The Nintendo Switch has become the console to go to when you want to go portable. While great as a regular home console, I think it really shines as a portable console which lets me carry many of my favorite games with me on the go. What’s really cool too is that it’s not limited to just Nintendo games either. We’re starting to get many retro games too that never appeared on a Nintendo console. Take for instance NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1. This is a collection of 10 classic SNK games that were only released on the NEOGEO Pocket Color, now available for the Nintendo Switch.

NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 consists of these 10 games:

• SNK GALS’ FIGHTERS,
• SAMURAI SHOWDOWN!2
• KING OF FIGHTERS R-2
• THE LAST BLADE: BEYOND DESTINY
• FATAL FURY FIRST CONTACT
• SNK VS. CAPCOM: THE MATCH OF THE MILLENNIUM
• METAL SLUG 1ST MISSION
• METAL SLUG 2ND MISSION
• DARK ARMS BEAST BUSTER 1999
• BIG TOURNAMENT GOLF

Most of these games have already been released individually through the Nintendo eShop except for Metal Slug (1st and 2nd mission), Dark Arms, and Big Tournament Golf. These games normally cost about $8 each, but the collection itself is $39.99 which makes this a pretty good bargain for the number of games you’re getting. Not only that, the NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 includes some bonuses for those who really want to get nostalgic, mainly the way everything is presented to you.

For starters, games are presented to you as individual cartridges instead of just as a boring list. Each cartridge includes the original artwork from the original physical cartridge release. Not only that, but you can also view the original box art as well and the original manual. Remember when games came with those? Anyways, you can rotate and spin the box around as well as zoom in and out to get a better view. As for the manual, you can view each page and zoom in and out as well.

When you choose the game you want to play, just press start and it’ll take you to that game’s start screen. What’s cool here is that the game plays inside a simulated NEOGEO Pocket Color console. You can actually choose what the color of your handheld looks like. You can even choose to play on the New NEOGEO Pocket Color as well. There are eight different skins and you can even adjust the size of it on your screen. It’s also possible to zoom all the way in so the actual game screen can fill up more of your screen.

Of course, you probably want to know about the games themselves. They’re all SNK games and they’re all faithfully reproduced in their classic 16-bit glory. These were some great portable games back in their heyday so it’s pretty neat being able to play this on a more advanced console like the Switch. There’s a good variety of game genres too from fighting to action to sports. My favorite of the bunch might be Big Tournament Golf. I’m a sucker for golf games and this one is actually pretty good.

So is NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 worth the pickup? I think so. For starters, these are ten very good portable games for their time. These really show off what the NEOGEO Pocket Color was capable of back then and for the most part, still looks pretty great today. Not only that, as a collection, this is a pretty good value seeing as you’re getting about half off of what you’d be paying if you bought each of these games separately. With that said, the NEOGEO Pocket Color Selection Vol. 1 is a fantastic throwback and I hope is a prelude of more to come.

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Received game from developer and/or publisher for coverage purposes.
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