Like the first Neo Geo Pocket Collection, Volume 2 brings another ten games to the Switch (Eleven if you count both versions of SNK VS. Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash). It means that around a quarter of all the games available on the system are now on Nintendo’s hybrid and we can only hope this continues. It also helps that there’s some really good games on here.
Like the first volume this collection brings together the
individually released Pocket games from the year, compiles them and adds a host
of others as well. We’ve had fewer individual releases this time around so it’s
an enticing prospect even if you’ve already broken cover and purchased some of
the games already.
Included are three sports games. Neogeo Cup 98 is an easily forgettable
football game but the other two fare far better. Pocket Tennis is great and
evokes memories of Super Tennis back on the SNES. We found ourselves losing far
more time than we intended, and it works great for quick goes. Baseball Stars
is also a lot of fun with each of the teams having unique stats and each area
of the game being represented well. Both may not have warranted individual releases,
but they are far more than just filler here.
There are two quirky games on here as well with The King of
Fighters Battle De Paradise providing a sort of weird board game version of the
game and the notoriously quirky Ganbare Neo Poke-Kun also here. Unfortunately,
both games are in Japanese (though the manuals have been translated). Both
games are confusing enough without having to fight through a foreign language as
well. Ganbare in particular has a fair amount of text so you’ll need to keep
going back an forth to know what is going on. The game itself has a weird
creature developing mini games which you can then play, and you have to effect
his environment to keep him awake. Yes, it’s very strange.
Biomotor Unitron adds a much-welcomed RPG to the collection
though in truth it’s quite average. It’s a bit Pokémon like but instead of
creatures you are collecting resources for your robot. It’s solid but we can’t
see many people seeing it through to the end. The previously released Mega Man
Battle and Fighters is also included, (and not translated from Japanese), which
provides two games which are effectively a succession of boss battles in a kind
of basic fighting game. It’s fun, but nothing amazing and without the license
would likely be forgotten.
What is a wonderful surprise is Puzzle Link 2. On the surface
it seems like a sort of Magical Drop or Puzzle Bobble clone but that is not the
case. You do have to match colours, but you do this by connecting them with
pipes that you throw up the screen. It’s a fresh and clever take on the genre
and one you’ll lose a lot of time to. Who knew Pipemania crossed with Magical Drop
was the game we all needed?
The remaining two games have both been released separately. Big
Bang Pro Wrestling has proved to be a really nice surprise. We had never even
heard of it but it’s now up there with SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash as
our most played NGP game. It plays well, it’s inventive, the graphics and sound
are satisfying, and it uses the control scheme the best you can possibly expect
for the system. There’s also a wide range of characters and match types to pick
from.
SNK Vs, Capcom Card Fighters’ Clash is of course the
headline act here with both versions of the games included and the English and
Japanese language versions of both those games as well. The card battles
themselves are deceptively complex. Battles play on out on a table where
players can lay a maximum of three cards down. When played, cards add whatever
special points they have to the players total and also present a battle point
value to attack and defend with. The special points then allow for things like
dual attacking and launching special abilities. Once cards are down players can
either attack with them or hold them back to defend. Once an action has been
taken the card in question is then frozen. This is important as you must weigh
up how likely you are to be able to defend against incoming attacks and if an
all-out strike by your team is worth leaving yourself defenceless for.
The key here is that you aren’t trying to eliminate all your
opponent’s cards but instead knock down their health bar. If they are unable to
block an incoming attack with a card the battle points value of the card will
be removed from their total. Once it reaches zero, they lose. The same goes for
you of course, so the balance between attack and defence is key. The only
frustrating thing here is of course that there is always a certain random
element to how cards come out so some games can be lost very early on with
little the player can do about it. Of course, when you get hold of a few better
cards to add into your deck this also works the other way as you can destroy
your opponent very quickly if they start with a bad hand.
Overall, this second volume of Neo Pocket games has been put
together very well. There’s enough here to warrant buying the whole package if
you’ve already bought one or two of the other games and there is a good mix of different
styles and genres. It also shows the handheld was far more than just mini
versions of 2D fighters. If haven’t bought Card Fighters’ separately already
this is pretty essential, and even if you have the other games are well worth
playing. Let’s hope more collections appear in the future.
Overall 8/10
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