SNK CORPORATION has been preserving its classic NeoGeo titles and bringing them to Nintendo Switch ever since the console was released. Most of the titles have been released in the past as standalone titles however now SNK has released the first official collection of some of the greatest NeoGeo Pocket Color titles as a collection called NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1. It comes with 10 of the biggest hits released on the retro handheld and this is our review of the NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 on Nintendo Switch.
The game collection in the NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 inclines towards the fighting genre a little more however it comes with some cool other titles as well. Overall, there are ten titles in the collection out of which you have 6 fighting games, 2 shooters, 1 RPG, and 1 sports title. The fighting games range from weapon bases fighting games to female-only fighting games and much more as well. All of the titles included in the collection are from 1999 and 2000. Starting with the shooters, you have Metal Slug 1st Mission and Metal Slug 2nd Mission. Both of these titles are arriving brand-new on the Nintendo Switch console as they were previously not available on the console.
There is only one sports title in this collection however it is a rather good one. You have Big Tournament Golf which was released back in 1999 and features great top-down golf action. Moving on to DARK ARMS: Beast Buster 1999 is an action RPG where you can evolve your weapons to their maximum form as you progress in the main game. This concludes all of the titles that do not fall into the fighting category. Coming to the fighting titles, we have actually reviewed two of the titles before on our website as well which include SNK Vs Capcom: The Match of the Millennium and FATAL FURY FIRST CONTACT.
The list moves on to SNK GAL’s FIGHTERS that was released back in 2000 and features a female cast from different SNK titles released for NeoGeo consoles. It is a traditional fighting game as well where you get to choose from your favorite female fighter and take on the roster of the game. The collection concludes with The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny and Samurai Shodown! 2 which are probably the pioneers of weapon-based fighting games. Overall, the complete lineup is a great collection of NeoGeo titles, and these titles defined portable gaming back in 99. SNK has put a great work at making the collection as well as it is not just a boring collection where you choose a game from the list and play it. There are plenty of additional features in the collection as well.
Probably the most prominent feature of the collection is that it allows you to view the original boxes of all the games in high detail. The main menu contains the boxes of all 10 games as they were released back on the NeoGeo Pocket Color. You can rotate then, zoom in, and out open them up to check out the cartridges in them as well. All the boxes and cartridges feature the original boxart and details from the original physical releases preserved within a single collection on the Nintendo Switch. Each of the ten games comes with both their English and Japanese release boxes. Some of the titles were Japanese release only however they come with their English versions as well which is a pretty cool addition to the collection.
Apart from the box and cartridge showcase, you also have access to both English and Japanese languages for all titles in the game. If you need a more authentic experience of these classics, you can switch to Japanese as well and play them since there is not much writing in the game, playing them once or twice pretty much gives you a general idea of where everything is in the game before you try out a different language in the title. Another excellent feature the collection has is the console option which includes the Color, New Color mode, and the Black & White mode which removes all of the colors altogether from the title. The language and Console selection have to be made from the main menu before starting the game. Once you start a title, you cannot change the language or the console type.
Once you are inside your selected title, you can press the – key to have the traditional NeoGeo controls as well. These include Rewind, custom key bindings, changing skins of the virtual NeoGeo Pocket Color console inside the screen, reset and change the game options. These options are standard in all NeoGeo releases for the Nintendo Switch so you will find them here as well. Since the original console featured just two keys, here you have plenty more so you can assign custom controls to each game as well and play it however you want to. Some of the titles such as Metal Slug become much easier if you switch the shooting keys to triggers.
Coming to the performance of each of the titles in the collection, every game ran exceptionally well apart from the two Metal Gear titles. Both Metal Gear 1st Mission and Metal Gear 2nd Mission had some framerate dips in certain areas of the console. Since I never played the original releases, I do not know if this was the case with the original NeoGeo Pocket Color console as well however Nintendo Switch boasts a great hardware upgrade than the original one so having these issues does not make sense. In certain activity or explosion heavy sequences, the game barely ran smoothly for me and the framerate drops were really high.
Apart from the two Metal Slug titles giving me framerate drops, the rest of the collection ran exceptionally well. No other game had this framerate issue in the game and ran extremely well. All other features of the collection worked just as they were intended to work as well. Costing just $39.99, NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is a great collection of classic titles and one that certainly deserves to be preserved. Some of the releases featured in the collection are available as standalone titles as well however some of the titles are only found in this collection making it a must-buy for all retro-buyers.
Final Verdict:
While NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 might be a little heavy on the fighting side, it still brings some of the best NeoGeo Pocket titles in one brilliant price to modern gamers and old fans of the classics as well. The added functionality makes the game more accessible and some of the features are really good to have. Since it is extremely difficult to find some of these titles and an actual working NeoGeo pocket out in the wild today, this collection will allow you to play 10 great classics on Nintendo Switch and also view their original art work and boxes complete with their cases in great detail. The whole bundle brings something for everyone and if you love NeoGeo titles on the Nintendo Switch or simply want to experience something retro, the NeoGeo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is highly recommended for you.
Final Score: 9.0/10
