There is no hiding the fact that I'm a Nintendo fanboy. The first ever Non Nintendo video game console I ever owned was an Atari 2600 and I only got that about 5 years ago. Up until getting my 360 earlier this year I never had a new Non Nintendo console or handheld. And in my youth I was a die hard fanboy. I despised the Mega Drive, looked down on the Game Gear, I would refuse to buy game mags that had anything non Nintendo in them. So I've not had a lot of contact with non Nintendo systems, hence I guess why most of the posts in this series are going to be about Game Boy games. But a few weeks back I finally got around to getting my hands on one handheld system I've always wanted, that being the Neo Geo Pocket Color. An amazing little system that even though it seemed to do everything right, just couldn't survive against the juggernaut that was the Game Boy. 



So when I got my NGPC I was aware of a lot of games for it, such as the SNK vs Capcom games, Metal Slug, Fatal Fury and so on. But the first game I had to have was also part of one of my all time fav fighting series, Samurai Shodown! 2. I dunno what it is about the Sam Sho games but I just love them. It’s not like I'm any good at them, still that could go for any fighting game series I guess. So yeah I've always had a fondness for the Sam Sho games, ever since I saw the original in the arcades way back in the early 90's (*sigh* arcades :( ). I played the arcade one a few times I was amazed at the large sprites and stunned by the animation. Plus the fact one of the characters had a dog that he used to attack with was great. So years went by I eventually picked up the SNES version of the game and loved that. Got both 1 & 2 when they came out on the Wii VC loved them. So yeah when I got a Neo Geo Pocket Color it was a very easy choice as to what game to get first.
 


One of the things that amazed when I first got my hands on a NGPC I was immediately impressed by the little clicky d-pad stick, right away I could understand why this system was soo renowned for its 2d fighters. I got Samurai Shodown! 2 thinking it was nothing more then a port of Sam Sho 2 from the arcade albeit simplified for a handheld system, yay for being wrong I guess. The game is more a conversion of Sam Sho 64 Warriors Rage from the arcade and the gameplay was far from simplified.  The game is amazingly deep for a handheld fighter and feels like a full on Sam Sho game that fits right in your pocket. Like most of the Sam Sho games the gameplay is more about getting single strikes in over button mashing (I guess that’s why I suck at them then :P) The controls are fluid and as I said before that damn clicky stick is just designed for fighting games, SNK really knew what they were doing when they made the system.
 


The game looks amazing, granted the colour pallet is abit lacking with most characters only consisting of one shade of colour and then black and white. But the animations are so fluid looking, well ahead of anything I’ve seen on the GBC barring maybe Shantae (do want). The backgrounds however look awesome so rich and full of colour. Music seems a little below par of what the Game Boy was pumping out at the time and sound effects are what you would expect from an 8bit fighting game. However as any fighting game fan knows the main strength of any fighting game comes down to how well the thing plays.
 

 
As I said prior to this the only Sam Sho games I had played were 1 & 2. In those I would usually stick with playing either Galford or Nakoruru main reason being they have their little animal helpers and I just think its awesome being able to have them attack for you. So I chuck in the game into my NGPC and head straight for Nakoruru and then proceed to get my arse kicked by the first guy. Yay for sucking. OK restart head to options and put the difficulty down to easy and still get my arsed handed to me, maybe its time for a different strategy. Looking at the new characters I see one who takes my fancy, that being Rimururu (who I swear I had no idea she was Nakorur’s sister) who after playing around with for a little grew to my liking. Plus she has like Ice powers and that’s just awesome. I wouldn’t say I owned the game with her but I sure as hell did a lot better then with her sister. The controls for the game are amazing. That little clicky stick makes it soo easy to pull off moves and combos, plus it also makes an oh so satisfying sound when ever you move, just like a proper arcade stick. I’d love to say I’ve played a lot of this game as I do love the Sam Sho games, or maybe it’s more that I want to love them just cause I love the setting and the feel. But alas me being me, I get way to frustrated, give up and go play some Fatal Fury cause it’s nice and easy.


 
I think I’m really gonna need to play this a lot to get my head around it, this is an awesome game and I don’t think I’ve given it enough time to give it justice. It just sucks that I’m the kind of gamer who gets frustrated easily and will stop playing if I hit a brick wall and go pick up something else. I guess like the rest of the Samurai Shodown games this is not a game your gonna be able to just pick up and play and be the best player in the world. You need to take your time with it and learn its ins and outs. At this point I would say if you’ve got a Neo Geo Pocket Color and don’t have this game get it, but I’m guessing most people with a Neo Geo Pocket Color have it already so I don’t have to. It’s an awesome game and hopefully later down the road I’ll be able to post more about it and do the game some justice. Anyway that’s it for now next time checking into the Hotel is not only the best 2d platformer on the Game Boy, but maybe the best 2d platformer ever made.