NEOGEO Pocket Color Collection, Vol. 2

Genre: Compilation / Misc.

Players: 1-2 Competitive / Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

(Note: Multiple games in this Compilation are available elsewhere on the Nintendo Switch. Big Bang Pro Wrestling, Biomotor Unitron, Mega Man Battle & Fighters, and SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash are all available for purchase individually.)

NEOGEO Pocket Color Collection, Vol. 2, released in 2022 on PC and Nintendo Switch, is a Compilation that includes 10 games, all originally released in 1999 and 2000 on the NEOGEO Pocket Color handheld gaming platform. Some of these titles have been released elsewhere on the platform and I have reviewed them there, though as of this writing, the majority of these games have not been re-released outside of this collection.

Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Baseball Stars Color	Sports (Baseball)	1-2 Competitive (Local)	B
tl;dr This is a solid game of Baseball with decent gameplay and some pretty good animation.
Big Bang Pro Wrestling	Pro Wrestling	1-2 Competitive (Local)	D
tl;dr Big Bang Pro Wrestling is a Pro Wrestling game first released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color, but it unfortunately suffers from the original platform’s limited controls, as well as some extremely finicky hit detection. The result is a pretty bad Pro Wrestling game, and not one I recommend playing.
Biomotor Unitron	Turn-Based RPG	1	D
tl;dr Biomotor Unitron is a Turn-Based RPG first released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color, where players must build the ultimate fighting robot, something that seems like it would be a lot more fun than it actually is. This slog of an RPG offers very little reason to keep playing it, and no reason for me to recommend it over countless better games in the genre on Nintendo Switch.
Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun	Simulation / Virtual Pet / Misc.	1	C-
tl;dr This bizarre game has players interacting with a strange man with the goal of making him happy so he’ll design minigames for you to play. This game uses a real-time clock and is an odd example of a Virtual Pet of sorts, meaning most of the time there won’t be much you can do here. This game is interesting, but not especially compelling.
Mega Man Battle & Fighters	Compilation / Action-Platformer / Fighting Game	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	C
tl;dr Mega Man Battle & Fighters is a Compilation of two Fighting Games with strong Action-Platformer elements, Mega Man: The Power Battle, and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, both genuinely fun games that play like a boss rush of the Mega Man franchise. Unfortunately, these versions of the games were heavily cut back for their port to NEOGEO Pocket Color, and on top of that, the lack of a proper English localization is irritating. Even worse, players can already get Arcade-perfect versions of these games in Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. With this being the case, why would anyone bother with these versions?
NEOGEO Cup ’98 Plus Color	Sports (Soccer)	1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D+
tl;dr This Soccer game is so close to the action, it’s impossible to track where your players are. Skip this.
Puzzle Link 2	Match-2 Puzzle	1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	B-
tl;dr This is a decent Puzzle game that has you building paths between pieces you want to match. It’s not an Earth-shattering entry in the genre, but it’s an enjoyable one.
Pocket Tennis Color	Sports (Tennis)	1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	B
tl;dr This is pretty solid, if unexceptional, game of Tennis.
SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash	Turn-Based Collectable Card RPG	1-2 Competitive (Local)	B+
tl;dr SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash is a Turn-Based Collectable Card RPG that is simple to pick up, but has a surprising amount of depth. This release includes both the SNK and Capcom versions of the game, and will even let players trade and battle between the two on the same system (though sadly not via online or local wireless multiplayer), and while the limited screen size means you’ll be shuffling through a fair amount of menus, this game has otherwise aged quite well, and fans of the genre should absolutely give it a try.
The King of Fighters Battle de Paradise	Party Game	1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen)	D
tl;dr This might be a decent Party game, but unless you can read Japanese you’d never know it. There’s so much Japanese text to parse through here that any English language only folks are sure to be lost. Skip it.

Overall, this Compilation fares better than NEOGEO Pocket Color Collection, Vol. 1 largely because it isn’t stacked with SNK’s bread-and-butter Fighting games and Metal Slug games that simply can’t compare to their arcade and console counterparts. This time around, we’re getting more of a grab bag of “everything else”, and the result is not only more diversity in game types, but more diversity in quality.

Of course, the clear standout here is SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash, likely the best game on the NEOGEO Pocket Color, and one that has mostly aged well and benefits from a port that includes the original games’ link and trade features (even if only on the same system). However, that game is also available separately, so for this Compilation to be worthwhile, there have to be other worthwhile games here, and thankfully there are – Baseball Stars Color, Pocket Tennis Color, and Puzzle Link 2 are all well worth playing.

However, that’s just four out of ten games in a Compilation that’s $40. Are all four of those games worth $10 each? I’m kinda’ dubious about that. It also doesn’t help that we have a few real duds here, with Big Bang Pro Wrestling, Biomotor Unitron, NEOGEO Cup ’98 Plus Color, and The King of Fighters Battle de Paradise all being just plain bad.

Ultimately, I think the value of this Compilation is going to come down to one question: how much do you care about the NEOGEO Pocket Color? If you have fond memories of the handheld, or a strong curiosity about it, I think this is the better of the two Compilations of its games that we’ve gotten, even if most of these games aren’t the iconic titles it’s best known for. On the other hand, if you’re not especially interested in this handheld’s games and just want to focus on getting the best of the lot, I’d advise you to just get SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash on its own and skip the rest – you’ll be missing out on some good games, but you’ll be passing over a lot of terrible ones and playing the best game in the whole lot. For most players, that’ll be the best use of their time and money

tl;dr – NEOGEO Pocket Color Collection, Vol. 2 is a Compilation of 10 games from SNK’s 1999-2000-era handheld game platform, and this second collection fares better than the first, with four of the included games being worth playing, including what I would argue is the best game on the platform, SNK Vs. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash. However, there’s still so much trash here that most players will be better off just getting Card Fighters’ Clash on its own and skipping this bundle.

Grade: C+

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