Neo Geo Pocket SD Kit Review/Overview

[Tanooki]

I wrote this up over the last couple of days after playing with it some and messing with the features. I can say it's a solid device.

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It is 2017 and finally a modern flash kit solution has been created for the Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color. SainT of RetroHQ known for other quality kits like the LynxSD has publicly discussed, developed, and released yet another kit for the public, the Neo Geo Pocket SD Kit.

There have been other kits before, but they were limited by the space on the kit usually allowing at most a 4MB game or a few smaller sized games in that space. The approach to the NGPSD Kit has been to go the modern route with a mix of on board storage (15M) and the addition of a slot for a MicroSD card (up to 32GB.) Once games are installed they can be played, saved back to the card, or deleted as you wish. When the package arrives you'll be treated to an electrostatic bag with a RetroHQ sticker, a fold out color manual, and the kit.

The NGPSD Kit, inside and out it's a well made product. The cart shell, sticker, and board are all quality made and aren't farmed out. The shell is done in a 3D printer and built quite durably so it doesn't feel weak or thin. The kit body was designed so that it would have a good fit in the NGP, NGPC, and Japanese only slimmer third hardware revision so it is flush to the top. With a MicroSD card in the slot it will stick up a couple millimeters over the top of the kit but not far enough you can see it over the top of the handheld itself so it's safe. The MicroSD card can be removed which blocks the SDCard menu, but anything in the Flash works as normal which is an unique and welcome feature.

The kit is split into two menus that are minimalist, functional, and fairly styish accomplishing what it needs to do. The two tabs are marked Flash and SDCard which are toggled between pushing the system Option button. Flash lists the games you copied from the MicroSD card ready to use, and also up top shows your remaining free space. SDCard has the contents of your card setup as you copied it. The card (in FAT format) can handle multiple directories and long file names (53 characters), but the games must have the .NGP or .NGC extension.

On both tabs you'll have a set of options at the bottom, and by pressing and holding B button you can get secondary features. By default you can use the four directions to navigate up and down, and left and right allow reading long file names. The secondary set allow deleting, saving, and full page tabbing up and down. Both game lists show on the left color or black and white bars for the system the game is made for, the file size, and then the games listed in alphabetical order. The system also has a hidden firmware update feature the manual covers, but it will allow for improvement, expansion, and bug fixes.

The software inside has a solid menu, but it also requires a bit of patience when copying a game from the MicroSD Card to the kit. Interestingly enough the kit mirrors the behavior of its big brother the NeoSD for MVS and AES. I tested it using a 1GB SanDisk MicroSD card. The NGP/NGPC game sizes vary between 512KB and 4MB. My testing showed that a 1MB game will take basically 1 minute of time which should vary a few seconds either way depending on your MicroSD card speed. The smallest (512KB) games will copy in around 30 seconds, and the largest (4MB) will take about 4 minutes. These waits only affect copying from SD to Flash. The system is heavily tied to flash chip logic so don't expect that to improve, and this behavior is mirrored on the NeoSD so maybe a similar SNK design there too?

The loading of games from the card to the flash is the most notable lag, but there is another though it can be mitigated. If you load up dozens or more games in one directory on your memory card it will stall and load the game list in chunks, a limitation of the NGP/NGPC itself. You can via the menu use a page up/down feature to minimize that. To remove the problem, just break up your games in smaller sub-directories. That said though, when erasing a game it takes a few seconds at best, and it's the same for loading a flash game from the list to play as well, so it's not a total system issue.

The saving feature of this card is unique to this system. A legitimate cartridge has the game and save data share the same space. The NGPSD Kit copies this behavior so each game has its own save and game area. If you erase a game from the kit, the save goes with it. That's where the save option comes in. Using this it will write game and save data back to the MicroSD card to preserve your progress for later.

Overall it is an amazing little cartridge and other than having the need for 30 seconds to 4 minute worth of patience in copying from the MicroSD card to the kit itself it's fantastic. The menu system works well and is user friendly. Navigation is easy and starting games from kit is fast and painless. Multiple games with save data work just fine along each other without over writing your data. The kit itself is rugged and not flimsy, it doesn't feel like the GBA EZ-Flash devices of the past that bend in your fingers and tend to fall apart.

If you wish to wish to learn more or get a kit of your own go to: http://www.retrohq.co.uk

[nightrnr]

I am quite conflicted on whether I would want one of these.
On one hand, I like my NGPC collection and don't see much need for a flash option.

On the other hand, it would be nice to play (the few) translations on real hardware.

It's too bad that the Game can't be saved directly to flash though (yes, I do understand the limitation). Wearing out the write cycles on that thing is entirely possible the way I (used to) play Card Fighters Clash. It would not surprise me if I put 10,000 saves on that one cart. Combine that with several other games and the cart is half dead.

But that's just me being irrational. Most people won't ever burn it out.

I don't think I'm the target audience for this though. I think I'll go with a cheaper (more limited) flashmasta if I ever feel the need for a NGPC flash cart.

I love that there are options like these out there.

Unrelated, are there replacement rubber button pads to buy? One of my NGPC units is getting very weak (squishy, doesn't pop up readily after presses) on the a or b presses.

[Jagosaurus]

I owned this handheld for about a year (wow, almost 10 years ago) & I really enjoyed it. I remember playing SNK v Capcom in a hotel room & that clicky joystick keeping my wife up . Dark Arms was another favorite of mine. Occult Zelda with guns!

I am happy to see SainT finished this! Nice write up.

I never got to try Evolution or BioMotor. I need to emu those.

I can't seem to find the thread, but didn't we recently discuss NGPC emulation, or lack of current options? Maybe it was within another thread. IIRC, the consensus was within RetroArch or mednafen. Not a great standalone option. Is that correct? That makes this card even more relevant if the emu isn't "mainstream," possibly lacking features ,or not fully accurate.

[o.pwuaioc]

On the other hand, it would be nice to play (the few) translations on real hardware.

Can't wait for thiiiiiis.

[Betagam7]

I am quite conflicted on whether I would want one of these.
On one hand, I like my NGPC collection and don't see much need for a flash option.

I'm in the same boat. I own so many legit carts that there isn't really much left I actually want to play.

However, with the recent stupidity of price gouging for the system, this represents an excellent way for someone who is entering the market today to experience the full library.

[Tanooki]

Well yes emulation came up and Retroarch is just a ripoff of NeoPop from like a decade ago and runs the same so you can go that way and avoid that pit. It's like 95% there with some games that glitch a bit but I don't think anything crashes it.

DarkArms came in that bundle when I picked up a NGPC earlier this year as it had almost all the games I used to own (everything is loose in a case) but with a half dozen I didn't too which had those both Puzzle Links, KOF Battle de Paradise too. I've picked up most of the others I had minus Rockman, Cotton, Biomotor Unitron and Baseball Stars.

The kit for me was accuracy, ease, and not being ripped off to hell and back for Rockman, Cotton, EU-Faselei, EU-Evolution, Big Bang Wrestling, and some others. It shipped around $90US which is very reasonable.

OP--Keep waiting, those are all dead. The guy is a member at Neo Geo forums. I need to write him again, he said he'd hand me the stuff he had done over to look at it. I used to be 15years ago fairly fluent in basic Japanese (minus Kanji) so I was thinking I'd chance a stab at one of those he started.

[Jagosaurus]

Okay cool will give Neo Pop standalone a go.

Again, happy to see SainT tackling obscure handhelds like the Lynx & NGPC. Nice to see then get some love. Even more happy to see him fully now move on to the Jaguar SD cart

[nightrnr]

Can't wait for thiiiiiis.

Yes!
I actually have Ogre Battle for this, I actually tried to make my own katakana key for all the classes so that I at least knew what I was upgrading units to, but lost interest at some point.
A proper translation will be most welcome.

Even more happy to see him fully now move on to the Jaguar SD cart

YAS!!!!
One day it shall be mine, I hope.

As for NGPC emulation, I thought that Race! for PSP was pretty good. I haven't messed with it a lot though, as I frontlit modded a NGPC a while back (an amateur effort, but effective nonetheless), so the real deal is still my preferred option right now.

Also tried games on PS3 through mednefen I think, and was good enough.

This thread rekindled my Cardfighters Clash obsession somewhat. I really need to retire that game; I think I've invested more time in it that any other game I've played and it's embarrassing.

[Tanooki]

Reason all of those android, etc NGPC efforts seem half baked, amateur, and unimpressive (and also see few updates) is they're all based on the NeoPop open source and I guess no one cares to fix the bugs as it's easier to take credit for a port.

[Betagam7]

Just to put it out there but as an alternative the original Flashmasta has now been updated for USB and is being sold again here (only 11 copies left at the time of posting):

http://www.flashmasta.com/product/neo-p ... sb-32mbit/

Slightly cheaper than the product Tanooki reviewed but it doesn't sound as good as from what I can see it still has the original Flashmasta limitations of only two games per cart (although thanks to it having a USB port has made it much easier to dump ROMs to it).

I guess the only real advantage is that it will load up like a real cart rather than going through options and loading processes like the NGPC SD.