You must wonder what the hell SNK is thinking, sometimes. Launching six individual Neo Geo Pocket Color titles on the Switch eShop was a great idea, and Samurai Shodown! two, The last blade: beyond fate, SNK Gals Fighters, SNK vs. Capcom: departure of the millennium, King of Fighters R-2 and Fatal Fury First contact they were – with good reason – received with great heat.
Now, however, we have the release of compilation Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1. A fantastic idea on paper, but was it really wise to cannibalize your sales including the six games previously released, as well as including four more that have never been re-released so far? Although we are grateful to have access to Neo Turf Masters, Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 and Metal Slug 1st and 2nd Mission, this is the type of movement that creates discomfort; why Neo Geo Pocket Color fans should dive twice six games to get four more that are not available elsewhere? Unless they make the extra games available separately, in that case … announce it!
But we are not here to complain about the circumstances of this launch. We are here to review it. And, leaving aside our doubts about its value, Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is an absolute delight and even better if you haven’t tried any of the included games.
Since six of the included titles have already had the Nintendo Life review treatment, we think it is better to focus on the four exclusive titles in this compilation and on the production itself. Which, by the way, is pretty good. There is a degree of form about the function, but you have a small airy menu for the eight games and 3D models visible from the original game shell boxes and even the cartridges themselves.
You can also see the original scanned manuals – this may seem quite commonplace, but it is worth doing, since the Neo Geo Pocket Color manuals are usually as characteristic as the games themselves. Add the now usual Rewind feature and the option to play the original (non-colored) Neo Geo Pocket games in their monochrome form, and you will have a very well-equipped little package. But it is for the games that we are all here.
The first of the new batch is Neo Turf Masters, also known as Big Tournament Golf, a brilliant pocket version of the absolutely superb arcade golf game, which is also available in its original form as part of the Arcade Archives series. It contains practically all of its older brother’s gameplay, but reduced to the super-deformed and extremely attractive anime presentation of the vast majority of the NGPC library. It’s a little redundant in a sense because (as mentioned) you can get the original game on the Switch for a very low cost, but it’s still nice to have this miniature fairway classic as part of the collection, as it has never been seen before. relaunch.
The next one is the strangest game in the pack, one Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999, a kind of continuation of the 1989 light-gun arcade game Beast Busters, although here reimagined as a kind of cross between an RPG and the SNK itself Ikari warriors. And while it’s pretty cool that obscurities like this are gaining a second round in the spotlight, we have to declare Dark Arms as the weakest link in this set. Is not horrible, but it’s surprisingly charmless – almost an achievement, given how openly charming the vast majority of games are on SNK’s portable system. There is a weapon evolution system that allows you to change your arsenal, but it is not enough to make this game more than a disturbing curiosity, with unattractive graphics and somewhat strange controls.
Closing this adorable collection, we have the absolute crown jewels and – in this writer’s humble opinion – the best games in the entire Neo Geo Pocket Color library. Metal Slug 1st and 2nd Mission are scaled-down versions of the popular arcade run n ‘gun series, but changed in a way that is sensible and adapts to its portable format.
Instead of individual lives, you have a health bar that can be replenished by collecting hidden items, but in addition to this change it keeps everything that makes the main games so fun. The missions are small and abundant, with more focus on platforms than the main titles, but in no way compromising the frantic fun of detonating or discovering secrets. There is not much difference between the two games, although the use of the “Option” button – mapped to the + button in Alternate apparently with no way to reset that specific command (?!) – alternates between bullets and grenades in the 1st Mission while simple and sensible, throwing a grenade at a tap on the 2nd Mission. While this choice of control is faithful to the original hardware, we really can’t see a good reason why it wasn’t possible to remap the Options button to one of the unused front buttons, or even one of the shoulders.
Conclusion
A strong display for Neo Geo Pocket Color, this is a compilation of eight games with seven stated recommendations. This is a very high proportion, and that tempting “Vol. 1” in the title makes us wait and pray that more good things from SNK are to come. Now that the Millennium Departure has been counted, after all, there is certainly no reason to complain about us. Confrontation of card fighters, a absolute best system game. Sonic Pocket Adventure it would be ace too. But that’s all speculation – in the here and now, Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is an excellent little compilation and even better if you haven’t purchased all of the previous standalone versions. If you did, is it worth the money? For this writer, yes, but you can quietly boil about financial enforcement.