About 1 inch
Weight: Even with batteries.. it weighs less than a TV Guide.
Battery Life: 40 hours
Colors on-screen: 156
Total Palette: 4096
RAM: 12k for 900H, 4k for Z80
ROM: 64kb boot ROM
ROM Sizes: 512 kilobits to 32 megabits.
Use with: Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color games.

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Opening Snide Remarks: SNK created a black and white version of this handheld
a while back; and then they released a color one. The system is the subject
of fanatical rantings and has spawned off a ton of owners who are annoying
as Hell. Now, the system might never get to be big. Seeing as SNK isn't a
widely known company; and the system is marketed by nervous people who do
not seem to think it can go up against the mainstream market. As I write this
review, there are units in Wal-Mart. That's main-stream; but they are not
selling as well as they should; because SNK is afraid to take a risk. Alas,
they aren't selling. after talking to a sales associate on whether the system
has been selling.. well.. over here; it doesn't. It has only ONE game in the
Wal-Mart store right now; and that's Sonic. The system has a small amount of
titles for it. About 30 or so at last look. And it has gotten Capcom, Namco,
and Sega to develop a game or two for it. It's linkable to the Sega Dreamcast
and it's touted as being "stronger" than the Game Boy Color. Which, since I
did my homework on the subject, is really a moot point. You can't sell a
handheld system on specs alone. You need to sell it on MARKETING and GAMES.
The Game Boy has more Role Playing Games for it than the Neo Geo Pocket
Color has games. What SNK needs to do; is take a risk and push this thing
harder and faster. Maybe market themselves into debt with it and get the
GAMES out in to the market. Although.. if the system is bad.. that wouldn't
be a good idea. That's why I'm here to review it. I'm prepared to give an
honest look at the device and I think you should read it before buying or
thinking of buying a Neo Geo Pocket Color. Anyone looking for some "System
Advocacy" is probably going to find it and dismiss this. Although.. I admit
that I go where ever Sonic takes me. I'm sorry.. that's the way it is. If
there is a good 2-D Sonic game on a system.. or just a Sonic game.. period.
I'm there.

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Impressions: Well, this is an impressive gadget. Mainly for it's caseing
colors. Lots of nice colors to choose from. That's nice. Although it boasts
16-bit "Future of handheld gameing" power.. well.. I'll get into why it's not
even close to the most powerful handheld in the "hated" section. Got it? Now
swallow. Read on. The unit itself is designed quite effeciently. It has it's
own GUI (Graphic User Interface). Some fairly decent SNK translated manuals
and... it has a nice notch in it's back for easy holding. It feels like a
Genesis Controller. Well.. sort of. It has some decent little options if you
turn it on without a game cartridge in it. I'll go into those. Anyways, my
unit is a nice Ice Blue. (Of course it would be blue! What else?)

CALENDAR: It's a calendar, you look at it. AND it does nothing. Nothing at
all. :(

HOROSCOPE: You enter your birthdate, etc.. then it gives you a little chart
with stars in a few categories. Money, Health, Romance, and General. Very
cool actually. I think it's neat and I'll check it every single day now. I
like this feature; because it's a little cheesy. I mean.. seriously. It's
such an odd idea that is just awesome.

WORLD TIME: It tells you, to a fair extent, how the time differs in other
countries. Sort of. I found it to be innaccurate, and useless.

ALARM: This is cool. What a neat alarm! I wish it was louder though.. if I
hook the Neo Geo Pocket to some loud speakers.. this would be a good idea. I
like the idea though.

SETTINGS: You can set the internal date, time, etc. Here. This system is
backwards compatible with the 15 or so old Black and White Neo Geo Pocket
games. And you can set what colors it plays them with. You can also select
the langauge for the GUI. Japanese or English. Okay, it does nothing for the
games. :( Also, the date function has some potential.. I have yet to see any
date themed options in the games.. but I think they should do that.

The menu is easy to navigate. The system takes two AA batteries and a LITHIUM
battery is included with the system. It has a Joystick device on it; and that
can be a bit difficult to use on some games. The system also has only two
action buttons. Although, the Power Button and the Option button can be used
in games as well. To turn it on or off; you need to hold down the Power
button. Nice. It also can turn itsself off if you want it too. And it will
pause itsself to give you a break like the Virtual Boy did. Those are dumb
functions. The Auto-OFF and the Auto-Break should ALWAYS be turned off. I
mean seriously.. after you play some of these games.. why would you want to
take a break? The unit is fairly light and styleish. It's not very..
innovative in design.. like the Wonder Swan. It has a small speaker with Mono
sound, it also has a link port, and a headphone jack. Like a lot of these
new systems.. it has a Hand Strap loop. Cool. But it has only one strap hole.
Which is sad; because it would make an excellent prop in an old-school rap
video if it had two places to hook a neck strap. Yeah. Word.

Liked: What it all boils down to is GAMES. And the Neo Geo Pocket Color has
some great games. It's a nice system. It has a screen the size of the Game
Boy Pocket and the original Game Boy. (SURPRISE!!!!! Makes you wonder why
Nintendo just didn't make the Game Boy Colors screen the same size as their
previous systems..) The screen doesn't blur and it's an "Active" screen. The
sound is pretty cool with headphones. The system is small abd easy to carry
around. Not bad at all. The games it has right now are useing almost all of
the 146 colors it is capable of doing at one time. The games are lots of fun
and I think that anyone who fancies themselves to be a "hardcore" system
fanatic; or just *has* to own all the Handhelds should get this. Also, if
you are a Fighting game fan.. this is your system. It may not have as many
fighters as Game Boy; but it has some very good ones. They may all look the
same; but they are fun and feature a lot of things to do. If you like RPGS,
Platform games, pure Action games, Puzzle games, or any other genre besides
Gambling, Sports, and Fighting.. then you are out of luck. It's a good system
and it has some rather good games. It comes in some very pretty colors too.

Hated: Where to begin.. just kidding. It has some bad problems. First: The
Forgiveable Ones. It has no back-light. But who cares. Get the Neo Geo Pocket
Worm Light from Nyko. It has very little support. No Konami, no Natsume, no
Enix, no Electronic Arts, and the list goes on. It has very little friends
and that's a shame. On the plus side.. no THQ. ;) The lack of support is a
bad thing; but it should hopefully clear up...

Now.. the unforgiveable. Look at the design of the case. It has enough room
to hold TWO more buttons below the A and B buttons. It also has enough room
to stick some Left and Right buttons on the top of the system. It has room
for an Infra Red port, it has room for one more speaker as well. Where are
those? No where to be seen. On a system geared toward fighting games... the
lack of buttons is inexcuseable. The lack of a second speaker is also very
inexcuseable. What the Hell where they thinking when they short-changed us
on that aspect? I can understand on the Game Boy Color after all it would be
painfully akward to be vertical with four buttons. But, the Neo Geo Pocket
Color is designed to the point where more buttons would make sense and be
damned comfortable. The Game.Com has four buttons.. why not the Neo Geo
Pocket Color? I think it has a lot of room and it could have been the
"Ultimate 16-Bit Portable"; if it had some more buttons..

The plastic is... cheap feeling. And that stick.. well.. Pac-Man contains a
small device to put on it so it doesn't seem so loose and the small device
helps prevent dirt; but this thing is a bit akward on games like Sonic. In a
perfect world, SNK would release several old arcade titles on this device. I
mean.. that stick is PERFECT for Marble Madness, Q-Bert, Joust, Asteroids,
Centipede, and etc. But games with a lot of menus, like RPGs, become a little
more interesting with a joystick that loves to over-shoot your selections.

Now, that said.. I would say that the biggest gripe I have with the Neo Geo
Pocket Color is the graphics. It is a 16-Bit system; but in no way looks like
one in it's graphics. It's as good looking as early Super Nintendo games. But
it pales when compared to the Atari Lynx and the Turbo Express. It seems that
SNK could have put so much more effort into the system. But they didn't. The
pallete is a major problem as well. It's ONLY 4096 colors. The Game Boy Color
has a pallette of 32,000 colors; and useing special techniques can display
well over 156 colors on-screen at once. Something doesn't add up there. Some
one was being lax in development. It would have been a little more expensive
to make the Neo Geo Pocket Color; but it would have been even better in the
long-run. The system also suffers from the same line error as the Game Boy
Color. Now.. clipping is a bad thing, dontchaknow? It feels like SNK limited
Neo Geo Pocket Color.. on purpose. Which doesn't make sense. That nagging
feeling that something is missing in the hardware is not a feeling I like.

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Improve: Add.. MORE. Think about it.. more games, more BUTTONS, maybe they
could make it actually LOOK like a 16-bit system, more of a pallette, more
handstrap notches, more periphial options, more PORTS. Also, put in a better
sound chip. Remove that line-limit, add some more SCROLLING options, add some
type of mini-game like SOLITARE to the menu.

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Final Words: It depends on the games really. Here's the bottom line. If you
want a variety of tons of games to choose from and lots of hot new games in
all genres.. you should get that system that we cover here in detail that
starts with a "G" and put off buying a Neo Geo Pocket Color just yet. But..
if you love fighting games; and don't mind waiting forever for companies to
finally jump on board and make tons of games in all genres.. rush out and get
a Neo Geo Pocket Color. I do think it is a system worth owning; but it seems
to be very generalized right now. I'll tell you what though. It is a system
that deserves to be owned. And while I think it could have been so much
better; it has enough quality software to warrent a buy. If you have about
$100 laying around somewhere.. rush to the store and get one. You won't
regret your purchase. To me, this is a system that I needed to own; because I
like games. And "SNK VS Capcom" is just too good to pass up. I mean.. it's
pure genius. The ability to stick Felicia, Chun Li, and Mai on one team.. for
me.. that's worth the price of the system in it's self. Also.... I like the
way the system feels in my hands. This thing is my next little obssession.
It is going with me where ever my Game Boy Color goes. Why? because the two
deserve each other. And maybe.. once they get to know each other.. they'll
stop fighting. Although.. if I wake up one day and find a Game Gear among
them; I'll be pretty scared. Anyways, to sum it all up.. I will translate
this review in the words of an SNK employee: "System make good; you all
buy ones of this!" Put off buying Pokémon Cards for a while and get one of
these. Admit it.. all that booster deck money could be going toward a new
handheld system; and I think this is that system.

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Score: 93.3% (Kansas City! Oh, sorry.. inside joke.)

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Secrets: None really.