For many, the Neo Geo Pocket Color is a somewhat obscure but beloved system. SNK's handheld rival to Nintendo's Game Boy Color never saw the same success in sales or popularity as its rival. Between 1999 and 2001, the console surged then declined in sales, leaving many players unable to get a hold of some really incredible games released during this period of time.
Now, the Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol 1 has come out on the Nintendo Switch, offering modern players a chance to play ten of these great retro games. The games include Big Tournament Golf, Dark Arms: Beast Buster, Fatal Fury First Contact, SNK Gals' Fighters, King of Fighters R-2, The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny, Metal Slug 1st Mission, Metal Slug 2nd Mission, Samurai Shodown! 2 and SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium. Many of these games are over twenty years old. They are classics. However, they are also dated in style and gameplay, making this collection a nostalgic necessity for SNK fans and a nostalgic novelty for everyone else.
Stylistically, the game offers you what it says on the tin: the games. The collection doesn't have too many extra bells and whistles. Games are played on on-screen Neo Geo Pocket Colors, though the player can zoom into the in-game screen so the content you're playing can fill the screen. At times, this can be very distracting, since the digital Neo Geo Pocket Color can sometimes steal your attention from the game footage. Additionally, the aspect ratio remains faithful to the original game's dimensions. On the one hand, this means the gameplay isn't stretched or distorted. On the other hand, that means the majority of your screen will be taken up by black bars on either side.
One common issue with the entire collection is the controls. More specifically, how the Nintendo Switch translates the Neo Geo Pocket Colors' controls. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was beloved for its stick controls, which allowed players to move the controls in eight different directions. This proved highly influential in years to come, including influencing the Switch's own controls. However, some games for the system did not utilize the stick controls as effectively as others. Some of the games in this collection sometimes feel unnecessarily stiff and limiting. Others run exceptionally smoothly. Some of these issues materialize in the same game series, with later entries utilizing the Neo Geo Pocket Color's controls and style more effectively.
The highlights of this collection are its fighting games and the Metal Slug series, many of which are not available elsewhere on the Switch store. The obvious highlights of this collection are the two Metal Slug games, in particular 2nd Mission. The games are military-inspired run-and-gun shooters; if you're not familiar, think anime meets Contra. The series kicked off with 1996's Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001 and 1998's Metal Slug 2: Super Vehicle-001/II, which were initially released for the Neo Geo home console. These games effectively make the experience of the original game portable.
The games include branching paths, tons of explorable levels, tons of creative enemies and a surprising amount of difficulty. In particular, Metal Slug 1st Mission is a lot more challenging than its follow-up. Some moments, such as one segment where you try to parachute from a plane, can be unforgiving. One mistake, and you'll watch your character fall through the clouds to their death. It's also hard to determine how many of these deaths result from the game being hard or you fighting with the occasionally stiff, old-school controls.
That said, 2nd Mission feels like an over-all improvement on its predecessors, with the game feeling more cinematic and better designed for the console's limitations. There are fewer unfair deaths and a lot more story to offer you the motivation to keep running and gunning. Between the two Metal Slug games, 2nd Mission is the superior game.
Other highlights include SNK's various fighting games. For many, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium will be the first thing you play. However, don't sleep on the other SNK fighting games on this collection. All of them are a lot of fun. The collection is almost designed to play with friends. Multiplayer modes in-game creates two separate Neo Geo Pocket Colors, with each of the switch controllers becoming separate controls. Given the Neo Geo Pocket Color's simple controls, this works surprisingly well. This is a game you can certainly play with other retro gaming fans.
Still, how are these handheld fighting games? For their time, these were some of the best portable fighting games of their era. Now? They're mostly pretty solid. Some of the games feel a little stiffer than others gameplay-wise, but a lot still hold up and feel fun. A surprising gem among these games is SNK Gals' Fighters, which, despite some humor that has dated terribly, is a vibrant, cute game. The gameplay is surprisingly smooth, with some beautiful sets and character models. Moves can be simultaneously devastating and adorable. It makes you wish they made more fighting games where they just pitted all-female casts together more often.
Having said that, sometimes the games are a little frustrating to get used to in terms of the combo systems. With no way in-game to check your move lists, you're going to have to either do outside research or experiment to get a handle on certain combos. Additionally, the narrow screen does confine the action rather dramatically. That said, the games are still fun to this day.
The collection does have a few weak links, however. Big Tournament Golf, for example, is not as obviously exciting as, say, a fighting game or an epic war game, but even as a golf game, it's frustrating to play. This is especially true since there are just so many other golf games that do essentially the same thing this game does, but better.
Ultimately, the Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection is a collection of nostalgic throwbacks. None of them are necessarily the best games of their genre, but there are a lot of hidden gems here that honestly are worth playing. SNK offered the gaming world a ton, and this, for many people, will be the first look at games they've never played before. It's a must-buy for retro gamers and SNK fans, but it's still a pretty fun time for casual players, albeit with the caveat that the dated gameplay might frustrate players who are used to modern, super-smooth games.
A copy of this game was provided to CBR by the publisher for review purposes.