Portable Pocket Color Lives Up to Its Name

By AARON CURTISS

Sept. 16, 1999 12 AM PT

Taking on Nintendo--whose hearty Game Boy has dominated the portable video game market for the better part of a decade--may seem downright foolish. But SNK Corp., which last month launched its Neo Geo Pocket Color, believes there’s plenty of room for a competing hand-held game system.

After selling the Pocket Color on the Internet during the summer, Japan-based SNK rolled out the $70 unit to retail stores last month. Although the privately held company won’t release sales figures, SNK Marketing Director Stacey Sujishi said demand has been high.

And she doesn’t see anything foolish about challenging Nintendo, which has sold more than 80 million Game Boys since 1989. “Why did Sony put out PlayStation?” Sujishi asked. After all, the video game console market was owned by Nintendo and Sega before PlayStation’s launch in 1995. Since then, Sony has sold more than 50 million PlayStations.

If performance is any measure of a system’s success--and that’s the big question--Pocket Color should be a hit. It boasts a 16-bit processor, compared with Game Boy’s 8-bit innards. While Game Boy can display only 56 simultaneous colors, Pocket Color can show 146 at a time. And the 40 hours Pocket Color can squeeze from a pair of AA batteries is twice the play afforded by Game Boy Color.

All of this is housed in a sleek case that comes in six colors. The screen, with 160 by 152 pixels, is clear and easy to see. The thumb-stick control makes Pocket Color feel more like a grown-up console than a hand-held. As Sujishi accurately points out, Pocket Color is “the next level for hand-helds.”

It may represent the next level in convergence as well. SNK plans an adapter that will allow Pocket Color to hook up to Sega’s new Dreamcast machine. Because Sega is no longer in the portable market, Pocket Color would give the company a hand-held outlet for games starring icons such as Sonic the Hedgehog.

But hardware alone does not drive a game system. Remember 3DO? Pocket Color’s launch lineup of eight titles showcases the best of SNK, which has been making arcade games for 20 years and has had moderate success with home systems designed for hard-core gamers. Unlike past machines, Pocket Color is aimed right at mainstream video game players.

The launch titles reflect that. Included are three sports titles--including golf and tennis--as well as a couple of fighters, a puzzler and a side-scrolling shooter.

My hands-down favorite was “Pocket Tennis Color,” a snazzy little tennis game that’s as addictive as they come. Pocket Color’s screen does a great job of tracking the ball, making it easy to see and respond. The thumb stick makes quick work of running around the court.

Some of the players were easy to beat, but the idea behind a portable game system is that you can play it anywhere whenever you have a few extra minutes. Who wants to spend hours hunched over a game just to win a couple of sets? Diversion is the goal and “Pocket Tennis Color” delivers.

For players who like to see things blow up, “Metal Slug: First Mission” offers a nice variation on traditional side-scrolling shooters. Sure, players start out as a shoot-first-ask-questions-later paratrooper, but the game quickly evolves into a shoot-first-ask-questions-later test of flying jets and commanding tanks.

Variety distinguishes “Metal Slug” from its cousins on other platforms. There’s the usual jump-and-shoot routine, but “Metal Slug” packs all sorts of extra action into the game--making it more than just another side-scroller.

“Fatal Fury: First Contact” features fighters from “Fatal Fury,” perhaps the most well-known of SNK’s arcade franchises. This is a fighter packing all the right punches. The characters are responsive and capable of a wide range of moves. Backgrounds are bright and colorful. As in “Pocket Tennis,” the thumb stick makes a big difference in controlling the characters.

The other titles in the launch lineup are equally impressive and SNK promises to have about 25 games in stores by the end of the year. Clearly, Pocket Color is better than Game Boy. But it may be too little, too late for SNK to make a big difference in the marketplace.

Just as Pocket Color picks up steam in the United States, Nintendo is giving a sneak peek at its next-generation Game Boy, dubbed Game Boy Advance. Scheduled for a Christmas 2000 release in the United States, Game Boy Advance will feature a 32-bit CPU--now the guts of consoles such as Sony PlayStation--as well as a screen capable of displaying 65,000 colors at a time. In addition, the system will be able to hook up to the Internet through a cellular phone.

Whether Nintendo will make its scheduled release dates remains to be seen. For those who can’t wait, Pocket Color offers a very nice intermediate step between yesterday’s technology and tomorrow’s.

To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.

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Essentials

Neo Geo Pocket Color

Manufacturer: SNK Corp.

Price: $69.95

Bottom Line: A handful of joy

Pocket Tennis Color

Platform: Neo Geo Pocket Color

Publisher: SNK Corp.

ESRB* rating: Everyone

Price: $29.95