Here's Why The NeoGeo Pocket Color Was The Coolest Handheld Of The 90s 

SNK has always been great about their circuit boards being extremely well labeled, the Neo Geo CD systems outright tell you how to region mod them by switching jumpers and if you want 50hz for pal what components to replace with what.

The second I used that joystick, I was hooked on this thing. To this day, it's my favorite stick on any handheld device.

Dat clicky stick tho. And snk vs capcom: the match of the millennium is awesome.

Absolutely want to see this with the back lit screen.

The NGPC is incredible and it’s sales numbers are ridiculously impressive when you realize that it’s initial US launch was online only... in 1999.

40 hours on two AA batteries almost seems like wizardry.

Oh man, I remember I picked up one of these on clearance at EB Games for like $20 back in the day. Didn't come in the retail box, instead it was a blister pack with 6 games included. I sold it a few years later when I was short on cash and recently I've come to regret doing that.

SNK Gals on Switch is the closest I’ll ever get to playing one of these

I owned a NGP and had Sonic Pocket Adventure. I also used the horoscope feature and asked my mom an grandma for their birthdays And told their fortunes. I love it

not gonna lie, I'd love that kind of stick on joycons

Most underrated handheld ever!!! Awesome console, excellent pick up for collectors.

I am so happy some of these games are on the Switch. I picked up Gal Fighters and Samurai Showdown still play great. Because buying carts is $$$ and sucks it doesn’t have a lite screen.

I'd never seen one of these before, I did have a neighbor who had the bigger gray neo geo... I think, it's been a long time haha. 40 hours on those batteries sounds amazing

Me: *reads "Here is why the NGPC was the coolest"* Also me: BECAUSE OF THE MENU MUSIC!!!!!

I remember seeing these in Toys R Us when the GBC was the shit. I thought it looked cool, but I was already dead set on the GBC line. I have one now with a decent selection of games, and while it certainly doesn't replace the Gameboy, it is very cool to have alongside it.

"Flat, disc-shaped batteries" Coin cell. You're looking for the words coin cell.

This was fun to see and I appreciated seeing the teardown, which looked pleasant to do too since it's so nicely designed. I was closely following whatever news came out for this thing in 1998 because I was excited for the system and I pre-ordered the original black-and-white model, which I loved. I was as early adopter as was possible for not living in Japan. Unfortunately, Nintendo was ready to counter the NGP and Wonderswan with the GB Color. I didn't feel too bummed to have to buy the NGP Color after about six months. I got a lot of fun out of the first model so I was happy. I was committed to the platform and knew SNK had a good product. I even did a website with a friend of mine which allowed him(he was closer in proximity) to attend E3 as media back when it was media only. It was a fun period of time and a great system. My friend and I were able to get together and link up our systems to finish our card collections for Card Fighters Clash, which was a surprisingly fun game as well. The end of SNK and the NGP as well as the demise of the Dreamcast was a sad end of an era for me.

I remember owning that Sonic Pocket adventure game, it's heavily underrated

The NGPC was my favorite handheld, it had great games like card fighters clash and match of the millenium. I would love for them to do a new handheld now and bring back all the games again - especially their golf game :)

When they discontinued the Neo Geo Pocket Color in the USA they not only took units off store shelves, they even offered to buy back our units and cartridges! It was for some weird legal licensing reasons. What a weird time to be alive.

I have one and I love it, it’s my favorite system of all time and I have 8 games for it 🙂

It also had comparability with the Sega Dreamcast in various capacities! Sooo cool.

The Neo Geo Pocket was truly revolutionary. Too bad I had a GameBoy during the time. :(

The way you opened the battery compartment literally gave me chills, I can see the dents!!!!!!!!!

Even though you already showed us taking apart the Pocket Color, I'd still love to watch a video of you adding the backlight mod.

Put a backlight on the neo geo pocket in a tech wave!

I would love to see a video where you upgrade the screen on this. Also maybe test it with some other games? This is a pretty cool little system for 1999. I was a GBC kid, and then I went straight to GBA.

SNK actually released a NGP game a few weeks ago, SNK Gals Fighters. If you're curious about how this kind of games played go check it out.

I bought the system with the first paycheck I ever received. I bought the system and Sonic Pocket Adventure bundle, plus Gals Fighter and SNK vs Capcom Match of the Millennium. Someone broke mine after they stopped selling them. I have bought two more since. There were bundle packs in 2003.

I had a NGPC Consolizer in front of my mind when seeing you opening up this thing. Very clean, very simple design.

I won one of these in a gaming magazine contest and I think me and the other winers were the only ones in Greece having a neo geo pocket color :P I bought just one game, it was hard to find any, but I liked that machine

Battery life aside, I always thought the nomad was the coolest 90's handheld. But this is just another example that library is what matters most to people, not spec. The Gameboy was outclassed by all of it's competitors, but had the largest/most compelling library.

handheld gaming is something I’ve always had a deep seeded love and fascination for

I bought one of these at a flee market a couple years ago and I played the shit out of sonic pocket adventure That game is so much funn

I actually had this as a kid , Target was sold out of game boy colors so i ended up with a silver ngpc with sonic pocket adventures.Oh the memories.

Happy to see this here. Back in the day, me and a friend happened across these while they were being cleared out and we got them, then somehow both of them ended up with me - one was transparent and one was metallic (EU versions). I also have several games for it - I definitely had one of the Samurai Shodown titles and Fatal Fury First Contact, but I recall playing an action puzzler called Crush Roller most of all. Fun fact: I didn't see you mention this in your video, but the system came with a red, soft plastic ring that you can install around the joystick to block the diagonal inputs - I remember that was convenient for games that only had 4 directions (like the aforementioned Crush Roller).

Hey, Jon. I'd also love to hear what you have to say about the Bandai's Wonderswan? It went through a few revisions and like the Game Boy was super affordable and nibbled on just one battery. It's a fascinating one, for sure.

European here! I love it when its multiple languages in seperate booklets; we got like 30 languages, some of them soo incredible close to each other, and our ‘all in one’-manuals can get the size of an 80’s phonebook (keyboards and samplers in particular) - love it when I can take everything thats irrelevant to me and bin’ it! :)

NeoGeo Pocket Color has some awesome games. SNK vs Capcom - The Match of Millenium, Evolution - Eternal Dungeon, Metal Slug 1st and 2nd mission pretty awesome stuff.

Nice video!! I never saw this color/blue in person. Seen so many black ones. Was refreshing to see this. Thanks!

One of my favorite handheld system. I really wished I kept mine but instead I sold it for dirt cheap at gamestop...

The Neo Geo Pocket Color had the best Portable Fighting Games in the 90s! The GameBoy Ports of Fighters just didn't compare since they were pretty much Demakes of Arcade & Console Games while NGPC Games were more Original & not to mention it had that Microswitched Thumbstick instead of a D-Pad! 😮

I still have my Platinum color that I bought back then. I had most of the fighting games that came out for this thing. Unfortunately, I let friends borrow them in college and never got them back.😔 Match of the Millennium was the best game on this system hands down. It practically lived in my cartridge slot. Most console fighters STILL can't match the content this game offered. I still have Sonic Pocket Adventure and the Dreamcast link cable though. I may have to get a flashcart for it due to the crazy prices the games fetch for nowadays.

The killer game for this system was snk vs capcom the match of the millennium i used to buy the blister packs i think 4 per pack so good i couldn't believe my eyes when they ported snk gal fighters for the Nintendo switch i hope more are available from the pocket library on to the switch 😀

Man Imagine setting up your Neo Geo Pocket's alarm to wake up early to go to school lol.

Imagine opening up that horoscope to only 1 stars lol

I had one when I was in college and it was amazing, it only had a few games but they were amazing for the time

I had the NGPC. I got it from Babbages/Game Stop in my local mall. I loved it but sadly it was not supported for very long in the states.

I'd like to see a Backlit screen. I'm that one guy who has never heard of this system. I really don't know a whole lot about Neo Geo

My brother traded some Yu-Gi-Oh cards for one of these in the early/mid 00s. The kicker was we never had a game for it, so it just kinda sat in our room and we'd occasionally just turn it on for the start up sound and go to the calendar. It's in storage somewhere at my parents house, so now I need to go dig it out.

I remember me as a child, walking around the store telling my self: there is no way, mom won't buy that to me. And i was right 😂

My cousin had one growing up, that was how I knew who terry was... Metal slug was pretty fun too.

Kids don't know how good they have it these days. Back in my childhood, I had a Game boy with a screen that didn't even have a backlight. Playing it was quite literally painful, but not as painful as letting my wonderful games go unplayed

Fun fact the Wonderswan had 40 hours of play off of a SINGLE AA battery. The Swan reign supreme there.

The Neo Geo Pocket Colour was incredible (especially if Japanese wasn’t a barrier) :) It had great games that covered most genres. The fighting games were great obviously, but the puzzle bobble port was good, the sonic game was good, the metal slug games were good, the sports games were good, and it even had strategy covered with games like Faselei and Ogre Battle. Also SvC Card Fighters Clash was super cool :)

I still have the one my dad got me from the States as they weren't sold where I live. It's a legend and I loved it? Waiting for parts as some batteries leaked and I need some IPA that's sold out and the tri wing to clean it up inside.

I need to find mine. I had the blue one with the silver Shock n Rock battery pack by Nyko. I only had 2 games for it, and one of them I got used. I worked at Target at the time I got it and these were barely on the shelf for the half the summer. Then they went clearance, and some Asian woman came in and bought EVERYTHING, and she knew quite a bit about the system, saying how much better it was than the GB Color. She left me one console and one game, and bought the rest. This was in an area where there were a lot of Asian resellers, so she was likely a reseller buying what she could and make money on it all.

That neo geo home console was like a legend/myty to my group of kids.

I remember wanting a Neo Geo Pocket Color back in '99 after seeing it in the pages of both Gamepro and EGM.

Did anyone else look at that joystick and think if only the joycon used that instead? I remember seeing one of those a few years back. It seems like the NeoGeo Pocket Color is a fun handheld.

The screen is so clear and bright, you really don't need a backlit modification.

I bought one of these like 15 years ago. SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters Clash is an excellent game, also SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium, Faselei!, Gals Fighters, Metal Slug 1st Mission and 2nd Mission, Sonic Pocket Adventure, and Bust A Move are all fun.

I am VERY surprised you didn’t ALREADY have a backlit screen to put in it. Hell yes I would be interested in seeing that. Love your content Spawnwave!

Finally some good food. The NGPC rules.

Great portable system i still have mine left iven the bandai wonderswan

I bought one of these ten years ago. I just got it out playing sonic and capcom vs snk

What would make the the power-on intro perfect would be the Sega voice angelically whispering “neo-geo”, like a cool breeze on a summer day, without covid.

For me the AES and the pocket color were the creme de la creme of the home and handheld consoles respectively, I wish I had an AES with two adapted Neo Geo CD pads and a Neo Geo pocket color Full clicky stick action bro!

The neo geo pocket was the best handheld joystick. It deserved to succeed more then it did. It is personally my favorite handheld.

I own 3 of them. Looking to get a transparent one eventually

It’s so cool that you mention NGPC I still have this handheld and complete box which came with Sonic the Hedgehog. Also got a couple extra games SNK vs Capcom and Metal Slug 1st Mission, I was trying to spread the word on this handheld, I was and still amazed how good it was compared to my GBC. Was a great handheld when it came out to bad it didn’t last on shelves, wanted to get more games and some how it disappeared off shelves a couple months or so later, was sad to not see it in stores.

Loved the video man! I own the same blue Neo Geo Pocket Color! I got mine as my middle school graduation present from my Dad. He asked me what I wanted, I went on eBay, and said a Neo Geo Pocket Color. A blue one arrived soon after in the mail. I've loved it ever since! I currently own only 9 games for it, but I still love it. I'd love to see make a backlit screen mod video, because I would like to do that! So knowing how, and having a great tutorial video from you would be great!

I’m pretty new to the Neo Geo Pocket Color and so far I’m really enjoying playing games on it. The joystick on this handheld is very much a treat for the senses. Great tactility and audio response. I wish I’d gotten one of these back in the late 90’s or early 2000’s. I agree that if it had more time to grow and mature that it may just have been a decent competitor to Nintendo’s Gameboy Color. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Great review of a handheld that in my opinion died too soon. Cheers!

The Pocket logo reminds me of the Dreamcast logo, with the wide, colorful paint strokes. Very early 90s

I had one and loved it.I discovered it in a mall without having even heard of it before, this was a stealth release.

I keep a look out for lots of gaming content. Your channel has done nothing but gotten better man n I mean it

Ahh the Neo Geo Pocket, I always wanted one as a kid.

I didn't even know this existed. I LOVE your gaming history videos.

This thing is so ahead of it's time!

Best handheld fighting games on portable ever. Real fighting game content. Nothing held back.

Both the Gameboy Colour and the Neo Geo Pocket Display were meant to be used outside underneath the sun. Unlike todays displays, these displays are amazing outside.

Just Picked up a Neo Geo Pocket Color ❤

I loved this system. My top games were cardfighters, turf masters, MOTM and Metal Slug 2. The clicky joystick was the best, a better screen would be a nice Improvement.

I remember being 7 years old and playing one of these. The only reason I still remember it now is because of the tactile joystick and the sonic game that I played on it.

Oh man that opening tune was a nostalgia trip, thanks

Would definitely like to see a vid for the back-lit screen

Did it bother anyone else that he wasnt using a coin and was stripping the coin slot at 7:25?

I would like to live in an alternative reality where NGPC never was discontinued - imagine that ♥

This was my favorite handheld I owned as a kid

I owned one and eventually got about 6 of my friends to buy one once they tried mine. You joke about the horoscope feature, but lots of non-gamers loved it. I got a few dates by asking out curious girls when I knew their romance was 5 stars that day based off their sign, lol!

Dude, this was far better than the gameboy, only 70$!?! i will buy this for 70$ today!

I ended up with a Neo Geo black and white of all things. I regret not grabbing a NeoGeo Pocket color on the cheap when I could as I found games I really enjoyed on emulators. No games but man that stick just sounds and feels wonderful. I was hoping to one day make it into a USB controller somehow but I couldn't chop it up. Fingers still crossed SNK makes a new Neo Geo Pocket with the same digital stick but more buttons etc, loaded up with NGP games and Neo Geo games why not. I'd be down for a USB/Bluetooth controller too, I just need that control stick again.

SNK vs Capcom Card Fighter was such an amazing game. With the recent spike in TCG in digital format, I don't know why they didn't try to bring the series back.

I wish I had that joystick in my Switch

I loooooved my neo geo pocket color back in the day

I had one. It was awesome and the graphics where amazing for the time

I love my neo geo pocket I am lucky enough to have. Almost if not all the different color variations they made and a large selection of games. Would love to see the backlit modification would love to attempt it on one of my units . I also have the Atari Lynx you should do a tear down of one of those

$650 in the 90's would be like 1 trillion dollars today :O

Had all three at the same time when i was a kid i rember feeling like such a boss with my game gear rechargeable battery pack and tv adaptor wacthing pbs as i walked through the store to get some cheep 2 liters of soda.....

I love my NGPC. I have all the good games for it which isn't saying much because most of the games available are very good.