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Manufacturer | SNK |
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Product family | Neo Geo |
Type | Handheld game console |
Generation | Sixth |
Release date | |
Lifespan | 1999–2001 |
Introductory price |
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Discontinued | |
Media | ROM cartridge |
CPU | Toshiba TLCS900H core (16-bit) @ 6.144 MHz Zilog Z80 @ 3.072 MHz for sound |
Memory | 12 KB RAM for 900/H 4 KB RAM for Z80 64 KB ROM |
Display | 2.7", 160x152 resolution, 146 colors on screen out of a palette of 4096 |
Sound | T6W28 (enhanced SN76489), 8-bit DACs |
Power | 2 AA batteries for 40 hours of play, Lithium CR2032 for backup memory and clock |
Backward compatibility | Neo Geo Pocket |
Predecessor | Neo Geo Pocket |
Successor | Neo Geo X |
The Neo Geo Pocket Color [lower-alpha 1] (NGPC) is a 16-bit color handheld game console developed and manufactured by SNK. It is a successor to SNK's monochrome Neo Geo Pocket handheld which was released in 1998 in Japan, with the Color being fully backward compatible. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was released on March 19, 1999 in Japan, August 6, 1999 in North America, and October 1, 1999 in Europe, entering markets all dominated by Nintendo, competing with Nintendo's Game Boy Color.
After a good sales start in both the U.S. and Japan with 14 launch titles (a record at the time), [2] subsequent low retail support in the U.S., [3] lack of communication with third-party developers by SNK's American management, [4] the popularity of Nintendo's Pokémon franchise and anticipation of the 32-bit Game Boy Advance, [5] and strong competition from Bandai's WonderSwan in Japan, led to a sales decline in both regions. [6]
Meanwhile, SNK had been in financial trouble for at least a year; the company soon collapsed, and was purchased by American pachinko manufacturer Aruze in January 2000. [6] However, Aruze did not support SNK's video game business enough, leading to SNK's original founder and several other employees leaving to form a new company, BrezzaSoft. [6] [7] Eventually on June 13, 2000, Aruze decided to quit the North American and European markets, marking the end of SNK's worldwide operations and the discontinuation of Neo Geo hardware and software there. [6] The Neo Geo Pocket Color (and other SNK/Neo Geo products) did however, last until 2001 in Japan. It was SNK's last video game console, as the company went bankrupt on October 30, 2001. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Despite its financial failure, the Neo Geo Pocket Color has been regarded as an influential system. Many highly acclaimed games were released for the system, such as SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium , King of Fighters R-2 , and other quality arcade titles derived from SNK's MVS and AES. [5] It also featured an arcade-style microswitched 'clicky stick' joystick, which was praised for its accuracy and being well-suited for fighting games. [5] The system's display and 40-hour battery life were also well received. [5]
The U.S. version of the Neo Geo Pocket Color had an exclusive launch on the website eToys in 1999. eToys also sold the initial launch titles in the plastic snap lock cases. The system debuted in the United States with six launch titles (twenty promised by end of year) and retail price of $69.95. Six different unit colors were available: Camouflage Blue, Carbon Black, Crystal White, Platinum Blue, Platinum Silver, and Stone Blue. In its first two months, the NGPC sold a successful 25,000 units. [6]
Prior to SNK's acquisition by Aruze, the Neo Geo Pocket Color was being advertised on U.S. television and units were being sold nationwide at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Toys "R" Us, and other major retail chains. For the Christmas Holiday season in 1999, SNK spent $4 million on television advertisements that aired on channels including MTV, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. [6]
By May 2000, the NGPC had a 2% market share in the U.S. handheld console market; although tiny compared to the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, it was enough to turn a profit for SNK USA. [6]
On 21 October 1999, a redesigned, slimmer version called New Neo Geo Pocket Color was released in Japan, selling at ¥6800. [15] It is 13% smaller than the original Neo Geo Pocket Color, with dimensions 125 x 73 x 27 mm, and also features improved sound output. [16]
In June 2000, Aruze (parent of SNK) decided to discontinue all SNK operations outside Japan. As a result, remaining stock was bought back by SNK for repackaging in Asia. SNK were recalling most of the back-stock of systems and games to be flashed and re-sold in Asia where the system would continue to be sold and supported. Some of the back-stock of American NGPC hardware and software began to resurface on the American and Asian markets in 2003. These units frequently appeared bundled with six games stripped of their cases and manuals. Two games often included, Faselei! and Last Blade were never previously released in United States, meaning that they have no U.S.-localized box or manual; however, these titles did receive a European release, incorporating an English translation.
After the bankruptcy of SNK on October 30, 2001, the intellectual property rights were collectively transferred to the successor company SNK Playmore (later the second generation SNK), but the development of Neo Geo Pocket Color was discontinued after bankruptcy.
Closely modeled after its predecessor, the Neo Geo Pocket Color design sports two face buttons on the right hand side of the system, and an eight-direction microswitched digital D-pad on the left. It is horizontally designed like the Game Gear, as opposed to the Game Boy's vertical setup and the WonderSwan's hybrid of both. Upgraded from the Neo Geo Pocket, it has a color screen in the middle.
Similar to the Game Boy and its successors, the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, the Neo Geo Pocket Color does not have a back-lit screen, and games can only be played in a well-lit area. Like the Game.com before it, the Neo Geo Pocket Color uses a CR2032 battery to retain backup memory and keep the clock active, as well as the usual AA batteries to power the system during usage. The Neo Geo Pocket Color has no regional lockout.
The system has an on-board language setting, and games display text in the language selected (provided the cartridge supports that language). Other settings include time and date, and the system can provide customized horoscopes when one's birth date is entered.
Cables for linking multiple systems were available, as well as a cable to connect the NGPC and the Dreamcast, as part of a partnership between SNK and Sega. Games that featured this option include King of Fighters R-2 (links with King of Fighters '99 Dream Match and King of Fighters Evolution ); SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium (links with Capcom vs. SNK ); SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (links with King of Fighters Evolution ); SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Clash Expand Edition (links with Capcom vs SNK ) and Cool Cool Jam (links with Cool Cool Toon ).
CPUs | Toshiba TLCS-900/H core (16/32-bit CISC based on Z80), up to 6.144 MHz, Z80 at 3.072 MHz dedicated to sound |
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RAM | 12 KB for 900/H, 4 KB for Z80 (shared with the 900/H), 4 KB of tilemap RAM, 8 KB of character RAM |
ROM | 64 KB BIOS |
Interfaces | SIO 1 channel 19200 bit/s, 5-pin serial port |
Resolution | 160x152 (256x256 virtual screen) |
DMA | 4 channels, integrated in TLCS-900/H core |
Colors | 146 (or 20 in monochrome mode) on-screen out of 4096 |
Palettes | 16 for sprites, 16 per scrolling plane, additional 8 sets of 8 colors each assigned to the 6 monochrome-mode palettes (2 for sprites, 2 per scrolling plane), backdrop, and window |
Characters | 512 8x8 characters, transparency + 3 colors per character |
Sprites | 64 8x8 sprites, each can be placed behind, in-between, or above the scrolling planes, no arbitrary scanline limitation |
Scrolling | 2 scrolling planes, 32x32 tilemaps with 8x8 character tiles |
Special effects | Character flipping, sprite chaining, sprite coordinate offsetting, windowing, color inversion |
Sound | T6W28 (enhanced SN76489 with 3 square-wave tone generators + 1 noise generator, stereo capability), dual 8-bit digital-to-analog converters |
Cartridges | Maximum 4 MB (32 Mbit) with 4 to 16 Mbit flash memory |
Batteries | 40 hours on two AA batteries, Lithium CR2032 battery for memory and clock |
A total of 73 games were released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Most of the system's games were produced by SNK themselves, featuring well-received titles from franchises such as Fatal Fury , Metal Slug and The King of Fighters . [17] Several large third-party developers also contributed to the system; the most well known of these is Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure , a title heavily based on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that is often considered one of the greatest games produced for the system. [18] [19] [20] Taito contributed a port of their successful arcade game Densha de Go! 2 and Puzzle Bobble Mini , also known as Bust-A-Move Pocket. [17] Capcom worked in conjunction with SNK on several crossover games featuring their characters, including SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium and the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash series of games. Namco published a conversion of Pac-Man , which came with a plastic cross ring that restricted the system's clicky stick to four directions; this version is often seen as one of the best home ports of the game to be released. [19] [21] Compile, Data East and ADK also produced ports of Puyo Pop , Magical Drop and Crush Roller respectively. Success published Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams , a successful port of the arcade game of the same name.
Similar to the Neo Geo AES console, Neo Geo Pocket Color games were packaged in large clamshell-like black cases, fitted with bright, colorful cover art on them. As a way to reduce costs, in North America the games were instead shipped in cardboard boxes, a move that has been negatively received due to their general poor quality.[ citation needed ] Japanese games were later released in the same cardboard boxes, while all European releases used the clamshell cases. [6] [19] Towards the end of the system's short lifespan in North America, games were often bundled together in blister packs and sold in stores to clear out inventory, often including previously-unreleased titles such as Faselei! . [18]
Several Neo Geo Pocket Color games were re-released for the first time via emulation on Nintendo Switch, beginning with Samurai Shodown! 2 in 2019 as a pre-order incentive for Samurai Shodown (2019). [22] These re-releases were later compiled into Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 (2021) and Vol. 2 (2022), which were also released for Windows. [23] [24]
SNK sold over 25,000 Neo Geo Pocket Color systems in Japan and over 100,000 in Europe by the end of 1999. [6] By May of 2000, the Neo Geo Pocket Color retained a 2% market share in the North American handheld market; although minuscule compared to the Nintendo's Game Boy Color, it was enough to turn a profit for SNK America. [6]
Retrospective feedback for the Neo Geo Pocket Color has been positive. USGamer writer Jeremy Parish considers it an important and influential handheld for being a "technological bridge" between the 8-bit portable era and the Game Boy Advance, and for its "clicky stick" having been used for modern video game consoles. [18] He praised the game's small library for its quality and wide selection of genres, specifically titles such as SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash , Sonic Pocket Adventure , Magical Drop and Pac-Man , and for the system's build quality being robust and well-built. [18] Parish blamed the system's commercial failure on both SNK's large lack of retail presence and for Aruze acquiring the company in 2000, concluding the article with: "Neo Geo Pocket Color's life may have been painfully brief, but it was nevertheless memorable for those who experienced it. Perhaps all the more so for the system's brevity, in fact." [18] Ryan Lamble of Den of Geek felt that the Neo Geo Pocket Color was the best rival to Nintendo's Game Boy Color for its "brilliant" game library, design and overall quality. [20] Lamble expressed somber towards the system's early defeat in the handheld market, saying: "It was a premature end for a system that, although doomed to remain a distant second to the Game Boy, could have forged a great little niche of its own." [20] NintendoLife 's Damien McFerran said that both it and the WonderSwan served as some of the most "interesting challengers" towards Nintendo. [19] He commended the system for its game library and clamshell boxes, hardware capabilities, battery life and lasting legacy on future systems, writing: "Like the WonderSwan, the Neo Geo Pocket Color may not have succeeded in its goal of wrestling market share away from Nintendo, but that doesn't automatically mean it was a failure. Many fans will argue that the quality of the software available was far in advance of that on the Game Boy Color, and the fantastic controls, amazing battery life, cool PDA features and excellent screen combine to make a system which is still hard to put down, even today." [19]
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the console, screen, speakers, and controls in one unit, allowing players to carry them and play them at any time or place.
The Neo Geo Pocket (NGP) is a monochrome handheld game console released by SNK. It was the company's first handheld system and is part of the Neo Geo family. It debuted in Japan in late 1998 and was primarily sold in Japan and Hong Kong. The system and all five English games saw limited distribution in the west, where it could be ordered directly from SNK USA.
The Neo Geo, stylized as NEO•GEO and also written as NEOGEO, is a ROM cartridge-based arcade system board and fourth-generation home video game console released on April 26, 1990, by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was the first system in SNK's Neo Geo family.
SNK Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform, and electronics. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku Corporation was founded in 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki. In 1981, the name was informally shortened to SNK Corporation, which became the company's official name in 1986.
SNK vs. Capcom, or alternately Capcom vs. SNK, is a series of crossover video games by either Capcom or SNK featuring characters that appear in games created by either company. Most of these are fighting games, and take on a similar format to Capcom's own Marvel vs. Capcom series, in which the players create teams of fighters and have them fight each other. Games in this series either contain SNK vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK in their titles, with the first company named denoting the company behind the game's development.
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure is a platform game developed by SNK and published by Sega for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999. The game is based on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) for the Sega Genesis, borrowing much of the stage themes and gameplay elements, but featuring unique stage layouts, elements from other Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games, and extra game modes. Sega's Yuji Naka and the rest of Sonic Team supervised over production.
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 is the sequel to the fighting game Capcom vs. SNK. It was originally released on NAOMI hardware in arcades, with Sega handling the American arcade release. As in the original, players select a team of fighters from various Capcom and SNK games then fight other teams, winning each battle by defeating all the opponents from the other team.
SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium is a crossover fighting game developed and published by SNK for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999.
Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia is a 2000 real-time tactical role-playing game developed and published by SNK for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The game is a spin-off within the Ogre Battle series, originally created by Quest Corporation. The storyline takes place parallel to Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, and follows the path of Prince Tristan of Zenobia during his quest to reclaim his kingdom. As with other Ogre Battle titles, the player controls squads of an army, moving to different parts of the map accomplishing tasks and battling armies encountered on the route. Choices made during the narrative impact the ending.
Sacnoth Inc., renamed Nautilus Inc. in 2002, was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. The company was founded in April 1997 by Hiroki Kikuta with funding from SNK; its staff, including Kikuta, were veterans of Square. While their first releases were the Dive Alert games for the Neo Geo Pocket Color (NGPC), the company was founded to produce Koudelka, a role-playing video game for the PlayStation. The development of Koudelka was troubled due to creative differences between Kikuta and the rest of the staff, with Kikuta resigning as CEO following the game's release and being replaced by Jun Mihara. The company also released the NGPC game Faselei!.
Samurai Shodown II, known in Japan as Shin Samurai Spirits: Haōmaru Jigokuhen, is a 1994 fighting game released as the second entry in SNK's Samurai Shodown series. Like the original Samurai Shodown, the sequel was initially released for the Neo Geo arcade and home system.
Samurai Shodown III: Blades of Blood is an arcade game developed by SNK and released on November 15, 1995. It is the third game in SNK's Samurai Shodown series of fighting games. While it is the third game in the main series, it is the first part of a two-chapter story that is chronologically set between the events of Samurai Shodown and Samurai Shodown II.
SNK Gals' Fighters is a fighting game for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, released in 2000. The game was ported to the Nintendo Switch in the eShop on April 29, 2020, and included as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 in 2021.
King of Fighters R-2 is a fighting game released by SNK in 1999 for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color handheld system, part of The King of Fighters series. It is the sequel to King of Fighters R-1 for the Neo-Geo Pocket, the previous generation of the handheld. A port for Nintendo Switch was released on August 7, 2020, which was included as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 in 2021.
Rockman: Battle & Fighters is a Mega Man fighting game developed and published by Capcom for the Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld system in 2000. It is a portable version of the two arcade fighting games Mega Man: The Power Battle, and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. The game involves choosing one of four characters and fighting through a series of boss battles. The game was originally only released in Japan, but was localized in 2022 as Mega Man Battle & Fighters for the Nintendo Switch. This version was included as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 2 for Switch and Microsoft Windows later that year.
Neo Geo is a family of video game hardware that was developed by SNK. On the market from 1990 to 2004, the brand originated with the release of an arcade system, the Neo Geo Multi Video System (MVS) and its home console counterpart, the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES).
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash is a series of SNK Playmore games between 1999 and 2006 for hand-held consoles. It is a digital collectible card game, spun off from the popular series of fighting games by SNK and Capcom, and also including references to many other kinds of games from both companies. The game uses cards based on Capcom and SNK characters from a variety of earlier games. The first two versions of this game were released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and a new version for the Nintendo DS was released in 2007.
The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny is a fighting game released by SNK in April 2000 for the Neo-Geo Pocket Color handheld system. It is the third game in The Last Blade series. The European release was subject to a recall when SNK ceased all foreign operations a month later, making it one of the rarest English language titles in Neo-Geo Pocket Color's library. The game was later re-released as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 in 2021.
Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection is a pair of video game compilations developed by SNK and Code Mystics. Each of the two volumes contain emulated versions of 10 games originally published by SNK between 1999 and 2000 for the company's short-lived Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld game console, including some featuring characters from fellow game developer Capcom. The first volume was released for Nintendo Switch in March 2021, followed by a release for Windows the following September. The second volume was released for both systems in November 2022.