Celebrate the NGPC’s Greatness with Our Latest Podcast

April 23 2021

 

By Jeremy Parish, Media Curator


One of the greatest pieces of handheld history arrives at Limited Run Games today. Long-time Limited Run fans definitely know SNK and their legendary Neo•Geo system—we’ve published quite a few games from that platform, including Metal Slug, King of Fighters, and Samurai Shodown! The Neo•Geo Pocket Color, on the other hand, may be a bit less familiar to most people. A tragically short-lived handheld device available in the U.S. in 1999-2001, the NGPC is by far the greatest and most impressive system ever to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo’s 8-bit Game Boy family… and 10 of its best releases are available in a single collection today by way of the Neo•Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 for Nintendo Switch.


[NGPC Selection Vol. I: Standard Edition ($39.99) | Classic Edition ($69.99) ]


The collection contains the following 10 games, each one bursting with a bevy of presentation and display options, along with a sizable virtual gallery of archival images:


  • Fatal Fury First Contact
    •
  • SNK Vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium
    •
  • King of Fighters R-2
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  • SNK Gals’ Fighters
    •
  • Samurai Shodown! 2
    •
  • Metal Slug: First Mission
    •
  • Metal Slug: Second Mission
    •
  • Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999
    •
  • Pro Tournament Golf
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  • The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny

    • While several of these games have been available singly in the eShop for some time, four are exclusive to this collection—and at $4 per title for the Standard Edition, the price can’t be beaten. Though, not to toot my own horn here, you’ll probably want to go ahead and shell out the extra $30 for the Classic Edition, which contains a massive book (at least 160 pages!) crammed with retrospectives on every game, the system itself, each game’s Neo•Geo MVS or AES counterpart, as well as screenshots, extensive photography of the original packaging, artwork, and more—all written by myself and long-time Retronauts podcast contributor (and SNK super-fan) Diamond Feit. 

    As it happens, Diamond also appears on this month’s episode of the Runtime podcast with me, talking about—what else?—Neo•Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1.

    You can listen to the episode by clicking this link, or just subscribe to the show by adding the XML feed to your favorite podcatcher.

    Over the course of an hour, we cover the history of the NGPC, its unique place in the history of both SNK and handheld gaming as a whole, and most of all what makes the NGPC (and these 10 games in particular) so special. Give it a listen, and don’t miss the collection, available at Limited Run Games now through May 23.