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NGP vs. NGPC: an interview with NeoPanchoThis look into gaming with the B&W NEOGEO Pocket and the NEOGEO Pocket Color comes thanks to the participation of NeoPancho ( neopancho@hotmail.com ), from Spain. I would like to extend a big "thanks" to him for taking the time to answer all of these questions! Note: At NeoPancho's request, I corrected some misspellings and some simple grammar mistakes in what he wrote. The changes are very minor and the original meaning of his words have not been changed in any way. Now, without further ado, the interview. NGP Central: Where did you get your B&W NGP and NGPC and what case colors are they? NeoPancho: Well it looks like Spain was the second country having the NGP, just before of Christmas... However I bought it from an importer a week or so later than it was released in Japan. More or less itīs the same for the NGPColor, it was available in Spain but it was cheaper to buy it from importers... so I bought again the Japanese one. Note that even if both consoles were released in Spain some months ago, the instruction manual were in japanese and only now they have been translated. About the cases colors... The NGP is blue (no donīt buy this color is horrible!) and my NGPcolor is anthracite which is really cool (however I ordered a marble blue one!).
NeoPancho: I only have 3 games: KOF R-1 and R-2, and NWC98 [Neo World Cup '98, aka NEOGEO Cup '98]... but I have played Metal Slug and Fatal Fury.
NeoPancho: I havenīt played NWC98+ color but I think that it must be quite similar to the old one. About the 2 KOF... they are almost identical, but I believe that R-2 is better not because it uses colors... but because it has the making mode.
NeoPancho: There arenīt any problem but i think that they look much more diffused than the B/W games... it really donīt affect too much in fighting games, but Metal Slug is horrible in B/W. There is also that it looks like that they have forgive the NGP with the color games because in KOF-R2 there isnīt any difference when you are playing against your double (at least Mai and RB2-Mai looked the same) and that didnīt happen with KOF-R1.
NeoPancho: No there arenīt, in fact they look better in the color one, you need less light and there isnīt any problem with the backgrounds (it is difficult to find the right contrast with NGP)... but it loses some nice effects... If you play with the NGPcolor to some degree (those of the old games) are quite less smooth as the NGP one and the best effect that the NGP have is lost completly... in the NGP you will find that the characters (sprites) are in a different plane than the background... I mean that if you put a light in the correct angle, it will project the shadow of the sprite over the background!!
NeoPancho: Well I do because... I only have 3 games, but even the B/W one looks great in the NGPcolor. I use the blue scheme because itīs my favourite color, but you know.. they were created in B/W and it is the best scheme. I have a friend who think that the best scheme is the red one, because it is the color that appear in a higher percentage in KOF... and heīs right...
NeoPancho: The answer is the same as before... I donīt have many games, but I played Fatal Fury and Metal Slug in the NGP... and I donīt recommend Metal Slug (It misses a lot in B/W; not only colors but also because of the motion blur.)
NeoPancho: Well the color games are in color... But I think that B/W games look better in a NGP (the degrees and some animation look smoother than in NGPcolor) and the color games look better in a NGPcolor.
NeoPancho: Yes... I will be able to link both SNKvsCapcom (SNK side and Capcom side) !! I really like both consoles. The NGP has that bizarre phenomenom of the projection of shadows that is really cool (but It isnīt so evident like I made you think; you only will notice this a few times). On the other hand we have the NGPcolor that doesnīt have anything special as far as I know... but it is much easier to see and it is in color! So i recommend the NGPcolor... but if you can have both... it is interesting, and you will be able to transfer data in games like SNKvs Capcom and Dive Alert wich have 2 versions.
NeoPancho:I donīt think that it was a great idea... they should have waited at least a year or so... itīs easy that some people feel cheated (just imagine that tomorrow is released a retroiluminated NGPcolor for 2 players with wireless control and TV-tuner for the same price that *just* the color one!)
NeoPancho:When you have beaten Rugal in the making mode and you have all the special characters... those special characters will appear in the making mode, right? Well, that only happens to me if I use the NGP because if I use the color one, only appear the standard characters. Other thing is, that sometimes when I use the KOF-R2 with the NGP and i turn it off, some bizarre characters appear (I donīt mean fighters but %%&/(%·"ŋŋ and things like these) just like if there were something that it canīt decode (perhaps the colors). And there you have it! Once again, I'd like to thank NeoPancho for participating in this interview. If you'd like to answer these questions too, please contact me at eclipse18@angelfire.com . Back to Specials.
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