SNK Aims At Handheld Gaming

SNK Corporation is one of those companies many people outside the gaming sector have never heard of. With its name translated as New Japan Product, it would seem that SNK is focused on only the Asian marketplace. The company is best known for arcade systems that gave you the option of playing one of four games, and home console users will remember SNK's initial Neo Geo offering had one major flaw - its cartridge-based arcade-quality games cost almost US$250. The games did offer fast 2D gaming, but the astronomical price kept it out of the mainstream market. In spite of its previous attempts, SNK is coming back to America to take on the world of handheld gaming with what it does best - 2D games.

The 16-bit Neo Geo Pocket is already available to Web-savvy gamers and early adopters through its US site on June 1 for only $69.99. Gadget gurus with a hunger for games will be pleased that Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, and Samurai Shodown - converted from the company's best 2D arcade offerings - along with nine other parlor, casino, and sports games have been released as the machine's launch titles, and are priced at $29.95 to $34.95. Offering the system to gamers on the Web first is a risky move considering the success Nintendo has had with its ten-year-old Game Boy handheld gaming device, which is sold through major US retailers nationally. But SNK has chosen to release the device on the Web first to give game enthusiasts the opportunity to see what the rest of the population will be getting soon. Nintendo's current $79.99 Game Boy Color, the company's third generation product, boasts ten years of maturity with more than 70 million units sold worldwide, backward compatibility with a massive library of over 400 games, and popular gaming brands like Mario, Zelda, and Final Fantasy. It may be a massive uphill battle, but the company believes it has the right mix to challenge Nintendo where it counts.

SNK's first handheld console for the US (the Japanese market was introduced to a less powerful black and white version last fall) has considerable power. The Neo Geo Pocket's 2.6 inch, 160 x 152-pixel color TFT screen is sharp and clear with 146 colors. Audiophiles get clean sound through the small but loud single speaker. (A headphone jack is also built into the unit for stereo sound.) Controlling games onscreen is done via an eight-position thumb controller that feels far more accurate than the Game Boy Color. It gives off a soft clicking sound to notify the user of definitive movement. Like its competitor, onscreen actions are controlled through A and B buttons. Side by side with its Game Boy competitor, the Neo Geo Pocket is roughly the same size, with the Neo Geo Pocket being a little thicker but with a larger screen and two-handed gameplay.

Currently, the company won't disclose how many preorders or sales it has had to date, but the buzz among gamers has been growing steadily. With the option of linking a handheld gaming platform to a mainstream home console waiting in the wings, SNK may give Nintendo a lot to worry about.

Hard-core gamers love the company, and it appears that the company feels the same way about gamers. Recently, when users complained about the small size of balls in SNK's version of Bust-A-Move for the Neo Geo Pocket, the company put the title back in development to make it perfect. Furthermore, SNK isn't just focused on gameplay, it has also leapt forward in innovation. The most intriguing game from the company's offerings is King of Fighters R2, which has the option of communicating with the Japanese version of the Sega Dreamcast through King of Fighters 99 (due to release in Japan this July). While other game developers haven't announced their support for the console by making games compatible with the Neo Geo Pocket - playing the games on a fast machine with color is significantly better than playing the titles on Sega's Tamagotchi-like memory device, the VMU (Visual Memory Unit). As Sega has no handheld offering outside the VMU, the Neo Geo Pocket, with the right games and peripherals, could follow Dreamcast sales into popularity and beyond.