Comments on: SNK Neo-Geo Pocket 101: A Beginner’s Guide

By: Fpcreator 2000

Fpcreator 2000 — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:14:07 +0000

UPDATE ON THE LINKING ABILITIES OF NGPC and DC
* SNK vs Capcom (links with King of Fighters ‘99 Dream Match)
* SNK vs Capcom – Match of the Millenium (links with Capcom vs SNK)
* SNK vs Capcom – Card Fighters’ Clash Expand Edition (links with Capcom vs SNK 2 (JAP VERSION))

By: durkada

durkada — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:17:46 +0000

One last note…

Mednafen also emulates the NGPC, and seems to do it very well — its also receiving regular updates, and has the advantage of emulating a few other systems as well (GBA, NES, etc.).

By: durkada

durkada — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:12:30 +0000

thesimplicity –

Yes, the built-in software was novel and cool. The horoscope was a nice touch, and, as mentioned above, because I often took trips, the alarm clock function also rocked. The article points out how far you could get with the batteries — and I can attest I never missed a NGPC wakeup call due to battery drain.

The music that accompanies the built-in software was also infectiously perky. To illustrate what a nerd I am, I totally enjoyed hooking that up to my car stereo and letting it play in the background. It tempered my ire just enough, when sitting in traffic, that I didn’t partake in road-rage.

By: durkada

durkada — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:07:11 +0000

Fastbilly1 -

Its fairly obvious that your memory of that time is far clearer than my own. And like a beacon, it illuminates the way

I bought my NGPC to make the long flights from Atlanta to San Jose a little more bearable. And your history lesson reminded me of the time I found a bunch of strange models in the SJC Mediaplay. They were of Japanese origin, and were atrociously ugly. They were cheap and weird, so I bought a couple — Psyduck and Bulbosaur. It wasn’t until I learned what Pokemon was, that I grew to dislike and loathe them. It all comes back to me.

You are probably right — either the article has been corrected, or it was always clearly speaking of the GBC. I was certainly thinking of the Advance when I wrote.

Not that the article has to be definitive, but, even at the time of release, the 4 color sprite limitation was lambasted. Should there be some editor on high wanting to make a tweak, that really should be one of the most glaring issues in the “Weaknesses” section.

Anyway, great article. NGPC is a superb little system, and its great to hear people get on the pulpit and preach its glory. The joystick on that thing, alone, makes it a favorite of mine. I love the little microswitches clicking.

Just as an aside, did you ever try or see one of the little light worms that could be attached to it? Given that the screen has a great contrast, I’m wondering if that makes playing it the dark acceptable — or if its merely a bandage.

Take care,
Jon

By: fastbilly1

fastbilly1 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:55:35 +0000

Jon – It did have several years on the GBA (98-March of 01), however at that time Pokemania was still at its height, and the rumors of the GBA were really tempting (though the rumors of full 3d games at early N64 level were quite obviously false…). The NGPC had an awesome amount of power, but as we all well know Pokemania was a force that was untouchable for many years. As for the colour comparisons, I believe you have mistaken my comment about the Gameboy Color for the Gameboy Advance. The Gameboy Color is a bit of a mixed bag on its games. Some were downright amazing, Bionic Commando Special Forces, others were just laughable, Austin Powers…Underground Lair. Like you know the NGPC could only display 4 colours per sprite and some 64 sprites on the screen at once. But I see how that was confusing in how it was worded, Ill get racket on it, thanks for the headsup.

By: fastbilly1

fastbilly1 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:55:03 +0000

Marurun – Like Lando has already stated, yes there are tons of handhelds that have competed, but really only two came close. We could go into even more obscure handhelds and talk about the R-Zone, Barcode Battler, Microvision, well that really ends out the list. But they never made a huge push into Nintendo’s dominion. I do not have the sales figures handy, so there is a good chance that I may be wrong, so point taken.