NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 Reviews
For those who didn't make the Neo Geo leap with the excellent SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium (which is included here anyway), Neo Geo Pocket Colour Selection Vol.1 is where to start. With an excellent range of titles as well as the only way currently to play two superb Metal Slug titles outside of picking them and a handheld up, it's an easy decision to p-p-p-pick up a pack. It's always going to be a tough sale to take a leap if not familiar with the handheld and lacking that deep nostalgic love, but even with some strange additions outside the recognisable (honestly, Dark Arms is bonkers, fantastic fun), there really is a lot to make that purchase totally justifiable.
NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol.1 is as good as you'd expect a collection of 10 portable games from the turn of the millennium to be. Throw in a couple of hidden gems and some cool features and you're left with a decent offering from SNK.
All in all the NeoGeo Pocket Colour Selection Vol.1 is a fascinating, if not slightly unbalanced look into the history of SNK and its short-lived foray into handheld gaming. What is commendable is the dedication to getting fighting games working well on their handheld project, but also putting out stuff like Dark Arms which was quite unexpected for the market at that time. While this is a A+ emulation collection with some nice extras, filling it with 6 fighting games really puts this title into a niche. If you’re a fan of SNK/NeoGeo history and curious about the Pocket this is an easy purchase. On the other hand for people less versed or not interested in fighting games, it’s a rather pricey lesson in death by excess. It’s a quality product – just laser-pointed directly at a certain audience.
I’d sooner point you to the ACA NeoGeo offerings from the series, that’d be like writing off Link’s Awakening completely just because A Link to the Past exists. That analogy can be applied to the whole collection, in fact, particularly since SNK has made so much of its backlog available. You may be able to pick up a bigger, prettier game but don’t let that deter you from celebrating this unique handheld and its library.
It’s hard to complain about a ten-game collection where every game is at least good. The NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is a fascinating look back at a system that deserved better. With few games that are truly essential, though, and many of them having better versions out there, it’s also not a must-own. For those who have fond memories of these games, or who are just interested in checking out a sadly forgotten device, though, check it out.
The Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Volume 1 for Nintendo Switch brings a forgotten handheld to the forefront. Featuring 10 games that defined SNK's unique platform, this collection serves as a glimpse into gaming history. Six fighting games, two action games, an RPG and a sports title bring something for everyone, but has age been kind to them? This is an in-depth look into how the collection holds up over 20 years later.
While the games themselves haven't aged terribly well and there are too many fighting games here, NeoGeo Pocket Color Selections Vol. 1 demonstrates the best way to preserve old games. On top of simply playing the games themselves, you can take a look at everything that came with the cartridges way back when on top of taking advantage of convenience features like rewind. Unfortunately, this is undermined by the incredibly small screen size which you cannot change.
There’s one other feature that is fun and worth mentioning, which is that it’s also possible to play the black and white versions of these games thanks to the color filter options. If you’ve yet to read our history of NeoGeo Pocket Color feature, SNK originally launched a colorless version of NeoGeo Pocket—only to be aghast to learn that Game Boy Color would debut soon after. Not wanting to be instantly outstripped by Nintendo’s latest handheld, SNK swiftly updated to NGPC soon thereafter, and the rest was history. SNK has been doing wonders keeping its back catalogue of games alive through retro hardware and compilations like NGPC Selection Vol. 1, and we sincerely hope that fans take the time to pick this one up for themselves.