x68000 posted on Aug 24 2005 at 03:08 PM said:
I know the neo pocket has a cult following, and i bought a japanese import camoflage blue b&w one when they were launched, but i never really understood what was so great about them? I already had a PCE GT and a nomad and both had superior graphics, sound and many many great games. It seemed a backwards step with the only benefit being the small size and cute design.
I know there was a few nice games, but i think i must be missing the point. What was the big deal?? It wasn't what you would expect from the same people who brought the amazing neo geo nearly a decade earlier!
Yep, I also had those systems. TurboExpress, Lynx, Nomad... Still have them around here someplace in fact.

So I understand what you're saying.
But the reason people like myself have such respect for NGPC is twofold:
1) Design.
NGPC came along BEFORE GBA, and as such represented the most well balanced design yet for a handheld when it released. Specifically, it was very compact, truly pocketable (unlike our Nomad, Lynx & TE/GT), and very comfortable & ergonomic. IIRC it even won an award for ergonomic design. It got incredible battery life, and it had the most accurate & responsive controls ever made IMO for a handheld. Once you mastered the digital thumbstick, it was hard to go back to Nintendo's crosspads of pain. (And I hate Sony's dpads even more.)
2) Games.
OK, I know the graphics & sound were barely better than GBC (but they were better). This is really a case of game design beating out flashiness. First of all, compared to most systems, NGPC had very few bad games (if any could even be considerd bad - maybe just a few mediocre ones). Most were good, and some were really great. Match of the Millenium (great fighting plus minigames galore), Last Blade, Samurai Shodown 2 and a few others are among THE best fighting games ever created for a handheld. Similarly, other genres sport some remarkable games as well, like the Metal Slugs (action), Faselei (strategy), Card Fighters Clash (cards/RPG) etc. In fact SNK invented Warioware - but most people don't know that. Well, OK not actually THE Warioware - but if you ever played
Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun (I have the import cart - not sure it runs properly yet in any emulator) you'd understand where much of Warioware's inspiration probably came from. It was a very unique game full of personality and composed of dozens of short arcadish minigames - sound familiar?
(Read this
Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun review for more info.)
And what really impressed was the depth of the NGPC games. They weren't just slapped together, but carefully crafted by people who placed gameplay above all else. Remember - the NeoGeo AES/MVS is remembered for great graphics and sound, because at release it was the most advanced system ever made. But it lived on long after that not due to audio-visuals, but because behind the glitz of many NeoGeo games was a ton of depth that might not be apparent at first glance. SNK were very good game designers. A lot of talent there. Not just a bunch of good 2D artists. SNK rocked, and so did the NGPC. They just couldn't compete with Nintendo's GBA, and a mostly ignorant public that considered handhelds to be synonymous with Gameboy, and ONLY Gameboy.
So the NGPC became a cult favorite for all the things it did right, despite the unsophisticated graphics & sound hardware. And the thing that was perhaps most unique about the NGPC was the digital thumbstick. Those who love it, swear by it (as I do) so whenever I see another system using thattype of control (so far ONLY GamePark) I'm very happy.
I just hope to see a full speed NGPC emulator on GPX2.
