[15 years!] The NeoGeo Pocket Color Thread

[Olly C]

On the topic of value, if you have a fresh copy of Gals Fighters, I think that's worth a hell of a lot because the game can't be reset. Playing it unlocks things and there's no option or secret code to completely reset the cart back to how it is when new.

The same for Sonic and a few others, I specifically went through and fully unlocked everything on mine :/

Another benefit of playing the fresh ROM's on a flashcart if you want to start from scratch again.

[Olly C]

Don't be. Cool boarders is terrible on the NGPC. The other two Japanese titles are Big Bang Pro Wrestling and Rockman Battle and Fighters.

Agreed, Cool Boarders is an awful game to play.

[fuse]

Help a guy out here - what's the deal with the ELSPA stickers on the EU games? I see games where this is printed on the back cover like I'd expect, but then I also see loads of listings where it seems to be a separate sticker that's been slapped on the right hand side of the case like this?



Are these counterfeits? Is it ome weird nuance to certain games? Perhaps some kind of nightmarish practice that one of our retailers saw to enforce?

[monel]

That art is as bad as USA genesis stuff.

[Asura]

Help a guy out here - what's the deal with the ELSPA stickers on the EU games? I see games where this is printed on the back cover like I'd expect, but then I also see loads of listings where it seems to be a separate sticker that's been slapped on the right hand side of the case like this?

It's hard to tell, because I can say back in the day that the NGPC was a very strange console in the west. Like, I've seen multiple genuine variants of several games; like I had a Match of the Millennium plastic case box, but there was also an official cardboard one. Because most of the games were global, i.e. the same internals with different stickers (sometimes not even that), retailers that also sold imports definitely sold UK versions alongside Australian/American versions here, and often stickered them like that. My local indie used to sell the Japanese consoles exclusively because they were identical and slightly cheaper.

Add to that, we were seeing "exclusive" magazine "previews" for games like Cotton a week after I had seen it on the shelf!

Then you have those stories of some of the re-releases coming about because someone found several enormous shipping containers full of NGPC stuff lying in a clearance warehouse in the mid-2000s.

Anyway, sorry because this doesn't give you a concrete answer - but I think what I'm saying is that the NGPC isn't like the GBA, where Nintendo Europe, while **** at the time, were at least quite studious when it came to branding. Seeing a slightly strange NGPC box isn't necessarily a sign it's pirated, whereas an American GBA box in the UK in the 00s was a pirate cart nine times of out ten.

[Olly C]

Help a guy out here - what's the deal with the ELSPA stickers on the EU games? I see games where this is printed on the back cover like I'd expect, but then I also see loads of listings where it seems to be a separate sticker that's been slapped on the right hand side of the case like this?



Are these counterfeits? Is it ome weird nuance to certain games? Perhaps some kind of nightmarish practice that one of our retailers saw to enforce?

Well to get the last bit out of the way first, unlike Game Boy there are almost no known Neo Geo Pocket fake games out there, if you do happen to have one it's probably more valuable to a collector than a real version

Regarding the different box variants, there are a few variants of most games and by that I mean UK/EURO/ASIA snaplock cases.

The ones with barcodes and rating stickers on like that were probably in a batch for UK stores I think, I've had some with those on MS1, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Shodown 2 and there are some others too.

There are then games with multiple cover inserts too, some have a wildly different front cover thats easy to spot, others have a completely different back cover then some have minor differences on the front/back/spine. These differences were often for different markets in Europe and some of Asia. There are also differences in the amount of manuals included with some versions too, multi-language versions with 3 manuals, some have 2 and others only ever have 1.

I have a really cool cover variant version of Samurai Showdown 2, theres actually three different Euro/Asia front cover versions for that, one is similar to the normal just zoomed out a bit, thats quite rare, then mine is more like the Japanese version of the game's cover, I'll try and share photos in a bit.

It's hard to tell, because I can say back in the day that the NGPC was a very strange console in the west. Like, I've seen multiple genuine variants of several games; like I had a Match of the Millennium plastic case box, but there was also an official cardboard one. Because most of the games were global, i.e. the same internals with different stickers (sometimes not even that), retailers that also sold imports definitely sold UK versions alongside Australian/American versions here, and often stickered them like that. My local indie used to sell the Japanese consoles exclusively because they were identical and slightly cheaper.

Yea, in America almost every release was a cardboard box version, my brother has a few of those including MOTM, Biomotor Unitron and Pocket Tennis. You can tell the USA versions by the rating on the cart/box it'll have the bit E for everyone logo on it.

I say almost every release because that is the standard but there are also some rare snaplock euro style versions of games out there, one thats been known for a while is Bust a Move Mini (Puzzle Bobble mini over here) that has a US printed insert with the E rating on it (and obviously Bust a Move and not Puzzle Bobble) it's pretty rare and expensive. There have also been recent finds where one of the Euro/Asia versions have the rating's stickers applied to the box and insert for sale in the US, again pretty rare to find.

There are no Euro/Asia cardboard versions to my knowledge, in Japan there was a mix of both, even late on when the NGPC was near the end of its short life they released "Best of" versions of good games in Snaplock cases with different inserts and labels.

[Mayhem]

I’ve not encountered fake NGPC games, but there were a couple of “pirate” multicarts released, which I own, but they are oddly not very easy to find.

[Olly C]

I’ve not encountered fake NGPC games, but there were a couple of “pirate” multicarts released, which I own, but they are oddly not very easy to find.

A friend of mine collects the multicarts too, which ones do you have? Any photos?

[Mayhem]

Somewhere, probably have to take new shots

[Asura]

I’ve not encountered fake NGPC games, but there were a couple of “pirate” multicarts released, which I own, but they are oddly not very easy to find.

Ironic, when you consider how the GBA often had multi-carts, but for the NGPC, you could quite easily do a multi-cart of the entire library without needing much space!

[Olly C]

II'll have to get round to doing some updated photos this weekend, I took some new ones of my Neo Geo AES games recently if you scroll down my feed to the recent posts.

Got round to taking some up to date photos of my collection today:

https://twitter.com/OllyCapes/status/1367100522940035076

[Asura]

I'm not a game collector but honestly, those NGPC games are lovely objects. I want to have a shelf of them even though I wouldn't have a use for them.

[Olly C]

I'm not a game collector but honestly, those NGPC games are lovely objects. I want to have a shelf of them even though I wouldn't have a use for them.

Yea they are rather awesome, I mean.... if you've got bigger shelves and an even bigger wallet then the big brother AES games are very lovely objects too haha

[Mayhem]

Grabbed the pirate NGPC carts off the shelf to photograph...

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IMG_4369.jpg

[wakka]

Just been putting some box protectors on my cardboard games, and thought I’d post a quick snap of my own modest collection of games.

The majority were purchased on a trip to Japan in 2008. The most expensive game was Cotton, which was £40.