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The Neo Geo Pocket thread of clicky stick appreciation
- Thread starter Vinegar Joe
- Start date
Used to own 2 NGPC and a few boxed games like the UK SvC match of the millennium but sold it to save for maybe a ps3 at the time. I have so many fond memories of it. The person on ebay made like a bandit. I think I sold the 2 systems (one was mint in its box) with like 8 or 9 games (some boxed) for like 300 bucks.
Maybe one day I will collect another set.
Maybe one day I will collect another set.
OP
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It is!
For me, more than almost any other handheld, the controls were its identity. You could take a GBA, Lynx or Game Gear game and play it on the Analogue Pocket and likely have a very similar, if not improved, experience. That's not gonna happen with the NGPC.
I'll be getting an Analogue Pocket and the NGPC adapter, but part of me wishes they went for a modular design like this:
https://www.clockworkpi.com/
Then maybe someone could have developed a replacement stick control.
Bought a NGPC on Ebay brand new with five games (KOF, last Blade, Gals Fighter, Metal Slug, Faselei) for $70 ten years ago. This thread inspired me to boot it up again.
people... don't store your handhelds with batteries still in them. Mine had leaked :-(
I've tried removing the acid filth as best I could. Will try with some new batteries later to see if it's still alive. If not then I will give some serious thought to the Analogue Pocket.
people... don't store your handhelds with batteries still in them. Mine had leaked :-(
I've tried removing the acid filth as best I could. Will try with some new batteries later to see if it's still alive. If not then I will give some serious thought to the Analogue Pocket.
I previously rescued a leaky Nikon speedlight from an estate sale by scrubbing the battery contacts with vinegar. Try that as a last resort if your prior attempt does not work.
it survived! It worked fine after cleaning and a fresh set of batteries.
but my god, that screen. I... I can't. It's simply too dark. I am seriously considering getting an attachable booklight for it.
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Glad you managed to revive it!
Yeah the screen is a bit crap by today's standards. Full colour handhelds like the GBA suffered the same fate, and it's sad that the NGPC didn't stick around long enough to get an SP/Micro treatment. There are various backlight mods mentioned earlier in the thread but they seem a bit pricey or compromise too much for my liking.
Yeah, I don't dare modding it. The screen has definetely made me even more interested in the Analogue Pocket.
I would love to see that. I remember seeing some emulation mockup systems with NGPC sticks before and though it would be a cool idea for the FPGA handheld.
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It should, but for a definitive answer someone would have to test it once the Pocket launches.
Edit: it would surprise me if the pocket cannot be hacked like the other consoles, rendering flash carts obsolete.
man why are everdrives so damn expensive.
i like my NGP (b&w) but do i like-like it enough to drop that kinda coin... i'm not sure
edit: i'd bet my mega sg that there'll be an analogue pocket jailbreak, so this everdrive should only really be considered for og hardware users imo
i like my NGP (b&w) but do i like-like it enough to drop that kinda coin... i'm not sure
edit: i'd bet my mega sg that there'll be an analogue pocket jailbreak, so this everdrive should only really be considered for og hardware users imo
I remember buying mine about a week before its demise was announced. I also was a big supporter of the Dreamcast, Zune, and Windows Phone.
There you go.
Neo Geo Pocket Color battery cover. - STLFinder
Summary Battery cover for your neo geo pocket color. Print Settings Printer: Rigidbot Rafts: Yes Supports: Yes Resolution: .2 Infill: 30% Post-Printing
www.stlfinder.com
OP
OP
Yeah, no clicky stick on the Analogue Pocket so that's a good enough reason to buy one IMO.
Can't find a UK distributor which is a shame :(
There you go.
Neo Geo Pocket Color battery cover. - STLFinder
Summary Battery cover for your neo geo pocket color. Print Settings Printer: Rigidbot Rafts: Yes Supports: Yes Resolution: .2 Infill: 30% Post-Printing
Never thought about that, thanks!...now to find a 3d printer.
By the way, they should have produced a Neo Geo Pocket Color "Mini" instead of the regular one.
Make it containing all of the released games (not that bit of an effort) and I'll buy at once.
Make it containing all of the released games (not that bit of an effort) and I'll buy at once.
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I was reading an interesting article about Brandon Sheffield's 'game archeology' efforts (that helped bring about Samurai Shodown 5 Perfect), and the last paragraph is probably relevant here:
Full article here: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-09-06-snks-gaming-archaeologist-and-his-holy-grail
Probably prototypes, but it would be amazing if anything were to get released, officially or unofficially.
Also a good time to point out how great the SNK 40th anniversary collection is.
Full article here: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-09-06-snks-gaming-archaeologist-and-his-holy-grail
Probably prototypes, but it would be amazing if anything were to get released, officially or unofficially.
Also a good time to point out how great the SNK 40th anniversary collection is.
When Aruze took over and shut down the NGPC, the team that was originally known as Saurus had just released The Last Blade which is one of the highlights of the console's library. I remember being angry about one major thing at the time: what could have Dimps been working on after MotM other than a port of Garou MotW? Imagine that: Mark of the Wolves Pocket! Damn, I'm still angry about it today!
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That would be the dream!
I doubt there's anything in a similar complete state they found SSV Perfect, but with all the flash carts and Analogue Pocket on the horizon, it would be amazing if some of these games were to 'mysteriously' find their way online...
The way they ended that article was such a massive cliffhanger! I hope they do another one just to talk about the NGP/C stuff in that drawer!
Alright, which one of you is posting up their entire CIB UK collection for £22000?
I just finally got a tri-wing this weekend, finally gonna crack into some of the junk units I've ordered off eBay to see if I can fix a few. Might order a backlit screen kit if I can get these to power on properly after some battery compartment cleanup.
I just finally got a tri-wing this weekend, finally gonna crack into some of the junk units I've ordered off eBay to see if I can fix a few. Might order a backlit screen kit if I can get these to power on properly after some battery compartment cleanup.
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Over £500 per game, bargain!
Let us know how it goes with those faulty units. How many did you get?
Let us know how it goes with those faulty units. How many did you get?
I grabbed 2. 1 has a rusted out battery compartment another has a screen with every other vertical line not appearing. Not sure if I'll be able to fix both but I'd like to use them for parts for my main unit if nothing else.
I dug mine out of storage to see if it still works. Luckily I had removed the batteries before storing it.
Works like a charm, but man, without a backlight, it's as hard to play as ever.
Works like a charm, but man, without a backlight, it's as hard to play as ever.
RetroModding.com sells 3 variants and a tonne of coloured button+control stick packs.
At this point, I'd be baffled as to why there aren't any third-party controllers that imitate the click stick.
Please tell me they exist.
Please tell me they exist.
What was the Neo Geo Pocket?
When it was first released in 1998, the Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's entry in the long line of ultimately futile attempts to grab even a speck of Nintendo's handheld market share. It did not work. It was discontinued in 1999 and replaced that same year by the Neo Geo Pocket Color.
Unfortunately the colour version didn't last much longer because SNK went bankrupt a year or two later. But where they failed financially, SNK succeeded in bringing a typically unique product that perfectly represented their output at a mini scale.
Why should I care?
Because the NGPC was SNK firing on all cylinders. The same SNK that developed Metal Slug 3 and Mark of the Wolves. They set about shrinking down their best known arcade games to glorious 160x152 resolution, and considering the limitations of the system it is difficult to imagine how they could have improved on their efforts. And in mirroring their arcade output, the NGPC was home to some of the best handheld fighters ever produced.
This was largely thanks to a very clever piece of design on the hardware itself - the clicky micro-switched stick. And boy does it CLICK! Very noisy. You can't play it at night. It is an absolute dream to use though, and makes pulling off double QCF movements easy and pain free. Seriously, I cannot wax lyrical enough. This is the best controller SNK have ever made - better than the original AES stick (it has buttons that aren't shit).
The stick is also the reason I wouldn't recommend emulating most NGPC games. It will soon be emulated via the excellent looking Analogue Pocket, but without that stick you'll only get half the story. Do yourself a favour and track down the original hardware.
The games
Sadly the NGPC was pulled from shelves before its time, so it doesn't have a very large library. However I'd argue it has one of the best quality to quantity ratios, up there with the Dreamcast. Some highlights:
SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium
Capcom famously made great use of this license swap, while SNK seemed to waste it on the fun but shallow SNK vs Capcom on the MVS. Well, they made up for it on the NGPC with this - probably the best fighting game on the system with a huge roster of characters and plenty of fun side content. This best represents the care with which SNK treated the platform; many of their ports weren't simple conversions with different graphics, they all added something unique (Last Blade had a frickin' baseball mini game!).
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
They weren't messing around, and you'd accuse them of milking the licence by now if CFC wasn't such a quality game. Framed around an RPG of sorts, it's a simple but fun card battling game that comes in SNK and Capcom versions. It's worth the price of admission alone for the many obscure SNK and Capcom characters that appear on the cards. There was a sadly Japan only sequel and an apparently horrid DS version too.
Metal Slug: 2nd Mission
While the hardware was seemingly designed for 1v1 fighters, SNK's other flagship franchise Metal Slug was always going to suffer. There's just no way you could shrink down the mayhem of the arcade games when the hardware only allows you to show a handful of spites on screen at once. So they tweaked things - it increases the amount of branching paths so there are over 30 missions that will require multiple play throughs. The pace may be different, but it is still recognisably Metal Slug and arguably the best entry in the series outside of 1-3.
Faselei!
Famously one of the rarest games, mostly because it was only release in Japan and the UK briefly before it was pulled from shelves. Making a trip to my local EB at the time turned out to be one of the best decisions I made - I can't say it is worth paying £200 for a UK copy, but it is a very good semi turn based strategy game that needs a bigger audience.
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
I remember this being a pretty big deal at the time - Sega had not yet abandoned the Dreamcast, so seeing Sonic on another platform was surprising. And SNK did a bloody good job - just look at that GIF in the spoiler!
I'm convinced. Where can I get one?
The consoles and unboxed games were going cheap a few years back, but prices have sky rocketed since. Still, I'd recommend picking one up soon if you're interested. As I said previously, the real hardware is the only way to go. Try to go private sale if you can, if not Ebay of course.
Unusually for most things video game related, the European games are most sought after. They came in a frankly awesome AES style plastic clam shell, whereas the US and Japan had crappy cardboard boxes. Expect to pay £50-200 for European games, and significantly less for US/JP copies. Most unboxed games can be had fairly cheaply though, and like Game Gear games they came in snug plastic cases so should be in good condition. There is no region protection.
Alternatively there is the Analogue Pocket releasing next year with an NGPC cart adapter. This will undoubtedly have a better screen than the NGPC (no backlight), and hopefully allow you to pair it with a decent controller to make up for the lack of a clicky stick. I hope this can bring more attention to these awesome games.
Image credits
I stole the images because I'm a pleb, so here are the sources:
https://speedyjx.com/tag/neo-geo-pocket-color/
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/03/hardware_classics_snk_neo_geo_pocket_color
http://superadventuresingaming.blogspot.com/2012/08/snk-vs-capcom-card-fighters-clash-ngpc.html
https://pixelclash.tumblr.com/post/143633255674/metal-slug-2nd-mission-neo-geo-pocket-color
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/faselei/
https://aminoapps.com/c/sonic/page/blog/sonic-pocket-adventure/wKab_jDmSouWqja8WvgeLZ3YZZ6xDmW2Q3N
So, hopefully this has been useful or at least bought back some memories. Please share either way!
I'm gonna go ahead and quote this here, because it's almost inexcusable to exclude The Last Blade from this OP. It is easily on par with MOTM for best fighter on the system, because it's not just an excellent conversion (as MOTM and probably better even than KOF R-2), but because of the excellent SP and unlockables. You see, despite the name The Last Blade, as you unlock things in the game it will come to your surprise and delight that it secretly is *also* a port of The Last Blade 2. While you start with the LB1 roster and story for your starting characters, as you play you actually unlock the LB2 characters and LB2 stories for LB1 characters in arcade mode. It's a vastly underrated port of an already somewhat underrated game in SNK's library. Graphically it might even slightly outshine MOTM just due to the outstanding art direction of the LB arcade games ported over here; even though I would still give the overall crown to MOTM by a slight margin.
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The backlight mod but it comes at the cost of a slightly smaller screen that needs a mounting bracket to properly seat in the center of the lens.
PDP made one for gen7 consoles. They supposedly break pretty easily though.
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Versus Controller : Video Games
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Versus Controller : Video Games
www.amazon.com
Amazon.com: PS3 Versus Controller : Video Games
Amazon.com: PS3 Versus Controller : Video Games
www.amazon.com
On the pricier side, Exar made officially licensed NGCD-themed controllers for PS2 and PS3/PC
There's also a hobbyist modder that makes some emulation boxes with microswitched click sticks
PDP made one for gen7 consoles. They supposedly break pretty easily though.
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Versus Controller : Video Games
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Versus Controller : Video Gameswww.amazon.comAmazon.com: PS3 Versus Controller : Video Games
Amazon.com: PS3 Versus Controller : Video Gameswww.amazon.com
On the pricier side, Exar made officially licensed NGCD-themed controllers for PS2 and PS3/PC
There's also a hobbyist modder that makes some emulation boxes with microswitched click sticks
Good to know there's people who see the demand. Now if only we can increase said demand to get more manufacturers on board.
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I'd say it's just behind MotM and maybe Gals' Fighters (which gets points for originality), but it is one of the best fighting games on the system. I didn't want to include more than one fighter, but you make a very good argument.
I've added an honourable mentions section since I felt guilty leaving out a few other games too.
Tried to repair one of my junk units tonight but the PCB contact corrosion is so bad that I couldn't really recover it with baking soda paste. I've been looking for an excuse to finally learn how to solder so I'm $150 in the hole on a big order of soldering equipment tonight now, there's no turning back!
I ordered some backlit screens and mounting brackets from Retro Modding tonight so I'll probably fit those into a few of my units if I can get them repaired.
I ordered some backlit screens and mounting brackets from Retro Modding tonight so I'll probably fit those into a few of my units if I can get them repaired.
I had no idea this was possible. Too bad I'm not good at technical stuff, I do have a few original NGPs, and there are no that hard to find in my country.
I remember seeing those plastic bundle packs for dirt cheap and thinking "nahhhh" - I'm an idiot.
I have a few of these and installed my first one a few weeks ago. It's really easy but make sure you get the bracket and a new lens with the thicker bezel to cover up the gaps left by the smaller screen size. It's really easy to do.
Benn Venn is also working on a solder free/drop in stock-size screen backlight kit but progress has been stalled lately because of C19. I'm really excited for that to eventually be ready!
are the bundle games that came blisterpack not cases have any markings that make them different from the ones that came in cases?
Can you specify? Are you asking if the carts have unique markings or if the clear clamshell cases (on the backside of the blister packs) have unique markings?
Most of my collection came from those bundles, and I don't think there was anything different on the labels or clamshell cases. Maybe the ESRB ratings? I think I have seen some that don't have them ,but those must be for other markets I guess. Those bundles were pretty much liquidation of stock, so it would not make sense for them to have something unique.
When the original NGP was sold in Mexico, the color games were sold on blisters and advertised as black and white games, with lower quality printed labels on the front, and a sticker on the back that said "Made in China" that covered the "Made in Japan" part. There were a bunch of those games sold in bundles with no labels on the front at all, because allegedly they were "surprise" games, but did have the "Made in China" sticker. In the bundles I was able to get those it was just repeated games, you would end up with two soccer or basball games.