Neo Geo Pocket Reviews A-L

Considering SNK's great track record for baseball games, I was expecting this portable version of Baseball Stars to be 'A' material, but after playing it a few times, I must say I'm fairly disappointed. The graphics aren't bad. The batter's view gives you a good look at incoming pitches, and small windows let you keep an eye on the base runners. When a ball is put into play, an overhead view kicks in. This angle makes the fielders look small, but a mark shows where the ball will land, and the high angle makes it easy to see what's going on.

Surprisingly, throwing the ball is the worst aspect of the game. For some reason, it seems awfully hard to get the ball out of your glove, and throws tend to be weak, barely exceeding the speed on the base runners! Long throws from third rarely make it to first base on time, and turning a double play is nearly impossible. I also hate how your fielders hesitate before diving, making it extra tough to snag hard ground balls.

The players themselves are short and pudgy, but their animations are noteworthy. Each pitcher has a unique wind-up, and the strikeout animations are very funny. When a runner crosses home plate, hearts appear over him, as if he just fell head-over-heels in love with the catcher. C'mon - that hardly ever happens in real baseball.

I should also mention that the difficulty is excessive. The game automatically ends if one team goes up by ten runs, and I was lucky to make it to the third or fourth inning when playing against the CPU. The teams and players are fictional, and two stadiums are available. Baseball Stars Color should have been a grand slam, but instead it's just a long foul ball. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

It seems like a long shot, but this virtual card game is one of the best titles for the Neo Geo Pocket. If you're familiar with actual card "battle" games like Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh, you'll quickly pick up on Card Fighters Clash. Its rules are scaled down, but that doesn't mean it's simple! There's plenty of strategy involved and many contests boil down to a battle of attrition. I would definitely recommend playing through the brief tutorial before diving in.

Clash is played in turns as you draw colorful cards featuring various SNK and Capcom personalities. There are plenty of well-known characters like Fei Long, Terry Bogard and E. Honda. Even more interesting however are the more obscure fighters such as Mature, Cham Cham, and Baby Head. You position the cards on a table, lining them up for head-to-head battles. Certain cards conjure spells that let you attack your opponent directly or augment a character's abilities.

It's fun to see what each new card has to offer. The matches have a nice flow and tend to be short, which is key to a good on-the-go game. Some of the concepts can be hard to grasp, but you don't have to be an expert to enjoy the game, thanks to a gently-ramping difficulty. You challenge CPU opponents in a virtual world with locations like the mansion from Resident Evil. Fun to play and loaded with replay value, Card Fighters Clash delivers an ideal portable gaming experience. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

SNK did a respectable job of shoe-horning their Fatal Fury franchise into the little Neo Geo Pocket. I'm assuming the "F" stands for "first", but who the F knows? While it lacks the visual splendor of the console version, this one-on-one fighter still maintains the same solid core gameplay. The characters look like caricatures with their oversized heads, but their movements are surprisingly fluid.

Although each of the eleven fighters is rendered in a mere three colors, SNK did a decent job of providing each with a distinctive look and unique set of moves. The two-button kick/punch control scheme works well, and I found it very easy to execute special moves. The game has more depth than you might expect thanks to its combo and reversal systems.

The exotic temple and city backdrops are somewhat bland, but at least they give you something to look at. Ideally, Fatal Fury F Contact is played against a friend via the "link up" mode. For the single player, there's no scoring system and the replay value is minimal, prompting many to refer to this game as "Fatal Fury: F This!" © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

Much like Fatal Fury F Contact, King of Fighters R2 is a decent portable one-on-one fighter that's severely lacking in replay value. Both games offer a roster of eleven cartoonish characters and both use the same fighting engine. Let's face it - they're basically the same game. In spite of the Neo Geo Pocket's limited color palette, SNK somehow made each character appear somewhat distinctive.

The attacks tend to be exaggerated for the benefit of the small screen, so you'll see plenty of long kicks and flaming punches. The background graphics and music are relatively sparse but serve their purpose. You'll want to keep an eye out for poorly-translated dialogue like "Ha ha! Let's burn fool!" (I don't even know what that means)

In addition to one-on-one matches, King of Fighters R2 lets you assemble "teams" of three fighters each. The cartridge saves your win/loss record, but the lack of a scoring system makes the single-player experience rather pointless (literally). It's possible to "link up" with another Neo Geo Pocket owner in "versus" mode, but for most people, the chances of that happening are not very good. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

Having recently played Last Blade 2 on the Dreamcast, it's interesting to see how SNK managed to shoehorn this game into a tiny Neo Geo Pocket cartridge. I haven't been impressed with other fighters for the system, but Last Blade won me over with its playability and rich feature set. You get a nice selection of ten martial artists, and while they're rendered as squat cartoon characters, each retains a unique style. The detailed backgrounds include a scenic river trail, a bustling market, and the interior of a burning house.

The fighting action is about as good as it gets considering the graphic and control limitations. One button slashes and the other kicks, and together they perform some kind of repel. With only two buttons, it doesn't take long to figure out the special moves and determine which combos are effective. Your reach is minimal though, so you really need to get up in your opponent's grill to lay the smack-down. A nice blur effect punctuates a hit, and it's fun to see an opponent go spinning through the air.

I prefer to use the green guy with the big hat (Zantetsu), even though his invisibility move seems to confuse me more than my opponent. After each match the winner tosses out the obligatory quote like "You're not worthy to be slain." That's cold. Last Blade goes the extra mile by including plenty of unlockables, including special play modes and a gallery. If you're going to play a fighting game on your Neo Geo Pocket, it might as well be Last Blade. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.