Game Boy Color Versus NeoGeo: The Battle of the Little Guys

All of the attention recently has focused on the battle for space atop the television set as Sony gears up for the launch of PlayStation 2 and Sega and Nintendo shore up their defenses. But a quiet little fight is brewing for space in the pockets of gamers as the NeoGeo Pocket Color struggles to find room in a portable market dominated by Nintendo’s Game Boy Color.

I praised the NeoGeo last year as technically superior to Nintendo’s aging portable. Its 16-bit processor and ability to pump out more simultaneous colors than Game Boy give games-on-the-go a great new look. But it was tough to compare the two machines side-by-side because the NeoGeo’s library was--and remains--limited.

But two recent versions of the classic “Pac-Man,” one for Game Boy and one for NeoGeo, highlight the differences between the two rigs--and not all of them are in NeoGeo’s favor. Both remain true to the original, right down to the little cartoons between levels. Both offer simple fun that players can pick up and enjoy without having to think too much.

Visually, the NeoGeo version wins hands-down. Both versions offer the option of playing with a full screen or having the maze scroll. Scrolling allows for greater detail but is annoying because it can be tough to find that last pellet to clear a maze as the ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde bear down.

In full-screen mode on the Game Boy, the maze is simplistic. The walls are a pixel or two thick and the level of detail is about what one would expect from Game Boy’s 8-bit innards. On NeoGeo, though, the maze looks just like it does in the arcade--only smaller.

Control is better on the NeoGeo as well. Because NeoGeo uses a tiny thumbstick, it offers more refined movement than Game Boy’s joy pad. The thumb stick feels more like the stick “Pac-Man” fans remember from the arcade.

But Game Boy trounces NeoGeo when it comes to modes of play. A $30 game cartridge ought to offer $30 worth of play. That’s a no-brainer, but something game designers miss all too often. The NeoGeo version gives players the arcade experience. That’s it. It’s single-player all the way and when players get tired of gobbling pellets, there’s no choice except to turn the game off.

The Game Boy version, on the other hand, offers a two-player mode as well as a little no-brain game called “Pac Attack” that puts a clever spin on “Tetris.” Players drop blocks the same way they do in “Tetris,” but some of the blocks include ghosts. Players have to pen them in and then wait for a block that includes a Pac-Man to gobble the ghosts up. Those familiar with the addictive “Baku Baku” on Sega Saturn will appreciate the homage.

Even the simple “Pac Attack” offers multiple modes of play, so it takes a while to tire of the Game Boy version. And that’s the sign of a good game. Great graphics and smooth control are great, but a game cartridge has to keep players entertained for more than a few minutes at a time. That’s where Game Boy delivers.

“Rainbow Six”

I enjoyed Tom Clancy’s novel about a super-secret counter-terrorism team, but the Game Boy Color version bored me to tears. Even on a long flight with my book read, my dinner eaten and nothing but CNN news in Spanish on the monitor, “Rainbow Six” could not hold my interest.

The PC version of this game gives players a realistic counter-espionage experience, making them plan a mission and then send commandos in to execute it. It offered a nice mix of strategy and action.

“Rainbow Six” on Game Boy tries to match that experience, but the result is a terrible mix of tedious planning that culminates in mindless action. The game sends commandos out on various missions. Before each, players have to select which soldiers they want in the field, how to equip those soldiers, where to assign them and then how to storm the bad guys.

So even if a mission only takes two or three minutes to execute, players can easily spend five or 10 minutes getting ready. If it was true strategic planning, that would be one thing. But this is repetitive tinkering that masquerades as planning.

In the end, success still depends on how quickly players can run and shoot once their soldiers are in action. But even that’s not very much fun. Most of the action takes place in a top-down perspective and the characters look more like different colored blobs than soldiers and terrorists.

After half a dozen missions, I switched “Rainbow Six” off and watched CNN in Spanish. No regrets.

“Sonic Pocket Adventure”

It’s easy to forget how much fun some of the old side-scrolling games were--especially “Sonic the Hedgehog.” Sega’s mascot showed us how fast a video game could be, but then the technology enabled every game to go fast and “Sonic” suddenly didn’t seem so amazing.

But “Sonic Pocket Adventure” for NeoGeo Pocket Color reminded me that the little hedgehog really is pretty impressive. And so is this game. I never thought Sonic could work on a portable because screen lag makes it difficult to see objects that move too fast. Not even the old Sega Nomad machine could handle Sonic.

Sonic doesn’t slow down on NeoGeo, but I never lost track of him as he screamed through full-color environments that look like they jumped right off the television into the Pocket Color’s palm-size screen.

There’s nothing new here. It’s Sonic. But for players who have long since packed up their Genesis machines might find a little happy nostalgia waiting for them on NeoGeo.

Aaron Curtiss is participating in a management training program, where he currently serves as assistant to the senior vice president of advertising. He has no financial dealings with the companies he covers. To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mailto aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.