Today we’re going to discuss the best Neo Geo Pocket games, but first some back story. In the 90s SNK ruled the arcade scene. Well that’s only partially true. It was actually Capcom’s runaway success with Street Fighter II, and Midway’s gruesome Mortal Kombat that dominated arcades. Were it not for those two franchises SNK fighters would have reigned supreme. They even released their own arcade board, the Neo Geo MVS, and you could actually trade the cartridges out for the different games. It’s a neat idea, but they actually took things a step further. SNK realized that some gamers wanted the full arcade experience at home. They answered the call by releasing a home console that could play the exact coin-op titles. The exorbitant price point and limited availability meant that it was never meant to compete with the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis.
Fast forward years later. SNK realized they wanted a bigger share of the home video game market. Rather than releasing a console in the now crowded scene they instead went the route of designing a portable. Many tried to dethrone Nintendo’s Game Boy, but all failed. SNK learned from the mistakes of others and didn’t throw any fancy features like a backlit screen or modern graphics into it. Instead the Neo Geo Pocket Color was an 8-bit system with slightly beefier hardware, no backlit screen, and an affordable price point. It also boasted toned down ports of their arcade classics. Alas it was a failure worldwide. That doesn’t mean the library is lacking, rather, Nintendo just understood the market better. Because almost no one has played it I’ve decided today to highlight the top 25 best Neo Geo Pocket games. Let’s get started!
#25. – Neo Turf Masters
We’re kicking this list off with a golf game. Yeah, I know. Real snoozefest, right? Wrong. Neo Turf Masters excels because of how accessible it is. Even if you don’t understand the sport you can jump right in and play a few holes with no problem. You start off by selecting your golfer (each represents a different nationality) and each has their own stats. There are six in total which is pretty decent if you ask me. From here you can select from one of three courses and you’re off to the green. It must be said that the graphics are downright pretty. The scenery is well detailed and the character designs are very charming. The mechanics are also solid and easy to understand. Simply aim, time a button press on the meter, and send that ball flying. It’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games.
#24. – Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams
Cotton made appearances on nearly all hardware released in the 90s and the Neo Geo Pocket is no different. The high asking price is just as wild as always. It’s just what you’d expect for a handheld port of the original game. Graphical and audio fidelity take major hits, but by and large it’s still Cotton. In this side scrolling shmup (or cute ’em up, if you prefer) you play as a magical witch riding atop a broom. You shoot bursts of energy at enemies and can upgrade your projectile power with various power-ups scattered throughout the levels. At the end of each stage you fight a boss, and then you’re off to the next area. It’s not particularly innovative but it’s an enjoyable and charming romp. If you’ve played Cotton elsewhere there’s little need to bother with this port. Still, it’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games.
#23. – Evolution: Eternal Dungeons
Evolution (and it’s sequel) were some of the most boring RPGs released for the Sega Dreamcast. They didn’t sell particularly well either. That’s why it’s surprising that the Neo Geo Pocket had an exclusive port in the form of Evolution: Eternal Dungeons. Truth be told I find this version more interesting than it’s console predecessor, and it’s one of the best games for the Neo Geo Pocket in my opinion. The move to 2D graphics does this title a lot of favors. The graphics are significantly more charming, and the battle system isn’t so painfully boring anymore. It’s a dungeon crawler where you can actually see enemies before encountering them. Unfortunately town areas are now limited to menus and single screen scenery now. If you missed the Evolution train and want to see what the buzz is about I recommend trying out this version
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#22. – Biomotor Unitron
From that title it’s pretty safe to assume this one is a shmup, right? As it turns out Biomotor Unitron was actually the first RPG released for the platform, but that’s not why it’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games. This here is a classic dungeon crawling RPG with heavy emphasis on customization. Your party consists of two characters at any given point; both the main protagonist and his robot companion. Enemies appear in battle one at a time and you input commands via a traditional menu and watch the mayhem unfold. The dungeons are randomly generated, and there are town areas to explore for story events and upgrades. Speaking of which you can customize your robot ally with new parts that make them stronger and this affects how they fight. It’s a fairly unique game and well worth playing even today.
#21. – Baseball Stars Color
One major issue with sports titles is that they don’t tend to age well. Sure the rosters never hold up, but the problem actually goes deeper than this. Developers back then had a tendency to pad their titles with useless fluff. This includes features that immediately seem dated, or controls that rely on gimmicks. That’s why arcade sports titles from the 90s reign supreme in my book. Baseball Stars was a popular hit on the Neo Geo coin op machines and SNK released an 8-bit version for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. For having just two face buttons gameplay works remarkably well. The graphics are bright and colorful, and even the small characters are easy to make out in the outfield. Sports simulations never really worked on handheld hardware due to the pick up and play nature, but Baseball Stars Color transcends this issue with finesse.
#20. – Pocket Tennis Color
When it comes to sports video games Tennis has always reigned supreme for me. In my opinion it just translates better to the medium than the others. This is why I was delighted to see that SNK published one of these such titles with Pocket Tennis Color for the Neo Geo Pocket. This is Tennis, for better or worse. You begin by selecting a character and then a court and you’re off swinging. The gameplay engine holds up remarkably well considering the aged hardware and everything moves fairly smoothly. The learning curve is gentle and I was able to jump in with a fair amount of precision. Unfortunately the screen doesn’t display the entire court. It scrolls with the ball and can cause some issues with returning because you can’t always see where your character is located. Nonetheless it’s clearly one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games.
#19. – Crush Roller
Crush Roller is a pretty simple maze based puzzle game. Remember snake on the old Nokia phones? It’s a similar premise. From an overhead perspective you guide a paintbrush around each stage attempting to color in every tile. Generally the path is one tile wide ala Pac-Man, but you can travel over previously painted areas. What makes this title challenging is the fact that you’re constantly being chased by enemies. The AI isn’t too bright but gets progressively more aggressive in the later stages. This one is really addictive because of it’s level design. Some paths pass over others so you have to plan ahead so as not to get trapped. Crush Roller is easy to learn and very challenging making it the perfect puzzler for on the go. It even has a pretty catchy soundtrack that will get stuck in your head long after you’ve shut it off.
#18. – Dive Alert
Pokemon was all the rage when Diver Alert released. Wanting to cash in a bit on the phenomenon the developers released two different versions. They both play identically, and have the same storyline. The major differences are that you’ll encounter different enemies and are given access to different upgrades. Dive Alert is an action role playing game where you assume the lead of a fleet of submarines in a flooded post apocalyptic world. Story has a heavy focus here and it almost feels like a visual novel at times. You engage enemies from the comfort of your submarine and gameplay takes place entirely on a radar. You can see incoming ships and items and have to navigate while shooting them down. Ammunition is limited, and your sub has various stats to manage. It’s a unique title and definitely one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games in my opinion.
#17. – Puyo Pop
If you’ve read any of my other lists chances are you already know I love Puyo Puyo. On home consoles these titles were often re-skinned with other franchises to help sales. That’s why I was disappointed we didn’t get Fatal Fury or King of the Fighters overlays here. Puyo Pop is just plain old Puyo Puyo, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. This is a falling block puzzle game like Tetris, but with a few twists. In this case colored blobs drop from the top of the screen and you can move them left or right as well as rotate them to vertical or horizontal alignment. Your goal is to match like colored blobs to eliminate them. This nets points and prevents them from stacking up to the top. Because the blobs are separate from one another gravity comes in to play and they don’t stick to each other.
#16. – Pac-Man
Come on. Pac-Man is a classic. If you don’t love it then you obviously hate video games. That may be an exaggeration but my point is that Pac-Man represents all the best parts of the medium. This version doesn’t have any new features nor does it try to re-invent the wheel. It’s just pure Pac-Man, and that’s why I love it. The colors absolutely pop on the screen and this is pretty much an arcade perfect port. This just happens to be my favorite handheld edition of the franchise. Why is that? Because you’re given the option to display a zoomed in view or the full play area. The fact that you can choose is why this one is so high up on the list of the best Neo Geo Pocket games. Most handhelds had to make sacrifices to run this title, but that’s simply not the case here.
#15. – Densetsu no Ogre Battle Gaiden: Zenobia no Ouji
Now this one is a bit tricky. It’s a strategy RPG in one of my favorite franchises of all time. The problem is it was never translated. I didn’t realize until giving it a go that this doesn’t matter as much as you would expect. I was able to follow a translation guide to figure out the menus, and the battles play out automatically so you don’t need to worry about commands. What you have is one of the best Ogre Battle titles in the franchise. This one plays just like it’s contemporaries; you select destinations for your armies on an overview map and they move in real-time. When enemies are encountered you’re whisked to a separate battle screen where the battle plays out on its own. This one is well worth the extra effort because it’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games of all time.
#14. – SNK Gals Fighter
When it comes to fighting games female characters were always lacking in representation. SNK apparently noticed this and thought ‘why not make an all female cast fighting game?’ The end result is awesome. SNK Gals Fighter mixes characters from all of the company’s most popular franchises. This includes the likes of Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, and the Last Blade. It utilizes a similar fighting engine to the portable installments of King of Fighters but lacks the tag-team concept. Gals Fighter is a solid concept and a great fighting game. Even with just two buttons you can perform combos and special moves with ease. The animation also keeps up with the gameplay well and you’ll find very little slowdown. Gals Fighter doesn’t exactly do anything new, but if you’re looking for an alternative fighting game it’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games around.
#13. – Dark Arms: Beast Buster
Yikes at that name. From the title alone I assumed this one was a low effort shovelware game. This couldn’t be farther from the truth as Dark Arms is actually one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games of all time. The game itself is a top down action RPG. You guide a character through a series of dungeons blasting foes with your gun and dodging their attacks. You can upgrade your weapon in numerous ways (customization seems to be par for the course with RPGs on the platform) by feeding enemy spirits to it. While they’re all pretty similar in nature you have some variety in terms of power, range, and speed. It’s a unique and somewhat morbid premise, but I like it. As far as I’m aware this one hasn’t been ported to any other platform. If you have the Neo Geo Pocket you should get this one.
#12. – Fatal Fury: First Contact
Fatal Fury was SNK’s premier franchise for the original Neo Geo. It was a big hit in the arcades (especially in Japan) and cemented the Neo Geo MVS as the central component to their video game strategy. You’d be a bad gambler to bet they wouldn’t release a port of some kind on the Neo Geo Pocket. The gameplay engine in Fatal Fury: First Contact is based on that of the Real Bout series. This comes in the form of the power gauge which has three different levels of attack as well as the character roster. Gone (but not missed) is the plane system making gameplay much more straightforward. Fatal Fury: First Contact is a bit slower paced than other fighters on the platform but it’s still plenty enjoyable. You can even play multiplayer with the link cable.
#11. – Magical Drop Pocket
If you can’t tell from all of my other lists so far I’m also a big fan of Magical Drop. I own a copy for just about every retro platform it was released on. Magical Drop is an unusual puzzle game. You view the action from the side as gems appear at the top of the screen. Rather than directly controlling them you instead guide a character at the bottom. He can pull these down and throw them up. If they’re touching any same colored gems he snags them all. Your goal is to eliminate these by lining identical gems up. It sounds pretty basic, and it is, but gameplay gets absolutely hectic as you play. This version of Magical Drop gets extra points from me because of how nice it looks on the small screen. It’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games.
#10. – Metal Slug 1st Mission
Here’s another big hitting franchise. If you’re a Neo Geo fan then odds are you’re obsessed with Metal Slug, and for good reason. This classic brand of run and gun is non stop mayhem with excellent level designs and fantastic set pieces. Metal Slug 1st Mission is an original installment in the franchise and to this day is still exclusive to the platform. In this side scrolling action game you play as a character named ‘Hero’ (at least in the Metal Slug canon) who must shoot and slash his way through seventeen stages. That’s more than in any other Metal Slug title, and they function differently than in other games. You don’t have to play through all of them, and many don’t even feature a boss encounter at the end. It’s a traditional Metal Slug experience on the go. What more could you ask for?
#9. – Samurai Shodown! 2
The Samurai Shodown series was actually fairly unique at the time of its release. There were very few weapons based fighters back then, and it was at the forefront of this concept. The only issue is that SNK didn’t take more advantage of this element because it degenerates into a simple Street Fighter II clone. That’s not a bad thing at all, but weapon strikes basically take the place of punches and kicks rather than being meaningfully different. Either way, Samurai Shodown 2 is my favorite game in the franchise, and I’m happy to report that SNK released a pocket edition of this stab ’em up. This one uses the same chibi art style of other fighters on the platform. Normally I’m not a fan, but in these cases I like it. The fighting engine is faithful to the arcade edition and this actually feels like Samurai Shodown.
#8. – Bust-a-Move Pocket
Every handheld needs its fair share of puzzle games, and this is yet another one for the Neo Geo Pocket. Bust-a-Move is a spin-off to the classic Bubble Bobble franchise. It plays drastically different as a side view puzzle game. Colored gems stick to the top of the screen as the ceiling slowly lowers. Your goal is to eliminate these objects before they reach the bottom. Bub and Bob are armed with a cannon at the bottom of the screen and fire the same gems upwards. You eliminate these items by lining up three or more of the same color. Gameplay heavily favors combos. These are performed when you have other gems attached below the ones eliminated. The problem is you usually have to rely on trick shots for these kind of maneuvers. It’s a downright fun romp and one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games of all time.
#7. – Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny
The Last Blade series remains relatively unknown today despite being one of the most graphically impressive and interesting fighters on the Neo Geo. These are weapons based fighting games somewhat in the vein of Samurai Shodown. You play as various samurai characters armed with katanas and other swords who duke it out to drain each other’s life bars. One thing I really like about the Last Blade is that for the most part it lacks a traditional combo system. Instead the engine focuses more on the range, power, and speed of your attacks. With how different it is the Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny is easily one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games. It’s a toned down version of the arcade title, but it still feels like the Last Blade through and through. The gameplay engine is slower and more methodical, but that only works to its benefit.
#6. – The King of Fighters: R2
King of Fighters has always been best considered as an ‘SNK all-stars’ type of game. It includes characters from all of their major franchises duking it in a fantasy line-up tournament. Besides the all encompassing roster the gimmick here is in using teams of three different fighters. I’m not a fan of this feature and it’s honestly the only thing that holds King of Fighters back for me. All of SNK’s biggest franchises made an appearance on the Neo Geo Pocket and this one is no different. The graphics are among the best in any fighting game for the platform. The chibi art style serves this one well, and all of the characters are instantly recognizable even despite it. Gameplay is also faster than most fighters on the platform, and the combo system remains largely intact. King of Fighters: R2 is definitely one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games.
#5. – Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
After the fall of the Sega Game Gear few expected Sega to continue releasing handheld titles. Back then they weren’t a third party developer, and the Dreamcast console was already in full swing. Despite this Sega released an exclusive Sonic title for the Neo Geo Pocket, and it’s actually a pretty good one. Pocket Adventure is best considered an adaptation of the concepts introduced in Sonic 2, but with a lot of new features. The graphics are absolutely incredible for the platform. In terms of 8-bit Sonic titles it’s leaps and bounds above what you’d find on the Master System or Game Gear. Sega even manages to retain Sonic’s trademark speed. I guess SNK included ‘blast processing’ in the hardware? Joking aside this is easily one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games ever released. 2D Sonic is something that will never get old.
#4. – Metal Slug 2nd Mission
Didn’t get your fill of Metal Slug with the first Neo Geo Pocket game? Well SNK came to the rescue with a second helping. 2nd Mission does little to reinvent the wheel. It’s portable Metal Slug, but with better graphics, improved controls, and more finely tuned level design. What more could you ask for? Metal Slug 2nd Mission is a traditional installment where you run and gun your way through a variety of different side view stages. Your basic goal is to blow up and shoot down all enemies while rescuing POWs. This game plays strikingly well on the small screen and the graphics are not hard to see at all. Chances are if you have any interest in Metal Slug you’ll agree that this is one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games. If you can only get one Metal Slug title for the platform go with this one.
#3. – SNK Vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium
When Capcom and SNK joined forces to combine their catalogues of fighting characters it was like a dream come true. I absolutely love the games of both companies, and being able to pit the rosters against each others was truly amazing. SNK thankfully ported the title to the Neo Geo Pocket and it is, in my opinion, their best fighting game for the platform. I love how the chibi art style translates into Capcom’s characters as well. This is also the fastest fighting game on the platform, and it runs more smoothly than the others. The movesets for both sets of characters works surprisingly well with the button layout of the system. Street Fighter II was never released for the platform so this is as close as you’ll get to it here. SNK Vs. Capcom is by far one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games.
#2. – Rockman Battle and Fighters
For the uninitiated, Rockman is actually the Japanese name for Mega Man. To my knowledge this is the only game Capcom released for the platform, but believe me it’s one of the best Neo Geo Pocket games. Rockman Battle and Fighters is a boss rush game disguised as a fighter. You can play as either Rockman, Bass, or Proto Man and then can choose from three options for which robot masters you’d like to face off. This includes a mix of characters from the first two Mega Man titles, or those featured in parts three through six. The final option pits you against only those found in Mega Man 7. From here it’s a series of one-on-one battles you shoot down the enemy to deplete their health. When you put to rest a robot master you gain their trademark ability, and each has a weakness to that of another.
#1. – SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash
SNK adopted Nintendo’s strategy a bit here. The end result is easily the best Neo Geo Pocket game of all time. It really wasn’t hard to figure out where to place this one. The Pokemon Card game was all the rage in the late 90s and SNK decided to try their hand at a virtual version of it. There are even two versions that focus either on SNK or Capcom characters. This one places like a top down RPG where you wander several environments challenging enemies to card battles. When you win you’re granted three additional cards to help customize your deck. It’s like Yu-Gi-Oh and the Pokemon Trading Card game both mixed into one. If I’m honest I prefer this one to Nintendo and Konami’s take on the genre. You can also link together to trade or battle. This is one of the absolute must haves for the platform.
