NEO GEO POCKET ARCADE

 

SNK's handheld finally came out a few years ago. They had plans to make a hand held system ever since the early 1990's. But by the time it (the black and white version) finally came around it was too little, too late. The technology used was already obsolete by the time it hit store shelves. Less than a year later a color version was released and sales picked up, mainly due to SNK's strong arcade game franchises like Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, as well as titles from 3rd parties like Sega. In Japan Nintendo has 90% of the handheld market, with 8% going to Bandai with the Wonderswan, 1.5% to SNK and the rest to "other" (like mobile phones, which have waaayyyy cooler games than pathetic U.S. phones do. Actually the mobile phone gamming market is the fastest growing in the whole video game industry, hence all the new handhelds which have phone capabilities.) So although virtually dead in North America and Europe the NGPC is actually hanging on by a thread in Japan, so new games are still being made for it. If you look hard enough you can still find them in retail stores, usually in the clearance section, on Ebay they run about $35- $60. 

5/5/06:

Picked one of these up from my local EB in a bundle with ten games. The console is very light, and almost too small. Anyone with big lumberjack hands is going to have trouble. Buttons have good feel and on the whole the console feels decently made. Screen is as clear as a GBC screen, with zero blur. The built in caladar and alarm clock is neat but unless you carry the thing with you everywhere you'll never use them.

Games seem to be of GBC quality but with much better animation. Instead of a crosspad there's a clicky-NES-MAX kind of thing that makes half circle motions very easy to do, which is good news becasue 90% of the games for this thing seem to be fighting games. Problem is all of them have been cutiefied (ala Virtua fighter kids.) Versions of Last Blade and Samurai Showdown play simpler than thier arcade couterparts but are pretty fun. Best game I've seen so far is Metal Slug, which captures the feel of the arcade game down pat.

Not a bad little machine.