NGPC is 20 years old in NA today

[ggallegos1]

Why not make another NGPC topic? Hard to believe it's been 20 years already

 

[Genesis Knight]

I first saw NGPC in a magazine ad, thought it looked amazing even though the reviews in the mag tanked most of the games the reviewer had access to - Crush Roller, Baseball Stars Pocket, etc.

Didn't end up picking one up until this year. Partly for myself, partly for my two daughters as a starter handheld because I'd rather them play the more straightforward games of that era than the Skinner box games on smartphones etc today. For me, it's a joy to play. We'll see if kids still find it interesting in 2020+. I have three handhelds and a link cable so if they end up liking it they'll be all set.

Despite the silly prices it has been fun finding good deals on obscure online shops. Just went with cart-only like a pleb since the CIB market has gone insane ($100 for Crush Roller? LOL). Paid $5-20 for the games, have about 30 now and will probably pick up the RetroHQ SD card for stuff like Cotton. I'd like to get a slim version of the handheld sometime but haven't seen any good deals yet.

Random observations...
It's funny how much people will pay for the official zippered case ($100-$200) or a worm light.
The communities on Reddit and Facebook seem very young, ignorant of a lot things (like dual-language on cartridges) and mostly focused on collecting rather than playing or even going after deep knowledge.
I love the Sweater Fish Deluxe FAQ, the text-only and exhaustive nature reminds me of things on the internet when I first got online in the late 1990s.
Bizarre that the Sector NGP forums still have a few diehards posting there even though the main site was shuffled through multiple hands (ClassicGaming, IGN, etc.) and shuttered years ago
Why is Neo Geo Cup 98 Plus so damn hard? I can barely score a goal, passing on offense is almost impossible!
Interesting to see attempts at 3d printing the cross rings and battery covers

 

[dspoonrt]

Somehow I stumbled upon the handheld at release and picked up an Ocean Blue NGPC and KOF R-2 with birthday money in August 1999. It was great to be able to play Neo Geo games outside of emulation. Card Fighters Clash and Match of the Millennium really blew me away. They were way beyond anything I'd experienced on Game Boy or Game Boy Color. The NGPC will always be one of my favorite consoles, handheld or otherwise.

 

[fenikso]

I was wondering when the official release day was... I got into the NGPC, like, literally two or three months before they got pulled from the market. Shame they didn't have the resources, at the time, to get more games out the door. It was such a good system, it deserved a larger library.

I'm playing through CFC (SNK version) right meow. I got a NOS copy and it's been fun playing it from the beginning for the first time in nearly twenty years. No cheating, either, I haven't brought any of my cards over from my other games. It helps that the computer is stupid.

 

[Genesis Knight]

Did you guys even see some of the NGPC games in store - Magical Drop Pocket, Gals Fighters? I'm imagining that in the US most places had the same dozen or so games.

 

[dspoonrt]

Did you guys even see some of the NGPC games in store - Magical Drop Pocket, Gals Fighters? I'm imagining that in the US most places had the same dozen or so games.

The only North American release I don't remember seeing in stores was Gals Fighters. In Northeast Ohio, you really had to look for NGPC games, but I eventually found pretty much everything between Toys R Us, Babbage's, Electronics Boutique, Funcoland, Hills, etc.

 

[snes_collector]

I probably never would have heard of the Neo Geo Pocket Color back then if it wasn't for an ad in an issue of Gamers Republic I owned from around that time period. I believe it was this one:

Spoiler:

I poured over that ad for a long time every chance I flipped through the magazine. I remember seeing an advertisement in EB Games showing they sold the systems but it wasn't until I got one of the systems and games in a blister pack that I ever saw the system in the person. To this day it is still an amazing system which a great lineup of games, Card Fighters Clash being my favorite

 

[[OCEAN]]

I imported the original B&W model upon release and was blown away by KOF R1. Sank tons of hours into that one and, later, Samurai Spirits.

Updated to the color version when Match of the Millenium was released and wouldn't play on the original (just displayed that stupid gallery). By then, the slim version had already been released in Japan, so I imported one.

It supposedly was released here in Spain too, but I don't recall seeing it in shops. I kept importing Japanese games and bought tons of them in a trip back in 2001, when the system was discontinued and many general electronics shop were liquidating stocks at 1000Yen a piece. The only ones I picked up in USA version were RPGs.

Love the system, had great times especially with all the SNK vs Capcom titles, Neo Turf, Rockman, Metal Slug 2nd, Sonic and Samurai Spirits 2.

I still keep the collection and play it every now and then. The only game I'm missing of the jap catalogue is Cotton, wish I bought it back then... it seems to be super overpriced now.

 

[Bishamon]

I imported the original B&W model upon release and was blown away by KOF R1. Sank tons of hours into that one and, later, Samurai Spirits.

Same! I was so excited to have a portable Neo, I pre-ordered two units. I had sold my AES in '94 and had been Neo-less until the Pocket was released, and it would be another year before I picked up a Neo CD when SNK North America was selling them off. Of course, I had to get a couple of Pocket Colors when they came out as well, and I convinced a friend to get one as well. He became obsessed with Card Fighters Clash, and I still have a link cable that we used to exchange cards. I haven't played it in a while, and there are quite a few games that I always intended to purchase, but they seem to keep going up in price.

 

[jumpman1229]

Ah, the NGPC. I remember first seeing em in my local Electronics Botique as a kid. At the time, I was really only into Nintendo with the exception of a Dreamcast which I had just gotten. At first glance, I kinda brushed it off as a "Game Boy" knockoff. Eventually, they went on clearance for dirt cheap and my friend picked one up. I remember playing Sonic and being amazed at the clicky thumb stick. Not long after, I got Sonic Advance for the GBA and was disappointed in the d-pad of GBA after playing Sonic on the NGPC.

 

[GohanX]

Did you guys even see some of the NGPC games in store - Magical Drop Pocket, Gals Fighters? I'm imagining that in the US most places had the same dozen or so games.

The (few) stores that had NGPC stuff here mostly stopped selling them by the time the 2000 releases came out. Sonic and MotM were the last ones I remember seeing.

 

[ggallegos1]

The (few) stores that had NGPC stuff here mostly stopped selling them by the time the 2000 releases came out. Sonic and MotM were the last ones I remember seeing.

I had only ever seen the blister packs of games and the system plus 6 random games. I always wanted one but tended to just use my money on random other stuff.

 

[GohanX]

Around here you could get NGPC stuff at EB Games, Best Buy and one indie shop. It was obscure but not impossible to find. The Best Buy I worked at at the time cleared then out at Christmas I think.

Favorite NGPC memory: went to Walmart with a few friends to get in line for the PS2 launch. One of my buds and I pull out our NGPCs to pass the time, then about half a dozen other dudes pulled theirs out too. We had a blast, although nobody had link cables unfortunately.

 

[[OCEAN]]

I haven't played it in a while, and there are quite a few games that I always intended to purchase, but they seem to keep going up in price.

TBH I can't really tell the price of NGPC games nowadays. There's little market movement here for the system and eBay prices seem to be all about speculation: prices are super high, but nobody is buying. I've been watching out for Cotton for a long time and listings have gone up to 500 and 1000$... but none of those has ever been sold. Last one I saw sold for about 200$...

Euro clamshell releases though, have always been rarer and far more expensive than Japanese and American ones.

Good thing there are flashcarts nowadays. Great way to play the fan translations of Card Fighters 2 and Ogre Battle.

 

[NeoSneth]

prices have gone up, but it's mainly the titles that don't show up. There's only a few UK titles im missing, and it's not the obvious ones. Gal Fighters, Divers Matt and Becky. The last time those sold, they went for 4x what I expected.

The good news is almost all the games are available in cheap US versions. I'm not dying for a complete set as I have the games to play.

 

[GohanX]

The ebay prices are artificially inflated, they're shooting for the moon but nobody's buying at those prices. I listed a "rare" complete Rockman last year and had to drop it to about half of what the other BIN prices were to actually sell it.

Like a lot of other portable systems, there is a huge "box tax" added to complete copies since the collectors need them for their shelves. If you just want to play loose carts still aren't bad for most titles.

 

[Burning Blade]

Got my first, the graphite/carbon NGPC in July ‘99. There used to be a local game shop that sold
Neo-Geo. Got a copy of Baseball Stars Color and Metal Slug. Was my favorite hand held system for years until the Vita came along. Will always think fondly about the NGPC; loved the clicky stick, and the games were the shit. Hoping someday someone figures out how to 3D print the Euro/JP cases as I would love to display my collection.

 

[NeoSneth]

The ebay prices are artificially inflated, they're shooting for the moon but nobody's buying at those prices. I listed a "rare" complete Rockman last year and had to drop it to about half of what the other BIN prices were to actually sell it.

Like a lot of other portable systems, there is a huge "box tax" added to complete copies since the collectors need them for their shelves. If you just want to play loose carts still aren't bad for most titles.

Yes. I really only look at sold auctions to gauge value. I was really surprised at the price of the last few UK Dive Alerts.

 

[Capitalistix]

I love my little NGPC. Its a metallic blue one I found at the local video game store where my GF worked in high school. I used to use it to wake me up with its alarm every day Jr and Sr years.

As a kid, I was always fascinated by Neo Geo stuff, but Id only ever seen the NGPC on shitty looking blisterpacks in EB and it always looked so fucking cheap that way. Like it was something out out by Tiger. So my mind didnt even make the Neo Geo connection and I was never interested.

Glad to have picked one up in HS though, Ive loved it through college and since. Little thing just makes me genuinely happy. I think it exudes positive vibes tbh.

 

[DanAdamKOF]

Bought mine in 2001 with birthday money, it was actually a Slim imported via NCSX. I did see a few games in stores and some accessories too (that's how I bought my Nyko link cable). Also Crush Roller owns.

 

[tangemo]

Wow, Neo Geo Pocket (and Dreamcast) are 20! I actually worked at Toys R Us when it came out so I got one and kept up with the releases through Sonic. Only TRU and some Gamestops had any stock and it was always very little. No one had Gals Fighters. One unique memory I have is randomly getting the magnifying light (not wormlight), but I didn't like it.

I traded it all away foolishly back then, so bought it all back from Ebay about 10 years ago and will bust out my Slim when the power goes out.

 

[Heinz]

I'm surprised you can see the screen when the power goes out.

 

[Neorebel]

I got the "slim" Japanese NGPC in crystal blue at an import shop in the city. I'm fuzzy on exactly when, had to be in 2000. I don't recall if the local chain stores had them or if I specifically went for the import version for any particular reason. I have the box and some zipper cases, but I only got one new in the box game at the time, The Last Blade, and by the time I got around to getting more games it was on the reseller market. So, I mostly got loose carts.

What I loved about the system at the time was that it seemed like the real first step into arcade fighting game action on the go. I had this prior to the GBA. Today, the thumb stick still remains unique among handhelds. The games themselves play very smoothly and are different enough from their big console counterparts. I love what they did in most cases with the stylized character sprites - very creative use of the technology

 

[GutsDozer]

I love mine. Still need to get it back lit. My old ass eyes can't barely see it anymore.

 

[tangemo]

I'm surprised you can see the screen when the power goes out.

Haha good point. I use a little clip on book light for that, don't have the coveted Worm Light.