SB Recommends Neo Geo Pocket/Neo Geo Pocket Color Games

SNK's tragically unsuccessful foray into the portable market. As far as 8-bit systems are concerned, you won't find a better selection of fighting games, and it's home to the first post-Mega Drive-era game Sega released on a console that wasn't their own. It could link up to the Dreamcast, but this was really only used with a few fighting games to unlock characters faster. During the very short span of time it was supported before SNK's collapse, it amassed a small but solid library, mostly consisting of scaled-down versions of vanilla Neo games.

• Bio-Motor Unitron
  • kerobaros: You have a robot. Take it into one of four dungeons and beat things up. Beat the boss at the end of it. Use the materials you collected in the dungeon to make weapons. Take your robot into the coliseum and beat the other robots. Repeat. The combat system is maybe a tiny bit (read: entirely) inspired by Pokémon. Yet, I like it a lot, so, YMMV. Had a sequel in Japan, named Kikouseki Unitron. I’ve heard good things, but I’m sure it’s more of the same.

• Dynamite Slugger / Neo Poke Pro Yakyuu (JP)
  • kerobaros: Handheld baseball made correctly. I’ve yet to play anything better, maybe save Bad News Baseball for the NES.

• Faselei!
  • kerobaros: Strategic mech combat. Think a mix of Advance Wars and Front Mission, and with a good plot, too. Oh, and pretty.

• Ganbare Neo Poke Kun
  • kerobaros: ..bizarre. There’s a guy living in your NGPC, and he makes minigames for you, sometimes, if he’s happy, or something. Really, must be experienced to be believed.

• The King of Fighters: Battle de Paradise
  • kerobaros: Combine KOF and Mario Party. Mix liberally. Serve.

• The King of Fighters R-2
  • kerobaros: Better than any of the KOF:EX games? I say so. Note that this, along with all the other fighters, have a super-deformed look, so don’t go expecting photorealism, or realism in general.

• The Last Blade

• Metal Slug: 2nd Mission
  • kerobaros: It’s Metal Slug. In your pocket. What more needs be said? (Oh, also, a collect-them-all hostage list. Gotta rescue them all, I suppose.)

• Oekaki Puzzle
  • kerobaros: Ever played Mario’s Picross? Yes? I need say no more.

• Ogre Battle: Legend of the Zenobia Prince (JP)

• SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
  • kerobaros: A video game version of an imaginary CCG¹⁾, stripped down to its essence. Each player can only have three fighters at a time in the field. Available in both SNK and Capcom versions; which you have determines the makeup of your starting deck, as well as the rarity of other cards in the game. There was a sequel to the game made available in Japan, known as [SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition]; a fan-translation [is available].

• SNK Vs. Capcom: Match of the Millenium
  • kerobaros: Best handheld fighter ever? I say so. Characters from both companies, of course. Three ways to fight: KOF-style team play, Capcom Vs.-style tag team play, or single-character. Your {team|tag team|character} fights through your basic tournament, including a stop at Wolfgang Krauser’s castle in Germany (with oh my God the theme music), and then have to fight a tag team made of M. Bison and Geese Howard. Finally, depending on which company’s character(s) you’re playing as, the final boss is either an Orochi-fied version of Iori, or a Orochi/Satsui no Hado version of Ryu. Beat the game multiple times to unlock secret characters. On top of all this, there’s an Olympic mode, where you can earn points in order to buy a hidden super move for each character. Summary: this game is damn close to perfect.

• SNK Gals' Fighters
  • kerobaros: Uses the fighting engine from the other NGPC fighters. Has an (almost) exclusively female cast. Story is, there’s a tournament, and the winner gets proclaimed the world’s {strongest|most beautiful} woman. Sponsored by Ms. X, who is, for some reason, Iori Yagami in drag.

• Sonic: Pocket Adventure