My thoughts on the Neo Geo Pocket
Phoenix Gamma
from ECTS. A trade show in London where developers and people in "the
industry" gather together to check out the new games and gaming
related products in the world of computer and video gaming.
At this show, I was lucky to chance across the Neo Geo Pocket for the
first time ever. Having heard about SNK's would be Gameboy-Beater, I
was interested in seeing just what this baby Neo Geo console could
actually do. I spent a good 3/4 hour playing the games they had
available for the thing and assessing its stregths and weaknesses.
What now follows is a summing up of my observations.
o The Screen
The screen is larger than that of the Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy
Colour, however, the so-called "colour" on the NGP is nothing more
than very bland monochrome. The graphics are fairly detailed with a
nice resolution for an LCD screen (I think possibly a little higher
than the GB), but the use of colour isn't outstanding at all.
o Graphics
Reasonable. Again, nothing outstanding. Looked like Gamboy graphics
with a tiny bit more detail.
o Sound
Couldn't hear a damn thing over the noise of the show... :(
o Controls
The controller for the NGP is a tiny, bi-concave microswitch joystick
operated with the thumb. There are two action buttons to the right of
the machine. I personally thought that the controller wasn't very
responsive. One of the games I tried was a beat 'em up (there's a
surprise!) and it appeared to have trobule with diagonals. However,
at least this thing is 8 directional as opposed to Nintendo's 4
directional D- Pad for the GB. I always wondered why they didn't make
the D-Pad 8 directional for the GBC. It would've been great. Or
perhaps even given it an analogue joystick of it's own. But that's
another kettle of fish.
o Games
It's early days, I know, but the available selction of games for the
NGP was weak next to that of the Gameboy, and the up and coming titles
I saw in the brochure weren't very interesting either. In fact they
seemed quite rudimentary and simplistic. I can see the novelty in
titles such as Pac Man and the like, but SNK really do need to start
getting some strong titles for this thing soon. Metal Slug was about
the only thing I really saw that was worth bothering with.
So is it "Game Over Boys?" as the promotional brochure suggested?
Personally, I think not. Certainly not at this stage. If SNK are
able to steal some of Nintendo's thunder by releasing some strong
games, they may be in with a chance, but I'm skeptical. The Gameboy
just will not die. Ever. And it's been going strong for a good 10
years now, so the NGP really does have a hell of a lot of catching up
to do if it is to compete.
I'd like to see more games like Metal Slug, and perhaps lots of
sideway scrolling shooters; not golf games, card games and cute little
novelty retro games. However, given SNK's track reccord and going by
the titles on their other machines, I think we'll be lucky to see
anything besides another string of fighters.
Don't get me wrong, I like Neo Geo machines (I have a Neo CD at home),
but for the portable, I think SNK need to inject a bit more variety
and creativity if they want to compete with the GB. Although fighters
is one thing the Gameboy lacks, so SNK may have a niche here...
Anyway, that's it. My observations. I commend SNK's bravery in
tackling Nintendo's 10 year old giant, but I don't really see a happy
ending. Sega tried by going for full colour, but the poor battery
life made the Nomad and Game Gear impractical. Atari's Lynx was
populated with generally dire games. And a whole host of other
faceless pretenders have just come and gone. Either suffering from
battery life issues or by just being plain crap.
So it remains to be seen whether the Neo Pocket will compete
successfully or not. It's all down to the games..
Oh... and bring back Athena, damnit! ^_^
-me
"Will you kill your boyfriend for me, sister dear?"
Replies to sup...@usa.net - remove the "noway" spam block.
Find me kicking about at: http://www.maktos.com
Icy Q#: 13246560 - Drop on by, cupcake...
atholbrose
>The screen is larger than that of the Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy
>Colour, however, the so-called "colour" on the NGP is nothing more
>than very bland monochrome. The graphics are fairly detailed with a
>nice resolution for an LCD screen (I think possibly a little higher
>than the GB), but the use of colour isn't outstanding at all.
You didn't get to play some of the more colorful games under good lighting
conditions. The colors in Biomotor UNITRON (a role-playing game, just
released in the states) are varied and vibrant, very much more so than the
only color RPG I have for the GBC, Revelations: Demon Slayer (I just don't
like Zelda). Everything from anime portraits to the (somewhat-goofy)
monsters are done in bright colors that look really good as long as you've
managed to tilt the screen correctly in relation to your light source. GBC
has this same problem because it uses the same type of screen.
>o Sound
>Couldn't hear a damn thing over the noise of the show... :(
I'm most dissapointed with the sound, though I guess you can't do much
more with a portable. Still, someone should be able to design a good
portable with the ability to play digitized sounds. It just hasn't
happened yet (and no, the "Pika!" in Pokemon Pinball doesn't count).
>It's early days, I know, but the available selction of games for the
>NGP was weak next to that of the Gameboy, and the up and coming titles
>I saw in the brochure weren't very interesting either. In fact they
>seemed quite rudimentary and simplistic. I can see the novelty in
>titles such as Pac Man and the like, but SNK really do need to start
>getting some strong titles for this thing soon. Metal Slug was about
>the only thing I really saw that was worth bothering with.
I got bored with Metal Slug quickly. Then again, platform games are not my
thing, neither are fighting games. I purchased the NGPC pretty much for
Biomotor UNITRON, Dive Alert (an RPG/strategic sub sim, which'll use the
wireless link which lets 64 people play at once!) and the rash of puzzle
games coming out. Hopefully there'll be a few more adventure/RPG games
soon -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for SNK's port of Sakura Taisen to
make it to English.
That said, KOF: R2 is pretty decent for a fighter (I figured I should have
one), Tennis is simple but addictive, Crush Roller a very good retro port
of a game I played when I was a kid...
>I'd like to see more games like Metal Slug, and perhaps lots of
>sideway scrolling shooters; not golf games, card games and cute little
>novelty retro games. However, given SNK's track reccord and going by
>the titles on their other machines, I think we'll be lucky to see
>anything besides another string of fighters.
I think if NGCP has a chance, it's with niche titles: RPG, SRPG, cute
novelty retro games, and weirdness that doesn't make it onto other
consoles. SNK could do a lot worse than to port a Mah Jongg game and, say,
Melon-chan's Growth Diary. Sakura Taisen would sell a LOT of machines, as
would Tokimemo Pocket.
>Oh... and bring back Athena, damnit! ^_^
She's in KOF: R2.
--
r. n. dominick -- cinn...@one.net
Joe Ottoson
<sup...@noway.usa.net> wrote:
> OK, some of you may be aware of the fact that I have just returned
> from ECTS. A trade show in London where developers and people in "the
> industry" gather together to check out the new games and gaming
> related products in the world of computer and video gaming.
>
> At this show, I was lucky to chance across the Neo Geo Pocket for the
> first time ever. Having heard about SNK's would be Gameboy-Beater, I
> was interested in seeing just what this baby Neo Geo console could
> actually do. I spent a good 3/4 hour playing the games they had
> available for the thing and assessing its stregths and weaknesses.
> What now follows is a summing up of my observations.
>
> o The Screen
>
> The screen is larger than that of the Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy
> Colour, however, the so-called "colour" on the NGP is nothing more
> than very bland monochrome. The graphics are fairly detailed with a
> nice resolution for an LCD screen (I think possibly a little higher
> than the GB), but the use of colour isn't outstanding at all.
>
> o Graphics
>
> Reasonable. Again, nothing outstanding. Looked like Gamboy graphics
> with a tiny bit more detail.
That, and the NGP can move its sprites around a whole lot faster. The
level o animation on KoF R2 for example is astounding for a hand
held... (That, and the NGP supports larger ROM sizes than the GB.)
> o Sound
>
> Couldn't hear a damn thing over the noise of the show... :(
They're passable. Still well within the realm of a typical 8-bit
system's sound system.
> I'd like to see more games like Metal Slug, and perhaps lots of
> sideway scrolling shooters; not golf games, card games and cute little
> novelty retro games. However, given SNK's track reccord and going by
> the titles on their other machines, I think we'll be lucky to see
> anything besides another string of fighters.
Well, here's a positive sign... SNK USA has already released a RPG for
the system (Biomotor Unitron) it's a pretty good game for a first
attempt all in all.
Support from Sega and Namco certainly won't hurt in the long run either
(The significance of Pac Man, is in the potential for Rolling Thunder
after it) sonic's coming too ;)
> Don't get me wrong, I like Neo Geo machines (I have a Neo CD at home),
> but for the portable, I think SNK need to inject a bit more variety
> and creativity if they want to compete with the GB. Although fighters
> is one thing the Gameboy lacks, so SNK may have a niche here...
Its sprite pushing capabilities could make for some decent racers too
if they ever got around to making some. The potential for 32 player
link games isn't a bad thing either...
ldre...@my-deja.com
sup...@noway.usa.net wrote:
> OK, some of you may be aware of the fact that I have just returned
> from ECTS. A trade show in London where developers and people in "the
> industry" gather together to check out the new games and gaming
> related products in the world of computer and video gaming.
>
> At this show, I was lucky to chance across the Neo Geo Pocket for the
> first time ever. Having heard about SNK's would be Gameboy-Beater, I
> was interested in seeing just what this baby Neo Geo console could
> actually do. I spent a good 3/4 hour playing the games they had
> available for the thing and assessing its stregths and weaknesses.
> What now follows is a summing up of my observations.
>
> o The Screen
>
> The screen is larger than that of the Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy
> Colour, however, the so-called "colour" on the NGP is nothing more
> than very bland monochrome. The graphics are fairly detailed with a
> nice resolution for an LCD screen (I think possibly a little higher
> than the GB), but the use of colour isn't outstanding at all.
>
> o Graphics
>
> Reasonable. Again, nothing outstanding. Looked like Gamboy graphics
> with a tiny bit more detail.
>
>
> Couldn't hear a damn thing over the noise of the show... :(
>
>
> The controller for the NGP is a tiny, bi-concave microswitch joystick
> operated with the thumb. There are two action buttons to the right of
> the machine. I personally thought that the controller wasn't very
> responsive. One of the games I tried was a beat 'em up (there's a
> surprise!) and it appeared to have trobule with diagonals. However,
> at least this thing is 8 directional as opposed to Nintendo's 4
> directional D- Pad for the GB. I always wondered why they didn't make
> the D-Pad 8 directional for the GBC. It would've been great. Or
> perhaps even given it an analogue joystick of it's own. But that's
> another kettle of fish.
>
> o Games
>
> NGP was weak next to that of the Gameboy, and the up and coming titles
> I saw in the brochure weren't very interesting either. In fact they
> seemed quite rudimentary and simplistic. I can see the novelty in
> titles such as Pac Man and the like, but SNK really do need to start
> getting some strong titles for this thing soon. Metal Slug was about
> the only thing I really saw that was worth bothering with.
>
>
> Personally, I think not. Certainly not at this stage. If SNK are
> able to steal some of Nintendo's thunder by releasing some strong
> games, they may be in with a chance, but I'm skeptical. The Gameboy
> just will not die. Ever. And it's been going strong for a good 10
> years now, so the NGP really does have a hell of a lot of catching up
> to do if it is to compete.
>
> sideway scrolling shooters; not golf games, card games and cute little
> novelty retro games. However, given SNK's track reccord and going by
> the titles on their other machines, I think we'll be lucky to see
> anything besides another string of fighters.
>
Wow, you're the second person I know who has one! (My friend RL Dan is
the first). Oh, you gotta love SamSho 2, though!
> but for the portable, I think SNK need to inject a bit more variety
> and creativity if they want to compete with the GB. Although fighters
> is one thing the Gameboy lacks, so SNK may have a niche here...
>
> Anyway, that's it. My observations. I commend SNK's bravery in
> tackling Nintendo's 10 year old giant, but I don't really see a happy
> ending. Sega tried by going for full colour, but the poor battery
> life made the Nomad and Game Gear impractical. Atari's Lynx was
> populated with generally dire games. And a whole host of other
> faceless pretenders have just come and gone. Either suffering from
> battery life issues or by just being plain crap.
>
> So it remains to be seen whether the Neo Pocket will compete
> successfully or not. It's all down to the games..
>
> Oh... and bring back Athena, damnit! ^_^
>
Naah... Crystalis, NOW we're talking!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
ldre...@my-deja.com
cinn...@shell.one.net (atholbrose) wrote:
> On Tue, 07 Sep 1999 12:36:25 GMT, Phoenix Gamma
<sup...@noway.usa.net> wrote:
> >Colour, however, the so-called "colour" on the NGP is nothing more
> >than very bland monochrome. The graphics are fairly detailed with a
> >nice resolution for an LCD screen (I think possibly a little higher
> >than the GB), but the use of colour isn't outstanding at all.
>
lighting
> conditions. The colors in Biomotor UNITRON (a role-playing game, just
> released in the states) are varied and vibrant, very much more so
than the
> only color RPG I have for the GBC, Revelations: Demon Slayer (I just
don't
> like Zelda). Everything from anime portraits to the (somewhat-goofy)
> monsters are done in bright colors that look really good as long as
you've
> managed to tilt the screen correctly in relation to your light
source. GBC
> has this same problem because it uses the same type of screen.
>
Whoa, shit, an RPG for this thing? More info, please! That sounds
pretty cool, actually...
> >o Sound
> >Couldn't hear a damn thing over the noise of the show... :(
>
> I'm most dissapointed with the sound, though I guess you can't do much
> more with a portable. Still, someone should be able to design a good
> portable with the ability to play digitized sounds. It just hasn't
> happened yet (and no, the "Pika!" in Pokemon Pinball doesn't count).
>
> >It's early days, I know, but the available selction of games for the
> >NGP was weak next to that of the Gameboy, and the up and coming
titles
> >I saw in the brochure weren't very interesting either. In fact they
> >seemed quite rudimentary and simplistic. I can see the novelty in
> >titles such as Pac Man and the like, but SNK really do need to start
> >getting some strong titles for this thing soon. Metal Slug was about
> >the only thing I really saw that was worth bothering with.
>
> I got bored with Metal Slug quickly. Then again, platform games are
not my
> thing, neither are fighting games. I purchased the NGPC pretty much
for
> Biomotor UNITRON, Dive Alert (an RPG/strategic sub sim, which'll use
the
> wireless link which lets 64 people play at once!) and the rash of
puzzle
> games coming out. Hopefully there'll be a few more adventure/RPG games
> soon -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed for SNK's port of Sakura
Taisen to
> make it to English.
>
> That said, KOF: R2 is pretty decent for a fighter (I figured I should
have
> one), Tennis is simple but addictive, Crush Roller a very good retro
port
> of a game I played when I was a kid...
>
> >I'd like to see more games like Metal Slug, and perhaps lots of
> >sideway scrolling shooters; not golf games, card games and cute
little
> >novelty retro games. However, given SNK's track reccord and going by
> >the titles on their other machines, I think we'll be lucky to see
> >anything besides another string of fighters.
>
> I think if NGCP has a chance, it's with niche titles: RPG, SRPG, cute
> novelty retro games, and weirdness that doesn't make it onto other
> consoles. SNK could do a lot worse than to port a Mah Jongg game and,
say,
> Melon-chan's Growth Diary. Sakura Taisen would sell a LOT of
machines, as
> would Tokimemo Pocket.
>
RPGs are a niche genre? I think you're stuck in 1993 :)
> >Oh... and bring back Athena, damnit! ^_^
>
> She's in KOF: R2.
>
> --
> r. n. dominick -- cinn...@one.net
>
Joe Ottoson
> In article <slrn7tabge....@shell.one.net>,
> cinn...@shell.one.net (atholbrose) wrote:
> > On Tue, 07 Sep 1999 12:36:25 GMT, Phoenix Gamma
> <sup...@noway.usa.net> wrote:
Everything from anime portraits to the (somewhat-goofy)
> > monsters are done in bright colors that look really good as long as
> you've
> > managed to tilt the screen correctly in relation to your light
> source. GBC
> > has this same problem because it uses the same type of screen.
> >
>
> Whoa, shit, an RPG for this thing? More info, please! That sounds
> pretty cool, actually...
It's a pretty good RPG even though most of the action just centers
around one town and you upgrading your robot to win matches in the
arena. To earn money, and gain raw materials for parts, you'll have to
brave four elementally based dungeons that get progressibely harder the
further down you go. (The manual claims that it has random dungeons,
but it just will randonly switch between one 2-3 different level
layouts.)
Fun to play in general, although there's not much story aside from your
growing collection of fans...
atholbrose
<ldre...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>Whoa, shit, an RPG for this thing? More info, please! That sounds
>pretty cool, actually...
Yeah, it's the first RPG for it -- Biomotor UNITRON, a kind of roguelike
game. Um, you have a big mech; you play the game running around in your
UNITRON. Your partner (automatically of the same race and opposite sex
from you; you get to name both characters) is a UNITRON mechanic. You
start with some basic UNITRON parts; your partner can customize these
parts with materials and tools you can buy or find in dungeons. There are
four seven-level randomly-generated-each-time-you-enter dungeons you can
go into to get experience, gold and materials. The point of the game
(nominally) is to get to the highest rank in the UNITRON fighting arena.
Quite fun.
>> I think if NGCP has a chance, it's with niche titles: RPG, SRPG, cute
>> novelty retro games, and weirdness that doesn't make it onto other
>> consoles. SNK could do a lot worse than to port a Mah Jongg game and,
>say,
>> Melon-chan's Growth Diary. Sakura Taisen would sell a LOT of
>machines, as
>> would Tokimemo Pocket.
>RPGs are a niche genre? I think you're stuck in 1993 :)
RPGs for portables are definitely niche. You can count the
currently-available, traditional-style Gameboy RPGs on one hand (three
Final Fantasy games, Pokemon, and Revelations: the Demon Slayer). Even
counting action RPGs like Zelda, Final Fantasy Adventure and the like,
they're still one of the underrepresented genres out there.
And mah-jongg, raising simulations, and SRPG/dating-sims are *definitely*
niche.
Mike Robinson
>That, and the NGP can move its sprites around a whole lot faster. The
>level o animation on KoF R2 for example is astounding for a hand
>held... (That, and the NGP supports larger ROM sizes than the GB.)
The GB itself does not "support" different sized ROMs at all, that is
done by the memory block controller on the cartridge. It switches in
different memory pages as needed, so in theory the maximum ROM size is
only limited by manufacturing cost.
--
Mike Robinson | ICQ#30411892 | AIM:MprAim
YAKKO70
sort of memory unit for the Dreamcast, as it will be used to swap data between
KOF for the Dreamcast and KOF R2, ala Pocketstation or VMU for Playstation and
Dreamcasts Street Fighter Alpha 3. I would hope there is stuff in the works
for other ideas like their Striker series, maybe some stuff for their RPG's, or
at the very least, for the rest of their fighter library.
You would think that someone at Nintendo would have come up with something
similar for their Game Boy unit considering how many of the bloody things
they've sold thus far.
Yakko70
Still Stuck in the Hour of Scampering...
"Saaay, I haven't seen a cool Cyberspace scene like this since Tron..."
Fanboy, addressing Freakazoid in Idiot's court.
Joe Ottoson
<mi...@winterbd.freeserve.don't.send.spam.co.uk> wrote:
Well, that came out funny. I meant that in application, the NGP
routinely uses larger ROM's (which would allow for more animation to be
stored vs the GB's usual 4mb ROM). Games like KoF clock in at 8mb, and
there are even 32mb games coming soon.
Andrew Cox
> I didn't see anyone mention anything about how SNK plans to use the NGP as a
> sort of memory unit for the Dreamcast, as it will be used to swap data between
> KOF for the Dreamcast and KOF R2, ala Pocketstation or VMU for Playstation and
> Dreamcasts Street Fighter Alpha 3. I would hope there is stuff in the works
> for other ideas like their Striker series, maybe some stuff for their RPG's, or
> at the very least, for the rest of their fighter library.
> You would think that someone at Nintendo would have come up with something
> similar for their Game Boy unit considering how many of the bloody things
> they've sold thus far.
That's what the 32-bit Nintendo hand-held will be designed for. It's
supposed to be able to hook up to the Dolphin and also hook up to cellular
phones to play multi-player games. It's also going to be
backwards-compatible with all existing Game Boy games.
Andrew