IGN Gave it a 10!: Sonic Pocket Adventure (Neo Geo Pocket Color, 1999) Review

NOTE: This review is part 11 in a retrospective of the Sonic franchise. Feel free to read the other Sonic reviews I’ve done here - https://expithecat.blogspot.com/search/label/sonic%20retrospective

Well, I completed my reviews of a few side/spinoff games from the classic era. But before I move on to Adventure 2, there’s one more I have to play and cover.

History and Background

In 1998, SNK released their first handheld system - the Neo Geo Pocket. It never saw an American release, only in Japan and Europe, and the system was pretty quickly discontinued due to low sales. It was succeeded a year later by the Neo Geo Pocket Color - a very similar handheld but now with a color screen, and this time, was also released in the United States. The NGP Color was backwards compatible with all Neo Geo Pocket games, and in addition, the Neo Geo Pocket was forwards compatible with most of the Neo Geo Pocket Color’s titles, albeit could only play them in monochrome. Kind of a similar situation with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was… slightly more successful than it’s predecessor, but once again it would end up being unsuccessful and discontinued in 2001. Over time, however, the handheld has developed it’s own cult following.

And in 1999, SNK announced a collaboration between them and Sega to develop a Sonic game for their new handheld. It served as a throwback to the original Genesis titles, largely building off of Sonic 2, and was released on December 4 of that year. And after this game was released, a lot of the developers went on to form Dimps, who would later develop all of Sonic’s handheld titles - the Advance trilogy, the Rush games and the handheld versions of Colors, Generations and Lost World. As well as Sonic 4 and the Wii/PS2 versions of Unleashed.

But there’s one other thing notable about this game. It’s the only Sonic game that IGN has given a 10/10 to. And the thing with that is, out of all the games that IGN has given a 10/10 to, this one is a bit of an odd choice. Not that the game’s bad or anything, but it’s definitely one of the more obscure games in the series and generally isn’t looked upon as one of the best, especially compared to fan favorites like Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Generations or Sonic Mania. I mean, it’s not even just an odd choice for a Sonic game to be given a 10/10 but an odd choice for a game in general. According to IGN, this game’s apparently better than the Witcher 3, so I mean… it must be pretty damn good. Although… to be perfectly honest, I don’t really care for the Witcher 3 in the first place, please put your torch and pitchforks down, and honestly most people shouldn’t take “critical” reviews very seriously. But you know what, I’m going to decide whether Sonic Pocket Adventure truly is a game worthy of a 10/10 from IGN.

Graphics

Well, this game does look pretty good. The environments, levels and sprites are really colorful and really “pop” visually which I can appreciate. I was about to say that this is a step up from the Game Gear titles and the best looking 8-bit Sonic game, but… well, this game technically isn’t 8-bit. The Neo Geo Pocket Color was technically a 16-bit handheld. I think a better thing to say here is that this game is probably the best looking pre-Advance handheld Sonic game. I should mention that this game came out almost immediately after Adventure, so all the characters have their post-Adventure designs (albeit Robotnik does sport his older look earlier on in the game), but they look good here. I kind of like how each character also has a black outline around them to make them stand out - pretty minor thing but still.

But I don’t really have too much else to say there - it looks good, it’s colorful… just about what I’d expect from a Sonic game.

Music

I mentioned that this game was largely based off of Sonic 2. But the strange thing about that is, the soundtrack is largely renditions of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The first level, Neo South Island Act 1, uses the music from Sonic World, but pretty much every other track in the game is a remix of a song from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Neo South Island Act 2 uses the theme from Angel Island Act 1, Secret Plant Act 2 uses the Hydrocity Act 2 theme, and probably the strangest part is Act 1 and 2 of Cosmic Casino using the Gumball and Slot Machine bonus stage themes respectively. I guess to be fair in those cases the only other theme that would’ve been fitting would’ve been Carnival Night which has been subject to potential copyright issues, but still, it is kind of odd. Also I was going to say that the Special Stage did sound original to me at first but apparently it’s a remixed version of Sonic 3’s title theme. 

Regardless, I do think the remixes of the themes are pretty good for what they are. I’m not entirely sure whether I should call them 8-bit remixes since, again, the NGP Color is a 16-bit handheld, but still, they are pretty good considering the sound hardware and capabilities of the system. Not among my favorite Sonic soundtracks (mostly due to… well, the fact that the tracks aren’t technically original), but when playing the game it does sound pretty good.

Gameplay

Like I said, twice, Sonic Pocket Adventure is pretty much based largely off of Sonic 2, and serves as sort of a throwback to the classic Sonic games. And with that in mind, I don’t think I need to really explain how it plays - it’s pretty much a translation of the classic Sonic gameplay. The levels themselves in particular are based off of Sonic 2’s stages. Neo South Island being designed similarly to Emerald Hill, Secret Plant being Chemical Plant, Cosmic Casino - Casino Night, and so on. There are elements of Sonic 1’s visual design in some of these levels - for example, despite Gigantic Angel being designed around Metropolis, it does share visual similarities to Scrap Brain.

I’d say that the gameplay of the classic games does translate pretty well here. Sonic controls about as well as one would expect, and the level design is generally pretty good, having alternate and branching pathways that allow for replayability, all the elements are really just there. I have mentioned in the past that Sonic 2 is my favorite of the classic Genesis games, and well, this game pretty much feels like a translation of that into a handheld Sonic game. It’s not a 1:1 translation, but it’s pretty clear that Sonic 2 was what this game was built off of with tweaks to the level design to both make it feel different and to compensate for the handheld.

Playing the game normally, it is pretty short, which I guess isn’t too surprising considering it is a handheld game, but it does offer replay value. The levels as mentioned are pretty replayable but this game does add some things that do incentivize coming back. Of course, it carries over the special stages, in particular the half-pipe from Sonic 2. Although to be frank, I didn't like the half-pipe in Sonic 2, and I don’t like it here in Pocket Adventure either. Pretty much all of my criticisms of the special stages in Sonic 2 are the same here - these special stages pretty much just come down to memorization and just get more frustrating as you go through the game. You also don’t have many chances at getting the emeralds -  you can only get them if you carry 50 rings to the end of Act 1, similar to Sonic 1, but there’s only six (regular) zones in this game. On the plus side you can replay Act 1 of each stage at least.

If you get the emeralds, you also unlock the “true” final zone - Chaotic Space, aka not Doomsday Zone. I didn’t personally get to it though, I decided not to go for the 100% completion, and from what I’ve seen, the boss and ending really isn’t too special. And honestly I’m generally not fond of when games lock major gameplay content like that behind 100% completion.

But there’s also some other things here and there. There’s multiplayer, which I… haven’t played because I don’t have any friends that would be interested in playing this with me, but there’s also puzzle pieces scattered throughout each level which you can use in the “Puzzle Room” to assemble six images of Sonic and his friends. A pretty minor thing, but still a nice little bonus for those who want to go for completion. And there’s also a Time Attack mode for those who like to speedrun through the levels.

Conclusion

Overall, I honestly didn’t have too much to say about this one, but it is a solid title. I could definitely imagine that if I did have a Neo Geo Pocket Color growing up, I would’ve probably really enjoyed this game, and this would’ve probably been a fun one for those who did own a Neo Geo Pocket Color back when it was being sold. It’s nothing too terribly special, ultimately it is just sort of a lite version of Sonic 2, but at the same time, I would say it’s a pretty fun game over all. It actually feels similar to what Sonic Mania went for, albeit in 1999 on a handheld. And I’d probably recommend it, although the game hasn’t been re-released, and buying a Neo Geo Pocket Color and the game these days is a bit more on the expensive side so… this is one you’re going to want to emulate.

Not entirely sure about it being a 10/10 though.