| GET POCKET POWER! - Part 1 (cross-posted on HerV) |
[Oct. 10th, 2005|05:36 pm] |
After my last job, I knew I needed a handheld console. Standing around on set and waiting takes up 80% of your time, and in my case there's additional waiting during the commute on the bus. The only handheld I ever owned in my lifetime was the ill-fated Atari Lynx, sold years ago. It really did have some great games (Warbirds, Blue Lightning, Klax, STUN Runner, & Battlewheels to name a few) in it's 80+ library. Damned if you could actually cram that ginormous battery-sucking thing in your pocket, though (sheds single Indian tear for the Lynx). Anyway, what to buy?
The DS and PSP are FAR out of my price range, and I wouldn't feel comfortable carrying around a $130-250 gadget (I see KIDS running around outdoors with new PSP's, it doesn't seem right). On top of that cost I wouldn't be able to get more than a single game. The most reasonable alternative seemed to be a GBA. Healthy library and pretty affordable. But looking over the games, I didn't find many that demanded to be bought. The best GBA titles are Adventure/Platformers and Strategy/RPGs, I always favor fighters and shooters. A lot of the GBA titles I were interested in were NES or SNES games but even those didn't wrench my capitalist heartstrings.
The lingering traces of my collector's genes demanded something rare and special. What could there be, a quality system, perhaps a market failure, with highly acclaimed and familiar games that are readily available in the U.S. on the cheap?
=D
The Neo Geo Pocket Color. I can't stop gushing about how wonderful this damn thing is. I got all that pictured above for about $120. A brand-new boxed NGPC system only costs $30, and games go for $5-$20 (usually $10 for common games). Boxed games are harder to come by but rarely go above $30 unless it's an import. First I was surprised at how SMALL the system is. It always looked bigger in pictures. It's only 5 inches wide, less than 3 inches tall and an inch thick. Battery life is 40 hours on 2 AA's, even longer on lithiums, and the system INCLUDED BATTERIES how great is that, plus a watch battery for backing up saves. It has a calendar, alarm, world time and tells horoscopes. It also has a language setting and games are region free (which should be standard on everything damn it) so you can change in-game text to English or Japanese.
The system entered the market in 1998, but failed due to horrid marketing decisions by SNK USA and they pulled out of the states completely around 2000. The remaining overstock is mostly sans packaging, but all of the games can be figured out easily and some even tell you how to play. The NGPC survived another year in Japan and the UK but couldn't compete with the GBA (the Bandai Wonderswan suffered a similar fate, despite having excellent games like the NGPC). Overall the NGPC has about 82 games. About half were released in the States and Japan, the other half were either UK/Japan or Japan release only. Fortunately the UK releases do pop up fairly regularly and I've seen quite a few international titles appear at game wholesalers and trade-in stores.
The NGPC's joystick should be standard. It's more precise than any joypad I've ever used. It handles like a dream and the arcade games feel exactly like they should. If only the NGPC had survived on into future versions with a backlight and continued MVS ports (an official Garou: MOTW would've been PERFECT), but those are pipe dreams- I'm just glad I have one. It's amazing how a system can have a high volume of seriously kick-ass quality games and still fail due to bad business. Makes you wonder how many idiots out there are buying utter shit like PS2 Frogger just because they're all over the place.
Fatal Fury 1st Contact is a mini-Real Bout 2. A very faithful conversion. The chain combo system is simplified but holds up well, S.Powers and P.Powers are easy to pull off, and Billy/Geese/Krauser are the same total bastards. As one of the first NGPC games, it suffers from a serious lack of game modes (only Arcade and 2-Player). This game is extremely plentiful and cheap, and definitely worth getting for the Real Bout fan. You'll also only get Rick Strowd, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi, Kim Kaphwan, Krauser, and Yamazaki in this game.
King of Fighters R-2 is based on KOF '98. Like all the NGPC fighters it handles true to the arcade but personally I found the character selection to be small and DULL AS SHIT. Kim Kaphwan and Chizuru were in the original monochrome KOF R-1, and I would've preferred them here. The only upside in the collection for me are Leona and Kasumi. This game needed less front runners and similar folk (Terry/Mai/Ryo team? Kyo/Saisyu/Shingo team? :|||||) and a more diverse bunch including King, Ralf, or Kensou. Still a solid game in all respects but not my cuppa joe. Also cheap and easy to find ($5-10).
Left: FF1C- hot Rick Strowd action/GEESE IS A RAPIST AND HE'S RAPING MEEEEE
Right: KOFR2- hot Kasumi action/RUGAL IS... not so bad in this game
Samurai Shodown 2 is actually based on the never-played SS64 titles, and it's incredible. The detail that they crammed into this thing is amazing. Each fighter has a Bust/Slash mode and different movelists, sometimes becoming weaponless. There's a card system that you can use to append power/defense attributes or extra special moves to your fighter as you unlock cards in Story Mode. Graphically the fighters are smaller than in FF/KOF, the backgrounds are plain and unanimated as well, but effects and details during supers and specials make up for that. Hanzo has multi-part bone breaking specials with x-rays like the arcade, Nakoruru and Sogetsu can knock someone above the playing screen during supers. Tons of replay in this game, plus it's cheap and easy to find.
Top: Ukyo Super/Shiki Super/Jubei vs Gandara mid-boss/Jubei Card
Bottom: Sogetsu Super/Hanzo Super/Kazuki Super/Nakoruru Super
Match of the Millenium. Every good thing you've read about this game is true. Gigantic fighter selection, six hidden fighters, SNK or Capcom themed Olympic challenges and minigames, single play/tag play/3-man team play, Standard/Counter/Rush modes, personalized fighter/team options, animated backgrounds from FF/KOF/SF/DS, dozens of cameos, great story mode and endings, character-specific music, etc. etc. etc. This one runs about $15, but it's not difficult to find. MOTM is the pinnacle of 16-bit handheld fighters.
Top: Shinkuu Hadoken/SAMMASAW!/Shinryuken/FAB on Dark Iori :DDD
Bottom: Tenha Fujinzan/Psycho Crusher/O.G. Raging Storm/Leona DM
Puzzle Bobble Mini/Bust-A-Move Pocket is dead on to the arcade (sans backgrounds) and just as addicting. Same music, same modes and CPU Versus. My sister and I used to play this game like crack when I had Bust-A-Move 2 for the PSX. Cheap and easy to find.
Puyo Pop. I have the Japanese version, but thanks to the wonderful region-free/language setting option it doesn't matter. I've never played it before (heard it was Kirby's Avalanche on the SNES?) but universally great reviews put it high on my acquisition list. This game is chain-based and sodding HARD. It's also addicting as fuck and has digitized voices! Definitely one of the best titles on the NGPC. I stay away unless I feel like a good challenge, but I'm still getting my ass kicked by this damn uber-cute SHEEP of all things. Somewhat harder to find, about $15-20 loose and $20-30 boxed.
Shanghai Mini. I originally became a fan of Shanghai when I obtained the Lynx version ROM a few years ago and spent HOURS beating every formation in the game (including that damned Turtle). The tiles in this version are harder to get used to, but I'm grateful they added a Story Mode and CPU Versus (Dynasty Mode). The CPU AI and game-altering bonus tiles are a great challenge, now my favorite way to play. Somewhat harder to find, about $10-12 loose and $15-20 boxed.
Left: Puzzle Bobble- Vs & Arcade
Right: Puyo Pop-DAMNED SHEEP!/Shanghai-Dynasty Mode
Sonic Pocket Adventure. I read that this is a combination of Sonic 2 and Sonic 3's music. This is my first Sonic game (never played any previous Sonic longer than 5 minutes), I got this in my initial lot of NGPC games. It's a good game but being unfamiliar with Sonic I'm still trying to wrap my head around the crazy level design and sometimes I'm not entirely sure where I'm going. Currently stuck on that cheap bastard Knuckles. Solid title nonetheless. Cheap and easy to find.
Dynamite Slugger, another Japanese title. This is a solid game by ADK, superior to Baseball Stars both in graphics and play options. I used to love baseball with a passion as a kid (until I realized I sucked at it), and video game baseball is still fun. Each pitcher has 2-4 special pitches and can sometimes charge up their throw after a pitcher change. Scores in this game often run upwards of 15-25. Somewhat harder to find, but only $10-12 loose/boxed.
Neo Turf Masters I already covered a few days ago. It converted me to golf games and I love it. Cheap and easy to find.
GET POCKET POWER! Interlude (Getting the most out of your NGPC)
GET POCKET POWER! Part 2 (more of the same) |
|
|
Pockety![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}