REVIEW : NEOGEO POCKET COLOR SELECTION Vol. 1 Steam Edition (PC)
I guess I’ve fallen in love with a classic handheld I’ve never played before. That’s what makes the Neo Geo Pocket Color Collection Vol. 1 so special. It allows you to play these classic games without having to own the original hardware. Sure, there’s nothing like touching that tiny console in your hand and feeling the clicky joystick, but if you don’t want to spend the money, you can play these handheld games from the comfort of your own home.
A collection of essential Neo Geo Pocket Color games, NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is a collection of essential Neo Geo Pocket Color games. The Neo Geo Pocket Color may not have been the most popular handheld system at the time (Nintendo easily won that title), but it did contain some of the best handheld fighting games. The NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol.1 includes five fighting games, a golf game, a few shooters, and a puzzle game, as well as a new addition that sadly replaces one of my favourite NeoGeo Pocket Color games. Still, there is a great collection of titles here that includes five fighting games, a golf game, a few shooters, and a puzzle game.
The omission of Match of the Millennium, which was available on the Switch version of the Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1, is noticeable, albeit Crush Roller has replaced it, and the remaining games are all excellent.
The five fighting games provided are handheld adaptations of major fighting series and are among the best handheld fighting games of the era. Even though these games’ gameplay has been crammed into a smaller form, many of the features that marked these games have remained. Only SNKO Gals’ Combatants, a handheld-only game including fighters from numerous SNK fighting franchises, are exceptions.
These fighting games may appear archaic to people who are used to recent fighting games, but they stand up surprisingly well for being scaled-down copies of home console games. The handheld versions of Metal Slug, Metal Slug 1st Mission, and Metal Slug 2nd Mission are also included in the NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1. These graphically toned-down versions of Metal Slug don’t have the “genuine” thing’s amazing aesthetics, but they’re quite close to their non-handheld equivalents. They’re also a tad sluggish in terms of gameplay. However, the developers did an excellent job of including Metal Gear classics such as different weapons, vehicles, and POWs to rescue, among other things.
The NeoGeo Pocket Selection Vol. 1’s other titles were a little more obscure to me. Big Tournament Golf is a solid golf game with which I spent a lot of time during my first test drive of the Nintendo Switch Pocket Selection. Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 is an oddly unusual top-down action game. It’s a spin-off of the arcade shooter Beast Busters, but with gameplay that’s sort of like Zombies Ate My Neighbors on a handheld device. Crush Roller was another game I’d never heard of, and even though it replaced Match of the Millennium, I was intrigued—and it turned out to be quite enjoyable.
You play as a monkey attempting to paint the arena while dodging attackers. It’s simple and addictive in the same manner that Pac-Man is. The Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1’s emphasis on retro preservation is one of my favourite aspects of the game. It’s not simply a game collection; it’s also a gaming history collection. A 3D replica of the game’s box cover, manual, and the cartridge is included. It’s so well-made that it even has a cartridge protector, a needless but humorous addition. You may turn each of these items over and even read the fine print on the package.
You also have a lot of control over the game’s appearance. You may play each game with a NeoGeo Pocket Color system as a frame—there are even several skins to customize the virtual console’s appearance. Remove the frame and zoom in on the screen to maximize the play area, I prefer. You can’t use touchscreen controls as you can in the Nintendo Switch version, but you can remap keyboard controls or play with a controller on the Steam version of NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1. You can also use the rewind feature to undo the game’s final seconds.
Some games even support a second player, allowing you to challenge them to a game.
REVIEW : SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM (PC)
