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        <h1><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><i><a href="../../index.html">loonygames</a><br>
          <font size="1">a <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">blue's news</a> 
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<p>URL: <a href="../2.4/pfol/index.html">http://www.loonygames.com/content/2.4/pfol/</a><br>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>Vol. 
                2, Issue 4<br>
                December 1, 1999<br>
                </b>
              <b> 
                </b>
              
                <b><i>Pocket 

                  Full o' Love:</i></b></p>
                <b><i> 
                  Finally! </i></b></p>
                by 
                  Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; 
                  Bergman</p>
              
              

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               Believe 
                it or not, there hasn't been a real handheld system released in 
                the US since Sega's GameGear all those years ago. Sure, there's 
                been the Game.com, but that was so limited, I can't even call 
                that a &quot;console&quot;. The Neo Geo Pocket Color isn't just 
                a new system - it's (finally!) a step up from the quickly aging 
                GameBoy technology.</p>
              </p>
              For roughly 
                the same price as a GameBoy Color (in some places the NGPC is 
                cheaper, in others it's the opposite) you get a true 16-bit CPU 
                capable of displaying 146 colors simultaneously (compare that 
                to the GBC's maximum of 56 - if you're lucky) an internal memory 
                backup system (cool feature here kids, more on this in a bit), 
                a calendar with horoscope, an alarm, the ability to connect to 
                the Dreamcast, and hey! It even plays games, too. </p>
              
                 
                   
                    
                  
                
                 
                   
                     <i> 
                      </i></p>
                  
                
              
              First 
                things first: the system itself is just about the same size as 
                a GameBoy Color, although it's significantly lighter. The cartridges, 
                which are the smallest to date for any system (even the venerable 
                HuCard can't touch these - they're only slightly larger than a 
                book of matches) fit snugly into the system, and have a curved 
                top so as to make the back a seamless curve. Swanky stuff. </p>
              </p>
              The joystick 
                (and unlike every other system to date, it is an actual joystick, 
                not a gamepad) is a little odd...there's a depression around it, 
                and so it only barely sticks out (don't worry, you can throw it 
                in your bag and not worry about it being broken off). At first 
                glance it sort of resembles the stick on the N64 controller. This 
                is not an analog stick, however. It is a nice addition to the 
                system, no question about it, but it's not entirely necessary. 
                Some 2D games (<b>Pac-Man</b> being a notable example) are greatly 
                hindered by the stick, as making simple &quot;left&quot; and &quot;right&quot; 
                movements can be a bit of a hassle. There are two buttons, labeled 
                &quot;A&quot; and &quot;B&quot;, and one labeled &quot;Option&quot; 
                above them. Sadly, the system looses some major points here. </p>
              </p>
              While 
                I applaud SNK for their forward thinking in implementing a 3D 
                control stick, the fact that there's only three buttons is a bit 
                puzzling. All I can guess is that there was a lack of space in 
                the design for other buttons. The end result of there only being 
                three buttons, is that in some games (<b>Metal Slug: 1st Mission</b> 
                being the one that comes to mind immediately) you can't pause 
                the game. Ack! The system does have a built-in shutdown mode that 
                can be turned on in most games, although be warned, if it turns 
                off, your game is lost.</p>
              </p>
              The power 
                button is pretty nifty. Instead of a switch to turn on the power 
                (like every other handheld system to date) it's a simple button, 
                not unlike the start button on a GBC (although, like the &quot;Option&quot; 
                button, it's rubberized). You turn the system on by pressing and 
                holding the button for two seconds or so. This is cool, because 
                it means the odds of the system being inadvertently turned on 
                inside your travel bag are pretty slim. If you've never had this 
                happen to you with an older system, believe me - nothing sucks 
                more than taking out a system on an airplane and discovering that 
                your batteries have died while you were waiting. </p>
              </p>
              The battery 
                power on the system is fantastic. For your two AA batteries, you 
                get whopping 40+ hours of gameplay. There's a separate watch battery 
                in place to keep the clock and memory functions from being unaffected 
                if the regular batteries die (a very cool thing indeed). <br>
                The screen itself is not at all unlike the GameBoy Color's. It 
                uses the same low-power consuming reflective LCD technology, which 
                means that instead of having a backlight for the system, it uses 
                whatever light is available around it. It works a lot better than 
                it sounds, believe me, and it accounts for the incredible battery 
                life. The screen is slightly larger than the GameBoy Color's. 
                It runs at a 160x152 resolution, as opposed to the 160x144 resolution 
                of the GBC. Those few pixels do make a difference, although the 
                less congested layout around the screen of the NGPC doesn't hurt 
                either.</p>
              </p>
              <br>
              </p>
              &nbsp; 
              Okay, 
                so let's get back to some of the really cool whiz bang features 
                of this thing. The built-in memory function rules. Plain and simple. 
                I hope Nintendo listens here, because if the GameBoy Advance (or 
                whatever it ends up being called) doesn't have this, I'll be very 
                angry. The NGPC allows you to save a game <i>on the system</i>. 
                Not the cartridge, the system itself. If you've ever had to play 
                a GameBoy title and been annoyed to all hell by those damn passwords, 
                you'll love this feature. Gone are the days of having to carry 
                with you a bunch of post-it notes with hundreds of random characters 
                on it...and the games themselves can cost less, since they don't 
                have to have a battery backup built-in.</p>
              </p>
              As for 
                the system's ability to connect to the Dreamcast, I haven't tried 
                it out yet, but I'm told it's pretty cool. It only works with 
                one title at the moment, (<b>King of Fighters DreamMatch '99 </b>connects 
                with its NGPC sibling, <b>King of Fighters R2</b> to open up other 
                characters on both games, and upload custom characters) but there 
                are others coming, and there are all kinds of cool possibilities 
                (Internet downloads, perhaps?). You'll need to pick up a Dreamcast 
                connection cable for it to work, but it's cool stuff.</p>
              </p>
              As of 
                right now, the only way to connect for multiplayer games is a 
                cable not at all unlike the GameBoy's connection cable. But coming 
                soon (really soon, I hope) is an innovative device that will allow 
                for wireless connections between systems (up to 64 simultaneously!) 
                and even cooler, they can be 100 yards apart from each other. 
                Nifty stuff here, kids.</p>
              </p>
              Naturally, 
                all of this is meaningless without the right games to back it 
                up. So how are the games so far? I'll go into more detail in the 
                next edition of this column, but the quick version is - pretty 
                good. There's a good selection of games available, which range 
                from the classic (<b>Pac-Man</b>) to some fantastic fighting games 
                (<b>Samurai Showdown</b>, <b>King of Fighters R2</b>) and even 
                a decent RPG (<b>Bio Motor Unitron</b>). There isn't really a 
                &quot;killer app&quot; out there yet, but if you ask me, <i>the</i> 
                game to get for the system is <b>Bust-A-Move Pocket</b>. </p>
              </p>
              If you 
                ever played <b>Bust-A-Move</b> (it's known as <b>Puzzle Bobble</b> 
                outside the US) on any platform, you know the drill (it's available 
                on the Nintendo 64, PC, Saturn, Playstation, and others). It's 
                a puzzle game where you (and your really cute little dinosaur 
                thing) have to eliminate all the bubbles at the top of the screen 
                by lining up three bubbles of the same color (obviously it's more 
                complex than this). It's very, very fun, incredibly addicting, 
                and there's even a &quot;VS. CPU&quot; mode where you can battle 
                against the computer. It's no Tetris, but it's one of those games 
                that are just made for handheld gaming. </p>
              </p>
              So what's 
                the one thing this system <i>doesn</i>'t have? It's got a true 
                16-Bit CPU, it's light, the colors are bright and plentiful...but 
                you know what? It's got absolutely <i>horrendous</i> sound. The 
                sound, and I kid you not here, is literally the same as the GameBoy's. 
                I suppose adding a more advanced sound system would add lots of 
                power consumption, but jeez...can someone explain to me why in 
                all these years of technology improvements, no handheld system 
                has managed to surpass the Atari Lynx in terms of sound quality? 
                Aaaargh. Unfortunately, with the NGPC, you're going to have to 
                suffer with the same annoying cheezeball MIDI music as all those 
                GameBoy games. I suppose it's not the worst thing in the world, 
                but it is a major let down for an otherwise flawless system.</p>
              </p>
              So there 
                you have it...my initial look at the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Is 
                it worth getting? Hell, yes. SNK deserves some major credit for 
                releasing a system this powerful for a price this low, and there 
                are a lot of games available (around 20) for the system already. 
                So if you're bored with that outdated GameBoy technology, definitely 
                get yourself one of these bad boys. They come in six different 
                styles, too. :)</p>
              <i>- 
                Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman is the editor-in-chief here 
                at loonygames. Yes, that's a Neo Geo in his pocket, you pervert.</i></p>
              <i><br><p>&nbsp;</p> 
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Print CGI is 
  &copy; 2000 <a href="http://www.square8.com">Square Eight</a>. Used with permission. 
  Article is &copy; 2000 its original author. All other content is &copy; 2000 
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