My view on this saga is very clear. At the time of the release of the NGP I was very excited about this, however I felt the console was too niche to stock in my shop. I noticed that even though I loved the machine, other stores here in the UK were having trouble getting people interested in them, after a while most of the Big stores reduced it to clear. The Final nail in the coffin was the Gameboy Color..pure and simple!
Now forward to summer 1999 the new NGPC was highly anticipated, thus I did strike a deal with suppliers to make sure I had it in my shop (small independant). I don't know how many of you are aware, but I had to go to Paris to pick up my first batch of Pocket Colors! As they were released in Europe just before the UK. A large fanbase quickly grew here in the UK, and not just the hardcore, but your average consumer also. Practically every game shop stocked the NGPC, and it WAS a runaway success! I personally couldn't get the deliveries fast enough!
For the sake of fact, to dispell any myths: the NGPC games were supplied by SNK - 12 games to a box! At the time, we had the release schedules at least four months in advance. Your supplier had to phone SNK Europe the day of launch for the games to be sent to your shop, thus making anticipation even higher. The maximum order was 4 boxes (4x12 games). We regularly had contact with SNK Europe, and they would fax or send us a rough schedule of titles coming soon. There's been so much speculation about the last titles, but it's quite simple (I personally had a chat on the phone with a contact at SNK at the time), as I said before each box shipped comprised 12 games, but they weren't always the same titles. The last games I remember recieving were about 2 dozen picture puzzle's, 2 dozen dynamite slugger's, Gal Fighters, Neo Baccarrat, and Cool Boarders. Shortly thereafter, I recieved the bad news by fax from SNK. It stated that I was to return all unsold NGPC games immediately, and inform my customer's that the NGPC was no longer. It stated that our shop would be compensated for our trouble to make it worth our while returning them! I actually was so pissed, I just returned the slow sellers (Casino series, and Biomotor's) and claimed that was all I had. I then stored the newly delivered titles in a cupboard and forgot about them for a whole year - then sold all of them for a killing! I liased with most of the Independant's at the time, and we all did the same thing! Hence why suddenly, the UK version of Pocket Reversi and others are starting to come on the market! It's also worth noting that my shop was in the same area as the suppliers warehouse, so what I'm saying is different regions of the UK got different batches of games - I know that in another part of town one shop got pure boxes of Evolution and Cool Boarders, which was rare in other areas! So I think that with Rare games such as Pocket Reversi there had to be at least 4 x 12 of them delivered somewhere in the UK because of the way SNK box them up! I have no doubt that all those US and Jap unboxed carts that have popped up lately are the same ones that our shops sent back to SNK 2 years ago, but I don't think any boxes will turn up for these - because in the fax I recieved it clearly stated they would be destroyed. As for all the speculation on the demise of NGPC, SNK were very nervous at hearing the news of the up and coming GBAdvance, the decision was made by SNK Japan to pull the plug on it, rather than risk prospective embarressment and bancruptcy if the NGPC got trounced by the new GBA. Very similar to what happened with the Dreamcast and SEGA. I personally think at the time thier fears were more than justified, but as history shows they shouldn't have believed the hype. Basically NINTENDO got pissed off with the NGPC, it definately stole the limelight from them for 18 months, so they fought back with Pokemon and new hardware. Nevertheless, you have to ask yourself: Is the NeoGeo Pocket Cool now (2 years after it's demise), because we now embrase all things retro, and the NGPC has showed itself to be a design classic in the world of gaming? Or..would it of happilly lived on side by side with the technically superior GameBoy Advance SP?...baring in mind how starry-eyed your average consumer get's over a new shiny product! loco
I hope now, Playmore will look into the prospect of revitalising the NGPC, I know from my contacts in the trade here in the UK it would be welcomed back with open arms, however there would have to be some kind of coallition with the dreaded Nintendo, in order to make it a commercial reality.
