Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Best NeoGeo Pocket Color Games

Ah…the NeoGeo Pocket Color. The BEST portable console ever, IMO. I don’t know if it was the clicky stick, the built-in horoscope, or the obscurity that attracts me, but either way, the Neo is a much underappreciated console that had some killer games. There weren’t many released, but SNK chose quality over quantity (take that, GameBoy!) I don’t think there was a single ‘bad’ game released for the Neo! Here are my picks for Top 10 NeoGeo Pocket Color games.

SNK managed to make a simple slot machine a fun time-waster. This is a glorified version of those pocket-Vegas casino games, namely slots. However, they snazzed it up enough to make it worth your purchase. In this entry of SNK’s larger-than-you’d-think ‘Pocket Casino Series’, you get 5 battery-backed profiles to play as. There is only one variety of slot machine, but it’s all you’ll need. What makes this game fun are the minigames. After every win you are asked if you want to ‘Double-Up’. This brings you to a game where you guess if playing cards are higher or lower than the value 7. The more times you are correct, the more your score can multiply. Line up 3 coins on the machine and you’ll get a coin added to your bank. Collect 5 coins and you play another fun minigame. Line up 3 ‘?’s and you get to play for the Mystery Bonus! What exactly is the Mystery Bonus? Well, you’ll just have to play it and find out! ^_~

All the fun of Puyo in the convenience of your pocket. Whether you’ve played it as Puyo Puyo, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, or Kirby’s Avalanche, the premise is the same. Line up 4 puyos and they disappear. Chain reactions is the name of the game. This port of the game includes 1P vs. COM, 1P vs 2P, and Self-Development modes, among others. The options are extensive, allowing you to choose from 14 (!) different puyo designs. Voice clips are abundant, and thanks to the Neo, crystal clear.

Now, all the fun of Bust-A-Move in the convenience of your pocket. You’ve got Puzzle, VS CPU, and Survivor modes to choose from. Puzzle mode has 100 (!) boards for you to complete, both widescreen and letterboxed. VS CPU has 10 different opponents to battle, and options, like Puyo Pop, are abundant. The graphics and bubble colors are crisp and bright. Music is also taken from the arcade versions, and remain faithful to their originals. I don’t believe there’s a 1P vs 2P mode, but then again, what are the odds someone near you has this game, much less a Neo, AND a Neo link cable?

Another game to sport the Neo name, this is a better-than-you’d-think golf game. You have many characters to choose from, each with their strengths/weaknesses. There are 3 different 18-hole golf courses to choose from (Japan, USA, Germany), resulting in a lot of replay value. In addition to exibition mode, there’s a handicap mode and a tournament mode. Winning tournaments wins you special clubs. The golf interface is nearly flawless, and a joy to play. Music is also spot-on (the options screen!) If you’re tired of the tirade of puzzle and fighting games for the Neo, give this a try. Beware, you might get hooked.

This was the NGPC’s signature puzzle game, and a good one at that. On the playing field is a collection of blocks, and a shooter at the bottom. You maneuver the shooter to create a ‘link’ between two groups of like blocks. When the connection is complete, the blocks disappear. And the blocks are contantly dropping in, and if they cross the bottom line, you’re done. That’s about it, and it plays well. There’s a normal mode (keep playing until you connect two C (completion) blocks, 2P Battle, and two varieties of Clear mode, where you clear a preplayed board in X amount of links. All that’s good, but the real fun is in the cards. If you clear a board before the hourglass runs out, you’re awarded with a card. Each card has a ‘creature’ of sorts (think Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh!). There’s 91 cards to collect, and you’ll play all night for card completion. Some of the characters on the cards are really funny! This game/series has yet to arrive on any other platform/arcade cabinet.

This game was only released in Europe, but thanks to eBay and the fact the Neo has NO region-lock, America (and Japan as well) can enjoy this great game =). Put simply, this game is a collection of 200+ picross puzzles. Picross is a variety of puzzle almost no one’s heard of in which you fill in squares according to numbers presented on each row and column. The squares make up a composite image (i.e. car, flower, house) It’s quite confusing at first (the ‘How to Play’ tutorial is everything but) but once you understand the mechanics, you won’t put this game down. There are 5x5, 10x10, and 15x15 puzzles. If they start putting picross puzzles in major newspapers, it will knock Sudoku off its throne…

Yes, there’s a sequel. I’m surprised the Neo lived long enough to make sequel games! Released less than a year after Puzzle Link (1), the sequel features new block designs, more modes, an upgraded interface, and 100 brand-new cards. The game has been integrated more with real playing cards, and the Normal Mode levels (and respective cards) are grouped as 10, J (Jack), Q (Queen), K (King), and A (Ace). New targets include card suits and Puyos. New characters and anime cutscenes have been added for fun. Gameplay is exactly the same, and that’s a good thing. New modes include Endless (w/ powerups!), updated All Clear modes, and a Card Battle mode. Card Battle is a totally different mode. You and the computer (or 2P) put up an ante card (of the cards you’ve collected). Whoever wins gets the opponent’s ante card. Each character card has a point value, and rank (10, J, Q, K, A). You choose the suit of card, and a random card of that suit is generated for both battlers. The higher ranked player wins X amount of points (J beats Q, Q beats K, etc, but 10 beats A). First to 6 points wins. It’s a break from puzzle action and a fun little side game. All in all this (as well as Puzzle Link 1) is a GREAT game and makes you proud to be a Neo owner.

This was SNK’s answer to Nintendo’s Pokemon TCG. Teaming up with Capcom, they took almost all their characters from almost every game they’ve made and turned them into virtual trading cards. The whole game is EXTREMELY similar to Pokemon TCG, but adds that little unidentifiable flair of obscurity that makes it superior to Pokemon. I’m not going to get into the mechanics of the card game, but I’ll just say that it’s a totally new and different challenge to master, and the game ‘makes sense’. You, in a 3rd person RPG-like style, travel the island to different Cardfighter hotspots, duel the people there as well as the head, for a coin/award. Get all 6 and you challenge the headmasters. Heard this anywhere before? =P 2 things make this game REALLY cool. First, at the title screen, a guy says ‘Cardfighters!’. I love it. Two, in one of the hotspots is a mini-recreation of the Resident Evil mansion (complete with zombies!) And BTW, like Pokemon, two versions of the game were made with different, exclusive cards: SNK version (with more SNK cards) and Capcom version (with more Capcom cards).

Forget the 3 Sonic Advances. Forget Sonic Rush. Forget Sonic Triple Trouble. THIS is the best portable Sonic, past, present, and future. It does exactly what Sega should have been doing all this time since the year 1999. Lead Sonic through 2D zones, fight bosses every 2nd act, have a decent storyline involving Chaos Emeralds, and a pseudo-3D Special Stage. I just described the fashion of Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles for Genesis, and that’s exactly my point. Sonic Pocket Adventure is the classic Sonic formula brought to the new millennium (Sonic’s eyes are even green!). Music is borrowed from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, graphics and Special Stages are borrowed heavily from Sonic 2, and there’s even the 3D loop from SonicCD! This game plays exactly like the Genesis games, only with a different zone layout, and a fresh feel. There are plenty of extras, too. There’s a Time Attack (which ranks you, bronze through platinum), an Advanced Time Attack (time only counts if you complete the act with > 50 rings), 2P duel games, and Puzzles. The coolest exclusive to Sonic Pocket Adventure is the puzzle pieces floating around each Act. Collect them, end your game session, and then go to the Puzzle Room and put the pieces together. Puzzles unlock new modes (like Special Stage Time Attack) and look really cool. Some puzzle pieces are hard to get, and involve a lot of exploration. This game is a real gem.

This was a close one between this game and Sonic, but this game deserves #1 because of its sheer versatility. Every time I play this I just think, “How did they fit all this in the cartridge?” At its core, this game is a 2D super-deformed fighter with many characters and modes from SNK and Capcom’s fighting games. There’s a lot of characters available (and many more hidden), and each have quite a few super combos. Each character has at least 5 taglines and alternate costumes/palettes. There are 3 modes of play in Tourney mode, Single, Tag (2-on-2), and Team (3-on-3) There are also 3 different methods for how the special moves are concocted. There’s a Sparring mode, extensive Options mode, and the ability to create your own personal team, and create your own names and taglines. Of course, there’s 2P VS mode as well. But what really sells this game is the Olympic mode. After choosing SNK or Capcom, you’re led to a menu of minigames. These minigames include Survival Mode, Time Attack, and First Blast (whoever gets the first hit in). Other games have nothing to do with fighting. Target9 has you playing Metal Slug’s Marco and is a sci-fi shooter. Blade Arts has you playing Jubei and slashing straw dolls in a Game & Watch-ish fashion. Ghost Trick has you playing Ghosts and Goblins’ Arthur and is a mini-platform game. The best of them all is Cat Walk, starring Darkstalkers’ Felicia. It’s a DDR clone allowing you to play 6 of the combatants’ main themes. Each game is high-scored with medals to win. As if this wasn’t enough, each game awards you VS points. Collect enough to buy even more Super Combos for your characters in the fighting modes. Or, even better, trade them back and forth from Capcom vs SNK; Millennium Fight 2000 for Sega Dreamcast (using Neo/Dreamcast link cable) to unlock secrets in BOTH games! Even Super Smash Bros. Melee doesn’t come close as far as being a versatile fighter. This is THE best game for the NeoGeo Pocket Color, and probably one of the best video games EVER, period.

In conclusion, the NeoGeo Pocket Color, although humble, has a collection of great games, even some not listed here. If only it was more appreciated, and better advertised (especially in America), it would have gone off like a rocket. Instead it cluttered bargain bins and faded into obscurity. Poor Neo…

List by AJBSONIC (07/17/2006)

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